SS Athinai (1908)

SS "Athinai" (1908) was a Greek transatlantic steamer that burned and sank on September 19, 1915.

Commercial career

The SS "Athinai" was commissioned by the Hellenic Transatlantic Steam Navigation Company to operate between Piraeus, Kalamata, Patras, and New York. She was requisitioned by the Greek navy for use as a military transport between November 1912 and June 1913, after which she resumed her normal operations. her owners went bankrupt in August 1914 and she was purchased by the National Steamship Navigation Company and was operated by the National Greek Line for use on the same route. [Bonsor, N. R. P. "North Atlantic Seaway" vol. 3 p.1386]

Destruction by Fire

On September 13, 1915, the "Athinai" left New York City ["Shipping and Mails" York Times 13 Sep 1915 p. 13] carrying 407 passengers and crew and a cargo of coffee, rice, cotton and newspaper. Athinai Set on Fire, Her Captain Insists" New York Times 22 Sep 1915 p.3] A fire started in her sealed lower #2 hold on the morning of September 18th, while the ship was still only a few days out of New York. Captain Nicolai Boziatgiles ordered the hold's vents closed and pumped steam from the engine into the compartment in an effort to control the fire, but by the next morning the flames appeared to have started anew and a general SOS was isssued on the ship's wireless set. Her distress call was received by the Anchor liner SS "Tuscania", by the British freighter "Roumanian Prince", by the Atlantic Transport liner "Minnehaha" and by the French liner "Touraine", but by the time the "Tuscania" and "Prince" arrived the fire appeared to be uncontrollable. Passengers were ferried from the Athinai to the "Tuscania" and "Prince" by lifeboat, and the burning "Athinai" was abandoned at 40' 54" N, 58' 47" W. ["Ship Burns at Sea; Rescuer Near" New York Times 20 Sep 1915, p.1] Only one passenger lost his life: a man who jumped overboard in the confusion.

Aftermath

Captain Boziatgiles immediately asserted his belief that the fire was caused by incendiary bombs, noting that the fire started in a hold containing a relatively non-combustible cargo of rice and coffee and that the fire had seemed to reignite at several points in the hold on the morning of the 19th, after the flames had seemingly been damped by pressurized steam the previous day. Based on his testimony, the National Steam Company secured the help of a detective agency to investigate the workers involved in filling the hold. Boziatgiles's claim was seemingly vindicated with the October 24 arrests of two Germans, Robert Fay and Walter Scholz. The men had attempted to purchase 10 pounds of explosive picric acid, a suspicious action which led investigators to discover New York Harbor maps, high explosives and ship-mountable explosive devices in their apartment and in a rented storage unit. ["Bomb Factory in his Room" New York Times 25 Oct 1915 p.1] Fay later claimed to be a German spy and was eventually convicted, along with Scholz and a third conspirator, on two indictments of "conspiring to destroy vehicles with intent to cause loss". ["Find Fay Guilty, Also his Aids, in Bomb Plot Case", "The New York Times", 9 May 1916, p.1.]

References