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Syrna (island)
Syrna ( el, Σύρνα; anciently, Syrnos ( grc, Σύρνος) or Sirna or Agios Ioannis, is a small island about 4 km2 in area to the south-east of Astypalaia in the Dodecanese group of Greek islands, situated to the south-east of the country. It is mostly covered with juniper and garrigue scrub. The few inhabitants raise stock, catch fish and practice arable agriculture. The island is important for migrant and breeding seabirds and raptors, including Cory's shearwater, yelkouan shearwater and Eleonora's falcon. History A shipwreck of the late Roman period (2nd century CE) was found using sonar technology near the island by the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research in 2000. On 7 December 1946, the ship ''Athina Rafiah'' (originally the SS ''Athena'') carrying Jewish immigrants to Israel was wrecked in the Agiou Soassin Bay, on the south coast of Syrna, and more than seven hundred survivors came ashore on the island. The British minesweeper HMS ''Providence'', working with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astypalaia
Astypalaia (Greek: Αστυπάλαια, ), is a Greek island with 1,334 residents (2011 census). It belongs to the Dodecanese, an archipelago of fifteen major islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea. The island is long, wide at the most, and covers an area of 97 km2."Astypalaia" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 651. Along with numerous smaller uninhabited offshore islets (the largest of which are Sýrna and Ofidoussa), it forms the Municipality of Astypalaia, which is part of the Kalymnos regional unit. The municipality has an area of 114.077 km2. The capital and the previous main harbour of the island is Astypalaia or Chora, as it is called by the locals. Name Astypalea was believed to be named after Astypalaea, an ancient Greek mythological figure. The island is known in Italian as ''Stampalia'' and in Ottoman Turkish as ''İstanbulya'' (استانبوليه) Geography The coasts ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SS Athena
''Athena'' was a 50 m long passenger steamship built in 1893 at the Syros (later Neorion) Shipyards. It was the first metal steamship built at this shipyard, and it represented an example of the brief growth of Greek shipbuilding in the late 19th century, before its decline in the next decades. The ship was powered by a steam engine built by the Ifaistos machine works in Piraeus, the second largest machine builder in the country (after Basileiades) at the time; Ifaistos was founded by John McDowall, a Scottish entrepreneur who had worked in Greece and had obtained Greek citizenship, and was the main builder of ship steam engines in Greece. This ship (renamed ''Rafiah'') sank in 1946 in a tragic accident off the Greek island of Syrna Syrna ( el, Σύρνα) is a mountain village and a community in the municipal unit of Trikolonoi, western Arcadia, Greece. Syrna is situated on a mountain slope above the right bank of the river Alfeios, at about 800 m elevation. In 2011 Syrna ha ... ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Islands Of The South Aegean
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or a lake island may be called an eyot or ait, and a small island off the coast may be called a holm. Sedimentary islands in the Ganges delta are called chars. A grouping of geographically or geologically related islands, such as the Philippines, is referred to as an archipelago. There are two main types of islands in the sea: continental and oceanic. There are also artificial islands, which are man-made. Etymology The word ''island'' derives from Middle English ''iland'', from Old English ''igland'' (from ''ig'' or ''ieg'', similarly meaning 'island' when used independently, and -land carrying its contemporary meaning; cf. Dutch ''eiland'' ("island"), German ''Eiland'' ("small island")). However, the spelling of the word ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMS Javelin (F61)
