First artifacts recovered from the Titanic's sister ship Britannic
Deep-sea divers recovered the first-ever artifacts from the wreck of the Titanic's sister ship, the Britannic.
Deep-sea divers recovered a tranche of artifacts from the Britannic for the first time during an expedition in May that was first publicized on Monday. Photo by Greek Ministry of Culture/Facebook UPI
Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Deep-sea divers recovered the first-ever artifacts from the wreck of the Titanic's sister ship, the Britannic.
The 11-member crew was able to recover the ship's observation bell, the left signal fan, several objects from the first and second cabins, ceramic tiles from the decoration of the Turkish bath that had come unglued and a pair of observation glasses, Greece's Ministry of Culture said.
Simon Mills, the founder of the Brittanic Foundation, led the expedition, which took place in May but was publicized for the first time on Monday.
The artifacts were recovered during an operation in May by 11 deep-sea divers with closed-circuit equipment organized by the founder of the Britannic Foundation, Simon Mills.
The items were immediately cleaned and transferred to the laboratories of the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities in Athens. They will ultimately go on display at the new National Museum of Underwater Antiquities in Piraeus.
The Britannic was the third of the White Star Line company's Olympic class of steamships and it was turned into a hospital ship by the British Admiralty during the war.
The boat sank on Nov. 16, 1916, when it struck a German Mine, 1,065 people were on board and 30 died while two lifeboats were pulled into the ship's propellers.
