| More information : Wreck Site and Archaeological Remains:
Vertical datum: Unknown
Horizontal datum: WGS 84
Quality of fix: Found by echo-sounder and surveyed using EDM
Charted as VARVASSI, 'partial wreck' in the Marine zone
Lies in position 50°39.72N, 001°35.64W in a general depth of 4m. (1)
Orientation: 22° (1)
'Well broken and spread about... depth 10m, Location: W of Needles.' (2, comment J Lettens)
The wreck had been 'blown up and well salvaged. [With] only two boilers and other wreckage remaining' by May 1969, but despite this was struck by several smaller vessels between 1975 and 1983. (1)
By 1988, 'much of the wreck [had] fallen off the bridge into deeper water', and in 1990 the most prominent parts seen in shallow water were the 'boiler, girder, main engine frame and, and prop and crank shafts, all within 150mof Needles Lighthouse and having a depth of 1m [MLWS]. Another boiler in similar area [was] awash at MLWS [and] part of the wreckage [lay] within designated area for adjacent historic wreck.' Her Dangerous Wreck status was removed. (1) A probable dive report of the same year described her remains as follows:
'Two boilers, on ends like squat tins of beans, triple expansion engine, stern tube and cast iron prop. Bow of the ship and much of her framework lie in deeper water to the SW of the propulsion machinery.' (1, citing B Price, later in Yachting World, August 1998).
'Even today some of her girders remain a danger to shipping.' (2)
The wreck of the VARVASSI is well known but seldom dived, as she lies within an area which contains the protected wrecks of HMS ASSURANCE and HMS POMONE on Goose Rock, and a licence is needed to dive the site. The remains lie scattered on the Bridge Reef in about 6m, some of it in deeper water on the north eastern part of the reef. Two of her boilers can sometimes be seen awash at low spring water tides. Contemporary reports and photographs clearly show the wreck in the position stated. (8)
Wreck Event and Documentary Evidence:
Prior History:
Primary Sources:
Report of Survey for Repairs &c. No.103934, for VARVASSI, ex MOSCHA D KYDONIEFS.
'Damage stated to have been caused by contact with SS JOHN BIDWELL on 9th May 1943 in the vicinity of Trip Cook Point [sic, for Tripcock Point], in River Thames, passage from Canada to London in loaded condition. As a result of above, this vessel was sunk and subsequently refloated. Temporary repairs were effected (see [illegible, due to being masked by previous page in digitisation] . . . on Report No.113341) and the vessel was towed to Blyth, where, after the removal of mud and wire cleaning, the vessel was dry docked and permanent repairs effected.' (22)
'WHAT WAR HAS MEANT TO MERSEY SHIPS: FIRST DETAILS OF LOSS AND DAMAGE.
'With the removal of censorship restrictions, it is now possible to disclose some part of what the European War has meant to Mersey shipping . . .