HMS ''Javelin'' was a J, K and N-class destroyer, J-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. Construction and career ''Javelin'' was laid down by John Brown & Company, John Brown and Company, Limited, at Clydebank in Scotland on 11 October 1937, launched on 21 December 1938, and commissioned on 10 June 1939 with the pennant number F61. In May 1940, during Dunkirk evacuation, Operation Dynamo, ''Javelin'' and other destroyers rescued survivors from the sinking of . At the end of November 1940 the 5th Destroyer Flotilla, consisting of HMS ''Jupiter'', ''Javelin'', ''Jackal'', ''Jersey'', and ''Kashmir'', under Captain Lord Louis Mountbatten, was operating off Plymouth, England. The flotilla engaged the German destroyers German destroyer Z10 Hans Lody, ''Hans Lody'', German destroyer Z4 Richard Beitzen, ''Richard Beitzen'', and German destroyer Z20 Karl Galster, ''Karl Galster''. ''Javelin'' was badly damaged by Naval artillery, gunfire and torpedoes fired by the German destroyers, lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMS Hursley (L84)
HMS ''Hursley'' was a Second World War Type II Hunt-class escort destroyer of the British Royal Navy. She is the only Royal Navy ship to have carried this name. Hursley is a village in Hampshire. Commissioned in 1942, she served in the Mediterranean, before being transferred to the Hellenic Navy in November 1943 and renamed ''Kriti''. She took part in the landings in Sicily, Anzio, and southern France, and remained in Greek service until 1959. Construction ''Hursley'' was ordered with 15 others of the same type on 20 December 1939 as part of the War Emergency Programme. The ship was laid down by Swan Hunter at Wallsend on 21 December 1940 as Admiralty Job No. J4139, launched on 25 July 1941, and completed on 2 April 1942. Service history HMS ''Hursley'' After sea trials ''Hursley'' was commissioned for service on 2 April 1942. She sailed for Scapa Flow for training, and then joined the escort for Russian Convoy PQ 15 to Murmansk and back. Assigned to the Eastern Fleet, in Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lawrence Durrell
Lawrence George Durrell (; 27 February 1912 – 7 November 1990) was an expatriate British novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer. He was the eldest brother of naturalist and writer Gerald Durrell. Born in India to British colonial parents, he was sent to England at the age of eleven for his education. He did not like formal education, but started writing poetry at age 15. His first book was published in 1935, when he was 23. In March 1935 he and his mother and younger siblings moved to the island of Corfu. Durrell spent many years thereafter living around the world. His most famous work is ''The Alexandria Quartet,'' published between 1957 and 1960. The best-known novel in the series is the first, '' Justine''. Beginning in 1974, Durrell published ''The Avignon Quintet,'' using many of the same techniques. The first of these novels, '' Monsieur, or the Prince of Darkness,'' won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1974. The middle novel, '' Constance, or Solitary Prac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMS Chevron
HMS ''Chevron'' was a destroyer of the Royal Navy that was in service from August 1945 to the 1960s. She was scrapped in 1969. Construction The Royal Navy ordered ''Chevron'' on 24 July 1942, one of eight Ch-class "Intermediate" destroyers of the 1942 Programme. She was laid down at Alexander Stephen and Sons, Limited, Glasgow, Scotland, on 18 March 1943, and launched 23 February 1944. She was commissioned on 23 August 1945, too late for World War II. Her first captain was Lt.Cdr. John Fitzroy Duyland Bush, DSC, RN, from 19 January 1945. The yard also built her sister ship, . Service After the War ''Chevron'' was allocated the pennant number D51. On 9 December 1946, as part of the 'Palestine Patrol', tasked with intercepting illegal Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine, ''Chevron'' and the minesweeper arrived at the small island of Syrna in the Dodecanese group of Greek islands, to rescue survivors of the coal-fired, ~650 gross tonne ''Athina Rafiah'', carrying Jewish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMS Providence (J325)
HMS ''Providence'' was a reciprocating engine-powered during the Second World War. Laid down as HMCS ''Forrest Hill'' for the Royal Canadian Navy she was transferred on completion to the Royal Navy as HMS ''Providence''. She survived the war and was scrapped in 1958. Design and description The reciprocating group displaced at standard load and at deep load The ships measured long overall with a beam of . They had a draught of . The ships' complement consisted of 85 officers and ratings.Lenton, p. 261 The reciprocating ships had two vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, using steam provided by two Admiralty three-drum boilers. The engines produced a total of and gave a maximum speed of . They carried a maximum of of fuel oil that gave them a range of at . The ''Algerine'' class was armed with a QF Mk V anti-aircraft gunChesneau, p. 65 and four twin-gun mounts for Oerlikon 20 mm cannon. The latter guns were in short supply when the first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eleonora's Falcon
