In a historic mission, professional deep-sea divers have retrieved a collection of artefacts from the wreck of HMHS Britannic, which sank after striking a mine in 1916 off the Greek island of Kea. The items, recovered from a depth exceeding 120 metres, offer new physical insight into the life and service of the ship and its passengers. The operation marks the first time objects have been brought up directly from the wreck site.
61-year-old Tim Saville was diving the wreck of the Titanic’s sister ship. At the time of writing this article, it is not known why Saville died.
There is a policy in place on Britannic that divers are not allowed to penetrate the wreck unless they are diving a rebreather because this will help preserve the ship. (Gas is expelled when diving open circuit scuba). It is understood that Saville was diving an X-CCR rebreather.
HMHS Britannic was the largest ship to sink during World War I. (Weighting in at almost 50,000-tons she was also the largest ship in the world).
Many argue she is one of the most beautiful, intact, well-preserved passenger liners accessible to divers. It is little wonder that these factors, and the story behind her construction and sinking continue to capture divers imagination.
Through the centuries in Greece, Kea Island’s renowned statue, the Lion of Kea (one cannot see him from the shore, but I know he is there), continues to smile and look askance upon human vanity—exactly the same way he did in 1916, when during World War I, hospital ships were hit by mines and tragically sank in the Kea Channel. These ships, now wrecks, include HMHS Britannic and SS Burdigala.
