The abandoning of the passenger line Oceanos

[The Avon Lady]

I'm sure most of you old salts have read about it or seen the video. For me, it was news.

Watch the video.

I would feed the crew to the sharks, quite literally.

[Godalmighty83]

hell even on the titanic crew would have been shot for a stunt like that.

[Kapitan]

i want to have my own ship one day but id be dammed if i acted like that

even the greeks i didnt think they could ever pull a stunt like that

yella belly cowards

[AG124]

I've seen footage of the Oceanos sinking before, but didn't know about the crew abandoning the passengers and taking their luggage instead.

Reminds me of the sinking of the SS Arctic in the 19th century.

[joea]

Originally Posted by Kapitain

i want to have my own ship one day but id be dammed if i acted like that

even the greeks i didnt think they could ever pull a stunt like that

yella belly cowards

What do you mean "even the Greeks?"

[Kapitan]

even the greek

oceanos was a greek ship sailed by a greek captain and crew there fore the ship is greek

registerd owned oparated crewed by greek's and they are nutorius for shipping saftey or the lack of

[joea]

Yes that is true. :hmm: Onassis himself was not the most scrupulous person. That's an understatment. :rotfl:

Agree with keelhauling the dumbass crew. Then feeding to the sharks, and orcas, throw in some jellyfish too.

[Kapitan]

if you want further proof about oceanas then i can try and find it in the lloyds registry (may take a while)

[Kapitan]

MV Oceanos 1952 till 1991

GROSS REGISTERED TONS (G.R.T): 14 000
DEADWEIGHT TONNES (D.W.T): 6 090
NET REGISTERED TONS (N.R.T): 4 058
LENGTH: 152,5m/500ft
BREADTH: 20m/65ft
DRAFT: 6,70m/22ft
ENGINE DATA: Twin screw, two stroke Burmeister and Wain, 12 500 BHP, single acting, ten cylinder diesels.
CRUISING SPEED: 16 Knots
TOP SPEED: 18.5 Knots
CAPACITY: Passengers 550 - Crew 250

The Oceanos was a Greek registered ship, en route from Cape Town to Durban on a pleasure cruise.
Early in the morning of August 4th, 1991 the Oceanos encountered adverse weather conditions and rough seas.
The vessel began to take on water, an SOS was sent soon after, and she started to sink.
All the passengers and crew aboard (571) were saved through the use of liferafts and by waves of 16 South African Air Force helicopters, a dramatic rescue operation in appalling conditions. It is amazing that not one life was lost, making it one of the largest and most successful sea rescues ever performed.
The first helicopters started airlifting at 7am completing 225 people when the last survivors were rescued at 11.30am of that morning, a mere 25 minutes before the ship sunk.

http://www.helis.com/database/go/res...uise_liner.php quote from


THE COMPANY

Brief History of Epirotiki Line:-
Epirotiki Lines represent a family maritime tradition stretching back over 150 years, beginning in 1850 with Anastassios 'Tassos' Potamianos (1820-1902), from the island of Cephalonia, who began his first shipping venture transporting cargo and passengers along the River Danube to the city of Braila (Rumania). Assisting Tassos was his nephew, Giorgos Potamianos (1867-1932). Giorgos became a master and pilot, taking ships from the Greek mainland at Preveza (opposite Cephalonia) to Lipsia, Malta, Massalia and Russia. At the age of 25 he acquired his first general cargo sailing ship, the Sacra Famila (1892), which was successfully employed in the Eastern Mediterranean.

When Tassos Potamianos died in 1902 George undertook the management of the company which was growing fast and he took the emblem of the Byzantine Cross as the company's trademark, at the same time naming his company Epirotiki. In 1916 George moved to the new centre of shipping of Piraeus, acquiring his first steam powered ship, operating between the Greek islands. By 1926 the company owned 15 passenger vessels ranging between 800 to 1500 GRT. Ships were named after his home island: Kefallinia (1902), and children: Tassos, Elvira, Kimon, Petros, Fokion, Popi. In the same year his eldest son, Tassos Potamianos (1901-1975), began working for the company.

During WWII, Piraeus was destroyed by the German air attack on the city from which only one vessel was saved, the G.Potamianos, which was taken over by the the Allies. After the war Tassos sought to contribute to the revival of the company with three ships: Pindos, Attike and Adrias (1950); the last of 5000 GRT. With the Semiramis (1954, 150 pax, 3000 GRT), cruising was pioneered in the Aegean Sea operating in conjunction with the Hellenic National Tourist Office and establishing round trip cruises to the Greek islands and Eastern Mediterranean. Further expansion took place with the Pegasus (1) (1959, Adriatic Patra-Brindisi route), Hermes (1) (1961, Venice-Haifa route), 1965 Argonaut (7 day Greek Isles and Scandinavia round trip cruises), Jason (West Coast US), Orpheus (1), Atlas and other acquisitions.

The 1970's were a period of fast growth for the cruise industry with the company growing to become the largest cruise shipping company in Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean, despite competition from rivals. New acquisitions included the Oceanos, World Renaissance (1978), Odysseus (2), Jupiter, Pegasus (2) (1984) and Triton making up a fleet of 17 cruise ships and carrying nearly 100,000 passengers per year. Increasing competition led the company to seek a partnership, first with Carnival Corporation of Miami (1993) at which time the Pallas Athena, Olympic and Apollon (2) were acquired, and subsequently with Sun Line (1996), adding the Stella Solaris, Stella Oceanis and Stella Maris to the fleet and renaming the company, Royal Olympic Cruises.

http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/EpirotikiPCs.html source from

The royal olympic cruise lines was made bankrupt in 2003

[Gizzmoe]

More details:
http://www.oceanosdive.com/html/about_the_oceanos.htm

[Syxx_Killer]

I've seen the footage before but didn't know the crew deserted the passengers like that. How disgraceful. One thing I haven't seen is, was the wreckage ever explored? Did they ever show any footage? What sank the ship anyway?

[Gizzmoe]

Originally Posted by Syxx_Killer

What sank the ship anyway?

See my link.

[U-214]

The ship was registered in Piraeus and of greek ownership,making cruises off South Africa.I don't know about the crew (as usually most are foreigners for cheap labour),but the Captain was Greek as must have also been at least an officer (either the 1st macchinist or the 2nd in comand or both) and their conduct was pure disgrace.The captain said the ship had lost comms ,so that's why he abbandoned the ship and stayed on the helicopter.It is a pathetic excuse,no captain should ever leave his ship when passengers are aboard.He could have sent his 2nd in command on the helicopter if he wanted to coordinate things.Disgusting.

[U-214]

they are nutorius for shipping saftey or the lack of

Yes.Greek ships make 18% of world tonnage and 50% of EU's tonnage and sink every day or ram each other.

[Abraham]

Great link Gizzmoe! I still remember the rescue operation (and the scandal)...