Views Of The Volos

Lefteris Reef in Greece has become the graveyard for many ships over millennia, but few can have as intriguing a backstory as the Volos, says ROSS J ROBERTSON, who writes in collaboration with Dimitri Evangelopoulos,  Dimitri Galon and Paris Sofos. So what exactly did Hans Hass find when he filmed the wreck in 1942?

- Ross J Robertson

ALTHOUGH NOT found in many logbooks, one of the best of Greek dive-spots has to be Lefteris Reef. Located between the mainland of Mt Pelion and the island of Skiathos in the Sporades archipelago, Lefteris is a small submerged ridge of rock around which some extraordinary events have taken place.

There is always a palpable sense of excitement when speeding out to Lefteris Reef on a dive-boat. It is a place slow to give up its secrets, and one never knows what might be discovered.

Abundant marine life, ranging from soft corals to a resident moray eel, are certainties, but shards of ancient amphoras indicate that this is also a place rich in history. Not even breaking the surface, Lefteris has always been a notorious shipping hazard.

According to Greek historian Herodotus, at least three galleys hit the reef and sank during the failed second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC. King Xerxes then ordered a stone column built out of blocks weighing up to half a ton to be erected to prevent further loss.

Dating two and a half centuries earlier than the lighthouse of Alexandria, this beacon is the oldest navigational construction known in historical records.

In more contemporary times, Alexandros Papadiamantis (1851-1911), a celebrated Greek writer from Skiathos, mentions Lefteris Reef in The Poor Saint: “Lefteris releases cargos from its ships and frees sailors from the short burden of life.”

Despite its present wireframe lighthouse, Lefteris Reef has the distinction of having caused two more recent wrecks.

Built in 1956 and 58m in length, the cargo ship Vera ran aground there in 1999. At depths of 17 to 28m, the wreck now lies broken in two and remains easily accessible to divers of various abilities.

More intriguing is the ss Volos, an older wreck the identity of which was forgotten for almost 60 years. Its full backstory has only now been rediscovered.