Objects recovered from Titanic’s sister ship that sank off Kea

Divers have recovered artifacts for the first time from HMHS Britannic, the Titanic’s sister ship, which sank off the coast of Kea in 1916.

Originally built as one of three luxury liners at Belfast’s Harland and Wolff shipyard, the second being the ill-fated Titanic, the Britannic was converted into a floating hospital during the First World War.

It struck a German mine while sailing to Lemnos and went down in less than an hour. Of the 1,065 people on board, 30 died when the ship’s giant propellers pulled two lifeboats into their blades.

The mission was organized by the Britannic Foundation and took place from May 6 to 13, 2025, under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture.

The recovery, carried out in May 2025, was organized by British historian Simon Mills, founder of the Britannic Foundation, and supervised by the Greek Ministry of Culture’s Department of Underwater Antiquities.

In a statement, the ministry noted the operation faced “particularly difficult conditions due to strong currents, depth and limited visibility,” adding that some items originally targeted for recovery had to be left behind because of their location or fragile state of preservation.

Among the artifacts brought to the surface were the ship’s lookout bell, its portside signal lantern, portable equipment from first- and second-class areas, decorative ceramic tiles from a Turkish bath, and a pair of binoculars.