Marianna wreck

The Marianna (originally built in 1961 at Dutch shipyards as Niels Maersk) was a 91-meter, 3,000 GRT commercial cargo ship. In the early morning hours of July 24, 1981 (at approximately 04:26 AM), while en route from Piraeus to the Persian Gulf loaded with sheet metal, water supply pipes, marble slabs, fertilizer, and barley, the vessel suffered a navigational deviation in the narrow channel between Naxos and Paros and struck the shallow submerged reef of Amarides (Amaras) at full cruising speed. The violent impact breached the hull and caused the vessel to break in two. Fortunately, there were zero casualties: all 24 crew members were successfully evacuated unharmed by local fishing and passenger boats (including the Panagia Mirtidiotissa) and brought safely to Agia Anna harbor on Naxos. Between 1982 and 1984, the protruding bow section that threatened commercial navigation was cut down and demolished with explosives, while the stern and midship sections settled upright and intact on a sandy seabed at 23 to 25 meters depth, creating a premier Cycladic wreck dive.