"Normal" hazards: Casualties not due to enemy action have been heavy during the war years . . . They included the following . . . . MOSCHA D KYDONIEFS (3,874 [tons]) . . . ' (23)
Secondary Sources:
09-MAY-1943: Vessel MOSCHA D KYDONIEFS, registered at Andros, inbound to London from St. John's Newfoundland with grain and general cargo when involved in collision. 'Extensively damaged on port side amidships after a collision when proceeding up the Thames with the American SS JOHN BIDWELL. Taken in tow, placed inshore at Gallions Buoy and sunk. Hatches covered at high water, cargo discharged, and vessel to be raised and drydocked.' (20)
Wreck Event:
Primary Sources:
'Abandon Ship' Order To Crew Of Tangerine Freighter
Afer remaining aboard all night in fog, snow and rough seas, the master of VARVASSI, a Greek freighter on the Needles Rocks, Isle of Wight, this morning gave the order to abandon ship. The tug, CALSHOT, which had been standing by throughout the night in the hope of towing the vessel off, gave this signal to Southampton: "VARVASSI making water all holds. Ship being abandoned. Standing by to assist." The VARVASSI had a cargo of 300 tons of tangerines for Southampton and ore for Boulougne. She went ashore yesterday when she was making for the Needles channel to meet the pilot. When the "abandon ship" message was received, Yarmouth (Isle of Wight) lifeboat went out at 6 a.m. today for the third time in 24 hours to the assistance of the VARVASSI. The lifeboat took off the majority of the crew in heavy rain.' (10)
'CREW ABANDON SHIP - Lifeboat's Fight in Huge Seas
Battling against tremendous seas, which broke clean over the Greek freighter VARVASSI as she lay stranded on the Needles Rocks, the Yarmouth (Isle of Wight) lifeboat to-day took off the crew of 35, the pilot, and a salvage officer. The crew were landed at Yarmouth, but had to leave behind all their personal effects, including pet cats and canaries. Only one British subject, fireman A. Craig, of Glasgow, is among the crew - the others are Greeks and South Americans. The ship is now making water in all holds. The VARVASSI (3,874 tons) has a cargo of 300 tangerines, and was bound for Southampton. She went ashore yesterday morning when she was making for the Needles Channel to meet the pilot.' (11)
Large b/w photograph of the VARVASSI 'being pounded by heavy seas after hitting the rocks near the Needles Lighthouse'. 'At the first high tide she was still aground, tugs having failed to refloat her, and after five days she was reported to be breaking up.' (12)
'Tangerines salvaged. Four thousand cases of tangerines - approximately one-eighth of the 300 tons aboard the Greek steamer VARVASSI, which recently went aground off the Needles (I.O.W.) , have so far been salvaged.' (13)
'Large casks of wine, each weighing over a ton, were last night afloat in The Solent, and are a danger to small shipping. They are from the wrecked 3,874-ton steamer VARVASSI.' (14)
'The rough seas during the past week resulted in a number of 100-gallon casks of wine, as well as hundreds of tangerines, both in boxes and loose, being washed ashore from the Greek steamer VARVASSI, which was wrecked and abandoned off the Needles 11 weeks ago, some of the casks and a lot of the tangerines reaching Barton and Milford beaches.' (15)
'Shipping Snag. - Shipping has been warned that heavy baulks of iron-bound timber are adrift in the Solent. This follows the break up of the Greek steamer....' (16)
Report of Total Loss, Casualty, &c. for the SS VARVASSI of Piraeus, No.89462 in R.B. Supplementary:
12-FEB-1947: Stranded on a rocky bottom near the Needles Lighthouse on the 5th January, 1947. All holds, engine and boiler rooms were common to the sea. Shell plating on the starboard side and the decks, fore and aft, were buckled. Distortion indicated bottom heavily seet up, and owing to bad weather the salvage contract was abandoned. In reply to the special casualty notice, the London Agents state that their surveyor considers that, even if the vessel is refloated, it will not be an economical proposition to repair her and he recommends that she be regarded as a total loss.They have abandoned her to the Underwriters and they believe it is intended to sell the steamer as she lies for breaking up purposes.' (21)
Subsequent records of the Wreck:
In July 1973, a 25 foot open fishing boat was holed by the wreck of the VARVASSI. However, four divers were able to raise the sunken boat with slings around the hull and the boat was returned to Yarmouth. (17)
'History of the wreck S.S. VARVASSI. Solent Protection Society Contribution.
'When the Greek-owned S.S. VARVASSI, of 3,874 tons bound from Algiers to Southampton, inexplicably ran on the rocks near the Needles Lighthouse at 7 a.m. on Sunday, January 5th, 1947, in fine clear weather, she gave the local lifeboat a lot of trouble. At first the master of the steamer declined any help as the crew were in no immediate danger and tugs had been ordered from Southampton. At seven in the evening, when the wind had freshened until it was blowing half a gale from the south-east, with rain and a heavy sea running, the lifeboat had to go out again in response to signals from VARVASSI, there was a Trinity House Pilot aboard, and salvage officers, and the lifeboat was asked to stand by. They sheltered in Alum Bay until 2.30 a.m. on the 6th, when they returned to Yarmouth after seven hours afloat in heavy seas and freezing rain and occasional flurries of snow.
