Binoculars found in the wreckage of HMHS BritannicGreek Ministry of Culture and Sports
Posted on 09/25/2025 12:23:35 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
The sinking of the RMS Titanic is perhaps the most famous shipwreck in history, but its sister ship, the lesser-known HMHS Britannic, also suffered a tragic fate. During World War I, the luxury cruise liner was requisitioned as a hospital ship, the largest in the world at the time. As it was sailing through the Aegean Sea on November 21, 1916, it struck a mine and went down off the island of Kea in less than an hour. Thirty of the more than 1,000 people onboard perished when their lifeboats were hit by the ship's whirling propellers. The Associated Press reports that for the first time, a team of divers under the guidance of Greece's Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities has recovered artifacts from the wreck site more than a century later. The dive team retrieved the ship's bell, the port-side navigation light, and observation binoculars, among other items that were still lying on the seafloor 400 feet beneath the surface. After conservation work on these objects is finished, they are slated to go on permanent display in the new Museum of Underwater Antiquities in Piraeus, just outside of Athens. For more, go to "Archaeology of Titanic."
(Excerpt) Read more at archaeology.org ...
Binoculars found in the wreckage of HMHS BritannicGreek Ministry of Culture and Sports
The first of the three ships was The Olympic, hence the three were Olympic class. The other common bit of remarkable trivia is that a nurse who served on the Titanic wound up serving during wartime on the Brittanic, so she was on two of the three (the two that sank). Olympic saw service in WWI, returned to work as an oceanliner, then was retired in 1935, sold for scrap, and by 1939 was just a memory -- just in time for WWII.
Yup. Olympic class ships were White Star’s answer to the increased competition from Cunard. Ironically it was the Olympic class that brought the end to White Star, allowing Cunard to take over/absorb White Star.
One had "Titanic" written on the side, the other "Olympic" written on the side. 
Why is Titanic considered a sacred shrine from which nothing can ever be retrieved but the sister ship is a-okay to get stuff from?
Maybe 30 deaths out of 1000 makes it less of a grave?
That’ll buff right out.....................
There have been lots of items retrieved from the Titanic. I went to the exhibit in Vegas several years ago. They had dinnerware from all 3 passenger classes, luggage, money and ship components and lots of other items
I think a some of surviving stuff floated to shore, some was left behind at the pier, some was with survivors, I don’t know if anything was ever actually brought back up from the wreckage though. Could be wrong, not an expert.
Probably the much higher death toll.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMHS_Britannic#Evacuation
Oooh, didn’t remember this [snip] Violet Jessop (who was one of the survivors of the Titanic, and had also been on board when the Olympic collided with HMS Hawke) described the last seconds [/snip]. She sounds like a jinx. 😊
bkmk
bkmk
Lots of stuff has been brought up from Titanic, including a large piece of steel plate from the side of the ship.
The Britannic was 883 feet, it sank it 400 foot waters.
It sank intact so that means the bow would have hit the sea floor while the stern was still above water.
My grandfather was a sapper in World War 1 with the Canadian Engineers. He was discharged after being wounded in Belgium and returned to Halifax Canada from Liverpool on November 14th, 1917 aboard the Olympic. The Olympic left Halifax on December 1st, 1917 with Chinese nationals being sent to war as a Labor Battalion... 5 days before the Halifax Explosion on December 6th, 1917.
And on the 12th of January 1918 in New York, the Olympic took it's first compliment of American troops to the battlefields of Europe.
From the book: Carrying Canadian Troops: The Story of RMS Olympic as a First World War Troopship - David R. Gray Canadian War Museum 2002
On her 22nd troop-carrying voyage in late April 1918, en route from South Hampton to New York, a German submarine made an unsuccessful attack on Olympic. On her return from New York, Olympic turned the tables and rammed and sank U-103 in the English Channel. Some reports suggested that two submarines were destroyed in that interaction, but the second was not confirmed. Thus Olympic became the only troopship during the First World War to sink an enemy submarine.
Olympic in dazzle at Pier 2 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, painted by Arthur Lismer 1918.
Look up Arthur John Priest. He also was on the same ship Violet was on, plus 3 more
RMS Asturias (collision on her maiden voyage, 1908),
RMS Olympic (collision with HMS Hawke, 1911),
RMS Titanic (sunk by an iceberg, 1912),
HMS Alcantara (sunk in combat with SMS Greif, 1916),
HMHS Britannic (sunk by a mine, 1916),
SS Donegal (torpedoed by SM UC-27, 1917).
There was a 3rd guy, Archie Jewel who was also on those ships, but unfortunately his luck ran out and he was killed on Donegal.
Thanks!
“...their lifeboats were hit by the ship’s whirling propellers”
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