SS ''Alfios'', built as SS ''Bolivian'', was a B-class standard cargo ship built by the British government and later operated by the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

mercantile company

Theofano Maritime Theophano () may refer to: *Theophano of Athens Theophano ( gr, Θεοφανώ; died after 811) was the Empress consort of Staurakios of the Byzantine Empire. According to the chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor, Theophano was a relative of Irene ...

Characteristics

''Alfios'' was a cargo freighter which had a gross register tonnage of 3,154 GRT which measured long, broad, and tall. It was made of steel and was powered by three triple expansion engines made by Richardsons Westgarth which produced 517 nominal horsepower for a speed of 12 knots.

History

The ship was built as ''Bolivian'' in 1919 at

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, United Kingdom, by Irvine's Shipbuilding for Frederick Leyland & Company and was

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Chios Chios (; el, Χίος, Chíos , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greece, Greek list of islands of Greece, island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios is ...

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. In 1933, the ship became owned by N.G. Livanos and was renamed ''Alfios''. Later that year, it was obtained by Theofano Maritime, who would operate the ship until it sunk in 1946. On 24 April 1946, ''Alfios'' was in transit across the

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from

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to Halifax to pick up a shipment of pit props. While steaming near Sable Island, ''Alfios'' ran aground on a shallow spit of sand. A week after the ship was wrecked, on 1 May, HMCS ''Middlesex'' set out to rescue the 30 crew and 2 passengers stranded on ''Alfios''. ''Middlesex'' successfully rescued everyone aboard, bringing them to safety in

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. By 1 June 1946 ''Alfios'' was still firmly aground in the place where it wrecked, with its breeches buoy rigged from the deck to the shore. In the 1980s, the wreck was still visible from the air, and its position was precisely mapped by a Canadian Hydrographic Service survey.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alfios (1920) Cargo ships of Greece Merchant ships of the United Kingdom 1919 ships Maritime incidents in 1946 Standard World War I ships