Photograph of Captayannis, taken from the north side of the Clyde in Helensburgh.
History
Hellenic Navy ensignGreece
NameMV Captayannis
OwnerM.& S.J. Paleocrassas Bros., Piraeus, Greece
Port of registryPiraeus
BuilderA/S Nakskov Skibbs
Launched15 June 1946 as Norden[1]
RenamedCaptayannis, 1963
IdentificationIMO number: 5415212
FateSunk, 27 January 1974
General characteristics
TypeMerchant vessel
Tonnage4,576 GRT
Length396 ft (121 m)
Beam56 ft 4 in (17.17 m)
Draught25 ft (7.6 m)

The Captayannis was a Greek sugar-carrying vessel that sank in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland in 1974.[2]

Shipwreck

On the evening of 27 January 1974, a severe storm caused the 4,576 GRT Captayannis to drag her anchor while she was waiting at the Tail of the Bank to deliver sugar to the James Watt Dock in Greenock.[2][3] Her captain ordered the engines to be started with the intention of running for the more sheltered waters of the Gareloch but before she could be brought to power she drifted onto the taut anchor chains of the BP tanker British Light.[2] The tanker suffered no damage but her anchor chains holed the sugar boat below the waterline, allowing water to pour in.[4]

Captayannis's Captain Theodorakis Ionnis, realizing that water was flowing in so fast that she was in imminent danger of sinking, opted to beach her in the shallow waters over the sandbank and steered to the desired spot where she stuck fast.[5] The pilot boats, the tug Labrador and Clyde Marine Motoring's 20 metre passenger vessel Rover came to assist. The vessel heeled over so far that it was possible for the crew to jump onto the deck of the Rover.[5] 25 of the crew were taken ashore aboard the Rover, but the Captain and four crewmen waited on the Labrador, standing off the stricken vessel. The ship finally succumbed the next morning, rolling onto her side.[5] She has lain there ever since.

Most, if not all of her more valuable metals and fittings have been removed by looters, leaving just her steel hull and superstructure, though some of her wooden decking remains in remarkably good condition after more than 40 years in the sea. Her hull remains sound, though her thinner deck plates are starting to rust through with holes opening up in places.

Today

Through time Captayannis has become 'home' to marine life and birds. She has never been removed as confusion surrounds the identity of her owners and insurers – no one accepts responsibility for her removal. She is known to many locals simply as the "sugar boat".[5]

The wreck is a familiar sight near the Tail of the Bank and can be seen on satellite images.[6][7] The wreck is not to be confused with that of the French warship Maillé Brézé which sank nearby in 1940,[8] but was later removed and cut up in Port Glasgow in 1956.

Wreck

Captayannis in 2006
  • Area: Sand bank between Greenock and Helensburgh
  • Location: Firth of Clyde Scotland UK
  • Position: 55°58′34″N 4°44′31″W / 55.97611°N 4.74194°W / 55.97611; -4.74194
  • Max. Depth: 9.00
  • Year Sank: 1974
  • How Sank: Hit anchor chain of another ship or hit the sandbank during a storm.
  • Condition: Substantially intact[9]

Notes

  1. ↑ "Single Ship Report for "5415212"". Miramar Ship Index. R.B.Haworth. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 "Inquiry into Clyde ship collision". The Glasgow Herald. 30 January 1974. p. 3. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  3. ↑ "MV Captayannis [+1974]". Wrecksite. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  4. ↑ "MV Captayannis". Secret Scotland. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Sugar Boat shipwreck: The River Clyde's unlikely landmark". BBC News. 14 October 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  6. ↑ "Side by side georeferenced maps viewer - Hydrographic Office: River Clyde, from Greenock to Dumbarton (1850); ESRI World Imager". National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
  7. ↑ "Captayannis (Sunken ship)". Globe Trotting. 19 August 2005. Retrieved 22 July 2007.
  8. ↑ Robert Jeffrey (6 November 2014). Scotland's Cruel Sea: Heroism and Disaster off the Scottish Coast. Black & White Publishing. p. 21. ISBN 978-1-84502-887-9.
  9. ↑ "Wreck Lookup". Chippenham Divers (BSAC1662). Retrieved 22 July 2007.

Media related to Captayannis (ship, 1946) at Wikimedia Commons

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