Apollonia VI Wreck

The Apollonia VI was a 746 GRT commercial cargo vessel built in 1955 in Bremen, Germany (powered by a 1,000 BHP Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz diesel engine). In the early hours of June 11, 1980 (at approximately 02:30 AM), sailing from Chalkida to Tripoli, Libya, laden with 1,440 tons of general cargo and 4,000 rolls of industrial materials, the ship navigated into the Kea Channel under poor nighttime visibility. The captain realized the proximity of the northern reefs of Makronissos too late; despite an emergency hard-right rudder maneuver, the vessel ran hard aground onto Tripiti Reef. The hull ruptured and the engine room flooded, causing the ship to break in two. There were zero casualties: all 8 crew members (5 Greeks and 3 foreigners) safely launched a lifeboat and were picked up by the passenger ship Aghios Nektarios. The wreck lies in two distinct sections across the reef slope between 18 and 34 meters depth, surrounded by thousands of submerged cargo sacks that petrified into solid stone over decades underwater, forming a bizarre and dramatic artificial reef.