The Dimitrios Shipwreck Near Gythio, Greece

6322

Dimitrios

Dimitrios is a Greek shipwreck famous due to its picturesque location on an easily accessible sandy beach near Gythio, Greece.

Dimitrios, a small, 67 metre freight ship of 965 tons cargo capacity was built in 1950.  The 67-meter freight ship, stranded on Valtaki Beach for the last 34 years, has a mysterious past. There are many rumors about the ship’s origins and how it got stranded on the beach.

Rumors say that the ship was smuggling cigarettes between Turkey and Italy.  It was seized by the port authorities of Gythio and then deliberately released from the port and left to be dragged by the sea to the beach of Valtaki, about 5 kilometers from the port of Gythio and then set on fire to hide the evidence of cigarette smuggling.  Another less common rumor speaks of a ghost ship of unknown origins.

However, according to a book written by the Honorary Chief of the Hellenic Coast Guard, Vice Admiral Christos Ntounis (1935–2010).  In his book Ta Navagia stis Ellinikes thalasses (translated as The shipwrecks of the Greek seas) he says that there is more to be said about the true history of the ship.

Source: Wikipedia