Eleonora's falcon (''Falco eleonorae'') is a medium-sized falcon. It belongs to the hobby group, a rather close-knit number of similar falcons often considered a subgenus ''Hypotriorchis''. The sooty falcon is sometimes considered its closest relative, but while they certainly belong to the same lineage, they do not seem to be close sister species. The English name and the species name ''eleonorae'' commemorate Eleanor of Arborea, Queen or Lady-Judge () and national heroine of Sardinia, who in 1392, under the jurisdiction conferred by the Carta de Logu, became the first ruler in history to grant protection to hawk and falcon nests against illegal hunters. The genus name ''falco'' is from Late Latin ''falx'', ''falcis'', a sickle, referring to the claws of the bird. Description Eleonora's falcon is a bird of prey, long with an wingspan. It is shaped like a large Eurasian hobby or a small slender peregrine falcon, with its long pointed wings, long tail and slim body. There ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dodecanese
The Dodecanese (, ; el, Δωδεκάνησα, ''Dodekánisa'' , ) are a group of 15 larger plus 150 smaller Greek islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean, off the coast of Turkey's Anatolia, of which 26 are inhabited. This island group generally defines the eastern limit of the Sea of Crete. They belong to the wider Southern Sporades island group. Rhodes has been the area's dominant island since antiquity. Of the others, Kos and Patmos are historically the more important; the remaining twelve are Agathonisi, Astypalaia, Halki, Kalymnos, Karpathos, Kasos, Leipsoi, Leros, Nisyros, Symi, Tilos, and Kastellorizo. Other islands in the chain include Alimia, Arkoi, Farmakonisi, Gyali, Kinaros, Levitha, Marathos, Nimos, Pserimos, Saria, Strongyli and Syrna. Name The name "Dodecanese" (older form ἡ Δωδεκάνησος, ''hē Dōdekanēsos''; modern τα Δωδεκάνησα, ''ta Dōdekanēsa''), meaning "The Twelve Islands", or ''Oniki Adalar'' in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yelkouan Shearwater
upright=0.8, Egg of the yelkouan shearwater The yelkouan shearwater, Levantine shearwater or Mediterranean shearwater (''Puffinus yelkouan'') is a medium-sized shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It was formerly treated as a subspecies of the Manx shearwater (''Puffinus puffinus''). Taxonomy The yelkouan shearwater was formally described in 1827 by the Italian naturalist Giuseppe Acerbi from specimens collected in the Bosphorus, Turkey. He placed the shearwater in the genus ''Procellaria'' and coined the binomial name ''Procellaria yelkouan''. The yelkouan shearwater is now placed in the genus ''Puffinus'' was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. The genus name ''Puffinus'' is New Latin based on the English "puffin". The specific ''yelkouan'' is the Turkish word "wind chaser" for a shearwater. The yelkouan shearwater is considered to be monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the Manx shear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cory's Shearwater
Cory's shearwater (''Calonectris borealis'') is a large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It breeds colonially of rocky islands in the eastern Atlantic. Outside the breeding season it ranges widely in the Atlantic. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with Scopoli's shearwater. Taxonomy Cory's shearwater was formally described in 1881 by the American ornithologist Charles B. Cory from a specimen collected off Chatham Island, Massachusetts. He coined the binomial name ''Puffinus borealis''. Cory's shearwater is now placed in the genus ''Calonectris'' that was introduced in 1915 by the ornithologists Gregory Mathews and Tom Iredale. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek ''kalos'' meaning "good" or "noble" with the genus name ''Nectris'' that was used for shearwaters by the German naturalist Heinrich Kuhl in 1820. The name ''Nectris'' comes from the Ancient Greek ''nēktris'' meaning "swimmer". The specific epithet ''borealis'' is Latin and means "north". ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
