"Dimitrios" Shipwreck #212

Description

The impressive shipwreck "Dimitrios" has been stranded on Selinitsa beach since December 23, 1981, at a distance of about 5 kilometers from Gythio. Many legends have been heard about the so-called ghost ship. There are claims that it was one of the many illegal cigarette shops of the time or even that it was a ghost ship of unknown ownership. The true story behind the legend is completely different for this imposing shipwreck that has now become part of the beach and a tourist attraction of the area.

The ship named "Dimitrios" (formerly Klintholm), 67 meters long, was built in 1950. On December 4, 1980, the ship sailed to Gythio as an emergency because its captain needed to be hospitalized due to a serious illness. After the ship docked, financial problems arose with the crew as well as various engine problems, combined with injunctions imposed by various lenders. The crew was then dismissed and the ship remained anchored in the port of Gytheio. In June 1981 the vessel was still in the same position but was declared unsafe for the safety of the site, while at the same time it had heeled to the starboard side from the inflow of water into its hulls. The non-response of the shipowners resulted in the ship still being in the same location until November 1981.

Due to the very adverse weather conditions, the boat drifted from its mooring and was washed out of the sea on the beach of Selinitsa, northeast of Gytheio in the Valtaki region, in December of the same year. There the boat was abandoned without any interest in its fate. The shipwreck attracts a lot of people as a visit to it is combined with a swim in the clear blue waters of Selinitsa.