Greece recovers artefacts from Britannic wreck more than a century after sinking

Greece has announced the recovery of artefacts from the wreck of HMHS Britannic, the sister ship of the Titanic, more than a century after the vessel sank in the Aegean Sea during World War One.

An 11-member team of professional deep-sea divers using closed-circuit equipment carried out the operation in May, the culture ministry said. The recovery, organised by British historian Simon Mills, founder of the Britannic Foundation, was made public on Monday when the ministry released details of the objects brought to the surface.

Among the items retrieved and lifted using air bags were the ship's lookout bell, a portside navigation lamp, passenger binoculars, ceramic tiles from the ship's Turkish baths and fittings from first- and second-class cabins. A porcelain washbasin, found intact though encrusted with marine life, was recovered from a second-class cabin, the ministry said. Recovered objects were secured in containers, immediately cleaned of marine organisms and transferred to the laboratories of the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities in Athens for continued conservation work.

The ministry said some objects identified in the recovery plan could not be retrieved because of their condition or their location on the wreck. The items that have been conserved will eventually be displayed at the new National Museum of Underwater Antiquities in Piraeus in a section dedicated to World War One.

HMHS Britannic had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty to serve as a hospital ship during the First World War. On Nov. 16, 1916, the vessel struck a German mine off the Greek island of Kea and sank in under an hour. Of the 1,065 people on board, 30 died, including those who were pulled into the ship's propellers when two lifeboats were drawn against them.

The Britannic has long been of interest to historians and maritime archaeologists because of its size, its links to the White Star Line and its status as a wartime hospital ship. The wreck lies in the Aegean Sea and has been the subject of scientific and preservation-focused expeditions aimed at documenting and stabilising artefacts that can illuminate life aboard the ship and the circumstances of its loss.

The recovery represents a coordinated effort between international researchers, private foundations and Greek authorities to balance archaeological preservation with the challenges of working at deep-sea wreck sites. Conservation specialists in Athens will continue to stabilise and document the objects before they are scheduled for public display at the Piraeus museum, the culture ministry said.

Officials provided no timetable for the museum display, saying the pace of conservation work and the condition of particular objects would determine when they could be exhibited to the public.