C/S Retriever

The C/S Retriever was a 60-meter, 674 GRT British cable-laying steamship built in 1909 by Goole Shipbuilding & Repairing Co. for Cable and Wireless Ltd. On the night of April 11, 1941, during the German invasion of Greece (Operation Marita), the vessel was returning from Lemnos to Piraeus after vital cable-laying missions for the Combined Signals Board. Shortly before midnight, the ship was detected off Glyfada near the naval fortifications of Fleves Island and attacked by a German Junkers Ju 88 bomber from Lehrgeschwader 1 (LG 1). Four bombs were dropped; one shattered a lifeboat and another penetrated the main deck directly into the forward engine room, detonating with catastrophic force and sinking the vessel in minutes. Out of 46 crew members on board, 11 men were killed (including 28-year-old Greek seaman Athanasios Chrysoloras), 29 were rescued from the water, and 6 were taken prisoner of war. The captain was posthumously awarded the Lloyd's War Medal for Bravery at Sea. The wreck sits completely upright and intact on a sandy seabed north of Fleves Island between 44 and 52 meters depth, featuring visible cable spools, boilers, and deck machinery.