'At 6 a.m. on Monday morning VARVASSI signalled that those on board wished to be taken off at once. What would have been a simple job earlier was now difficult and dangerous. Seas were running high over the steamer and pouring down on the lifeboat as she came along the lee side of the wreck. The boat rose and fell 14 ft., as she lay alongside; but the 35 men aboard were safely transferred, taken to Yarmouth, given food and dry clothing, and sent on to Southampton for the Greek Consul to look after them.
'The wreck of the VARVASSI has been a nuisance ever since. Repeatedly, small pleasure craft manned by weekend sailors have hit it. Fishing boats cutting the corner too closely have done the same thing.
'For three years the Solent Protection Society tried to get the wreck marked in some way. They built up a fat file of correspondence with Trinity House, the Department of Trade and Industry, and the Department of the Environment. They were also in touch with the West Sussex Coroner. He had been concerned with an incident where a boat hit a wreck near the entrance to Chichester Harbour, leading to loss of life, and was pressing the Department of the Environment to make harbour authorities responsible for marking their approaches.
'The Solent Protection Society considered marking the VARVASSI wreck themselves. They obtained an estimate for welding a steel upright to the existing wreckage with a topmark on it. However, it was found that the Society would be responsible for maintaining such a mark - perhaps having to send a diver down to check the fastenings. Not only that, they would be liable for any damage done to a boat through hitting their mark - and to insure against this risk was prohibitive.
'On the weekend of August 23/24 this year [1975] the Coastguard reported three separate incidents concerned with the VARVASSI wreck. A wooden craft of fishing-boat type called OFFCUTS had to be beached at Alum after hitting it. The crew were said to have been trying to read a notice which refers to another wreck where there are diving restrictions.' The other vessels were CHEKKA, and GAY MARIE II, both plastic motor launches.
'The Solent Protection Society has now made an under-water survey of the VARVASSI wreck. ...., an experienced diver who serves on the Council of the Society, has been out there with a boat and equipment to make a thorough examination. He reports that there were two hunks of the wrecked vessel which caused all the trouble. The rest has disintegrated - apart from two tanks lodged in the rocks. The main hazard was a girder which stuck up at almost all states of the tide. There was also the engine block - well under water at most states of tide and therefore rarely a hazard. The girder is now flat on the sea-bed having been broken off in these latest icidents, and no longer constitutes a hazard. The engine block is only a limited hazard at the lowest tides.
'He found pinnacles of rock reaching up from the bottom which are a hazard and may have caused some of the damage that has been blamed in the past on the remains of the VARVASSI.
'However, the principal culprit, the almost lethal girder, has been removed - ironically by one of the vessels that the Solent Protection Society had been worried about, and campaigned to protect by providing a sea mark. The rocks, and the engine block of the wreck, may still claim a curious mariner attempting to read the small type of the 'The Needles notice.' (18)
December 1998: 'The VARVASSI now lies in four main hulks.' (19)
Secondary Sources:
'Owned at the time of loss by Mrs J Chandris . . . Passage from Bona for Southampton and Boulogne. Went aground in clear weather when the ship drifted out of control while picking up a pilot. Salvage attempted but failed. Crew recovered.' (1, quoting Source 3)
'The Greek steamship stranded just 100 yards from the Needles Lighthouse when the ship drifted out of control while picking up a pilot. A Yarmouth motor launch put salvage officer Barker on board, and for 3 hours the large Southampton tug CALSHOT tried to pull her clear without success . . . the next day the [Yarmouth] lifeboat was called out [for the third time since the vessel stranded - Source 4] and this time saved all 35 crew and the salvage officer.' (4)
'When VARVASSI approached Island waters, the captain stopped her engines in order to pick up the pilot, but was unable to start them again. VARVASSI then drifted out of control, as a light gale hit.' (2)
The 7 heifers on board were not allowed to be brought ashore, but were fed and watered by the captain of the vessel, until a slaughterer could be brought on board to dispatch them. (5)
Source 5 shows a picture of the vessel stranded near the light house, and of three local men aboard the ship in January 1947.
