For more than half a century, the motorship “Three Hierarchs,” which sank on February 14, 1959, has remained missing. Sixty-three years later, it has been identified at a depth of 87.2 meters, northwest of Makronissos, by the research team of veteran diver Kostas Thoktaridis.

As he mentioned in an interview with the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA–MPA), the investigation and identification of the wreck was successfully carried out with the use of an underwater robotic vehicle (ROV), named “Super Achilles.”

The motorship “Three Hierarchs” sailed from the port of Piraeus the day before its sinking, at 5:10 in the afternoon. It was carrying 378 tons of corn-maize. It was scheduled to unload 278 tons of corn-maize at the port of Thessaloniki and then transport the rest of the cargo to Porto Lagos in Xanthi. After loading the corn in its holds, three 6 x 6 military trucks, manufactured by General Motors and with a combined weight of 14.4 tons, were placed on the deck, to be transported on behalf of the Greek Army.

On the day of the departure, however, there were adverse weather conditions in the Aegean, with winds approaching 8 Beaufort. The ship never reached its destination. It sank on February 14, 1959, along with its 9-member crew. Although the ship had a radio, for some reason it did not manage to emit an emergency signal, or SOS.

The following departure from Piraeus discovered a drifting boat off the area of Punta Zeza and a wooden cover of the hold, which were towed to Lavrion. They were identified as belonging to the “Three Hierarchs.” A recliner seat was also found on the rocky islet of Agios Georgios, which was identified as belonging to one of the three military trucks carried by the ship. These were the only findings that testified to the fate of the ship.

Following its rediscovery by the underwater research team, the motorship’s rudder was found to be twisted in the position of hard left, while the three military trucks were found lying on the seabed next to the wreck. The motorship had formerly served in the Greek Navy as the assault ship “Pinios,” with a length of 43 meters and 7.6 meters wide.

This article was previously published in Greek at kathimerini.gr.