Subscribe now for full access and no adverts
A British troopship sunk during the First World War has been located off the coast of Greece. Nearly 300 men were lost after SS Arcadian was torpedoed by a U-boat in spring 1917, although one former Titanic passenger who was on board survived.
Built in 1899 by Vickers, Sons & Maxim and originally an ocean liner named Ortona, the vessel was requisitioned early in the war by the Admiralty and converted into a troopship under her new name.
On 15 April 1917, Arcadian was being escorted from Greece to Egypt by HMS Sentinel when she was spotted and hit by German submarine UC-74 between the islands of Sifnos and Antiparos.
The ship’s captain Charles L Willats – who had already been shipwrecked twice in his career – ordered her abandonment, and within minutes Arcadian had sunk into the Aegean Sea. HMS Sentinel began a rescue operation, with French warships from Milos arriving to help later that day.
Some 279 sailors were lost, while more than a thousand – including the captain – were rescued. Another survivor was stoker Thomas Threlfall, who had already survived a much more infamous maritime disaster five years earlier.
‘It was on the same day and in the same month that Titanic sank, but on both occasions, I came out unhurt,’ Threlfall later said.
The wreck, which sits south-east of Sifnos at a depth of 163 metres, was identified by a Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) after research into the British and German naval archives. She is said to be in excellent condition, which explorers put down to her construction.
‘The quality of the metallic alloys used in the shipbuilding of Arcadian is a major factor in the preservation of the wreck up to this day,’ said Kostas Thoctarides, who led the discovery.
UC-74, which sank Arcadian with just a single torpedo, was a particularly menacing opponent. Under the command of Captain Wilhelm Marschall, the submarine sank a total of 27 ships in one year of the First World War alone.
