WWI Shipwreck Arcadian Found Off Sifnos

The British ocean liner Arcadian, which was torpedoed by a German U-boat during World War I, taking 279 men with it, has been discovered by researcher Kostas Thoktaridis and his team southeast of the island of Sifnos, at a depth of 163 meters.

The Arcadian was en route from Thessaloniki to Alexandria, Egypt, carrying 1,155 military personnel. During the voyage, the threat of an enemy submarine off Ikaria forced it to navigate through the Cyclades to avoid detection.

The Arcadian was sailing at a speed of 13.5 knots, accompanied by the escort ship HMS Sentinel. On April 15, 1917, the convoy was between Sifnos, Antiparos, Sikinos, and Folegandros, when the Arcadian was struck by a torpedo launched by the German submarine UC-74 at 5.44 p.m., resulting in a devastating explosion.

“The quality of the primary metals used in the construction of the Arcadian has certainly played an important role in the preservation of the wreck to this day,” Thoktaridis told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA).

“It appears that the bow of the Arcadian initially struck the bottom of the Aegean, causing noticeable deformations of the hull plates. Due to the ship’s length (152.4 meters) and the sea depth of only 163 meters, the force of the bow’s impact helped to align the hull on the seabed,” he added.