The lifeboat crew made three attempts to take the crew off the VARVASSI, but were sent back as not required; and after some 7 hours of sailing back and forth between the vessel and base, finally effected a rescue on the morning of the following day. (5) The source describes the efforts of locals to clothe and offer accommodation to the crew of the ship, and reproduces customs reports pertaining to her cargo.
Commentary and Interpretive Detail:
There are two entries for this vessel in the Shipwreck Index of the British Isles, as VARVASSI under her final resting place of the Needles in Vol.2, Section 2 (Isle of Wight), source (4), and as MOSCHA D KYDONIEFS under the collision event of 1943 in Vol.2, Section 7 (Thames), source (20).
Built: 1915 (4)(6)(20); Laid down as RYNFIELD 1914 (9)
Builder: Northumberland Ship Building Company Limited (4)(20)
Where built: Newcastle-upon-Tyne (4)(3)(20); Howdon-on-Tyne (6); Howdon yard, yard no. 223 (9)
Registration number: 136812
Measurements: Length 114.5 x 15.8 x 7.2m (1); Breadth 114.54 x 15.82 x 7.22m (4); Depth 114.4 x 15.8m (6); 2412nrt, 375.2 x 51.9 x 23.7ft (9)
Tonnage: 3874 (4)(3); 3863 (6)(9)
Propulsion: Screw-driven 3-cylinder triple expansion engine (4)(20); Single screw (3)
Engines by: North-Eastern Marine Engineering Co Ltd, Wallsend (9)
Boilers: 2 (4); 3 (20)
HP: 371 (4)(3)(20)
Speed: 10 knots (6)
Crew: 35 (4)
Ownership / Registration details:
Cargo: 24, 774 baskets of mandarin oranges, 438 casks of Algerian wine, 6,000 tons of iron-ore. Live cattle on board were for fresh meat and not cargo. (5)
1914 - RYNFIELD (laid down as, Source 2)
1915 - BRONZE WINGS, owned by N Hallett and Company (7); 13/03/1915: owned by Wing Steamship Co Ltd (Norman Hallet & Co), London (9)
1917 - Renamed NOELLE, owned by P Samuel and Company (7); Universal Steam Navigation Co Ltd (P Samuel & Co), London (9)
1922 - Renamed LADY CHARLOTTE, owned by L Lougher and Company (7); Redcroft Steam Navigation Co (1921) Ltd, (Lewis Lougher & Co Ltd, managers), London (9)
1936 - Renamed MOSCHA D. KYDONIEFS, owned by D A Kydoniefs (7)(20); D A Kydoniefs, Andros, Greece (9)
1946 - Renamed VARVASSI, owned by E J Chandris (7), registered in Piraeus (3); Evgenia J Chandris, Piraeus (9)
Date of Loss Qualifier: Actual date of loss
Additional sources cited in Shipwreck Index of the British Isles:
As VARVASSI (Vol.2, Section 2, Isle of Wight):
Lloyd's List 06.01.1947 (vessel stranded); 6-10.01; 17.01; 16.04 (cargo washing up); 23.04 (Back broken); 29.12.47 (completely broken up); 29.12 (abandoned as total wreck); Medland, S. 1986, 'Shipwrecks of the Wight'.
As MOSCHA D KYDONIEFS (Vol. 2, Section 7, Thames):
LCR.1942-3
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