Maritime record MWX2056 - Turkia (Livorno)

Ex-LIVORNO Soon after 8am. this vessel was reported ashore in the vicinity of Houns-tout Cliff by the Swanage Coastguard, but stated that she was making no signals of distress. The Naval Headquarters at Portland sent out a tug and a drifter to take off her crew, but although there was a heavy swell causing the ship to grind on the rocks, the Greeks would not leave. At 7pm the Swanage lifeboat was launched and found the wreck bumping heavily. The Naval salvage officer asked them to stand by whilst efforts were made to tow the steamer off, the lifeboat remaining on station until 4pm the following day. Even then after refuelling and the crew taking a meal she was out again. In all she was at sea for 74 hours in four days, transferring salvage parties to and fro. Finally she took off the entire crew with all their belongings when the vessel became a total wreck. (1)(2) Year Built: 1910 Builder: Earles Co Where Built: Kingston-upon-Hull Engine HP: 217 Boilers: 2 Propulsion: Screw driven, 3 cylinder triple expansion engine Owner: Hellenic Lines Ltd Crew: 26 Date of Loss Qualifier: A Additional sources cited in United Kingdom Shipwreck Index: Wreck and Rescue, Dorset p99

Gross tonnage

<1> Larn, Richard, 1992, United Kingdom shipwreck index, Extracted 23 November 1992 (Index). SWX5030.

<2> Larn, R, and Larn, B, 1995, Shipwreck index of the British Isles, volume 1 : Isles of Scilly, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset Section 6, Dorset (AJ) Vol 1 (Monograph). SWX4541.

<3> Shipwrecks: Devon shipwrecks, p52 (Monograph). SWX6343.

<4> Le Pard, G, 1995-2003, Dorset Coast Forum Maritime Archaeological Database, Shipwreck 991 (Digital archive). SWX8707.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 900900 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Feb 16 2024 4:28PM