That's what was written by one of those who discovered the wreck. It is a letter to someone called Mike. Unfortunately, the photo he's talking about does not exist.
Mike,
We found the wreck in 1980, purely by accident. It was obviously a virgin, judging by the artifacts laying openly on the deck. Divers wouldn't leave these things laying around.[FONT="][/FONT]
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We enjoyed exploring the wreck for about a year and concluded that the ship had run into the reef at considerable speed. Dishes, bottles, and other items in the dinning room were strewn forward as if they had suffered impact at the bow of the ship. The steam whistle, on the smoke stack, was bent forward at a 45 degree angle. This is good indication that the ship came to a sudden stop.[FONT="][/FONT]
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After searching for the safe, inside the entire ship, we discovered it sitting on top of the deck in what seemed to be an expose place. Closer examination revealed the iron frameworks of cabins that had once enclosed the area. The iron members had been distorted by at fire and the wooden cabins had burned away.[FONT="][/FONT]
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The attached picture was taken just before we got the safe open. Unfortunately, it contained only ashes, however, the brass locking mechanism was interesting. It was marked with a scroll that stated "Makers To Her Majesty, Chubb & Sons". It also provided a serial number and an address on Church street in London. Being a Yank, the name Chubb didn't ring any bells with me, so I visited the address and found nothing resembling a lock company. I later discovered that they were, and still are, perhaps the largest lock makers in Europe. When I finally got the lock to them they had no record of who had purchased it but had noted it leaving their inventory in 1875.[FONT="][/FONT]
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We found a dinner plate in the dinning room that was marked with the name "Ionia". Thinking that this could be the name of the ship, we carefully took down all the hull measurements and engine information we could find. I took this information to "Lloyds Of London" and searched through their records, starting at 1918 and working backwards. I found a match that stated the ship had been sunk by a German submarine off of May Island in 1915. The name, the measurements, and the engine information fit perfectly. I discussed it with a Lloyds representative and they produced a registry of war losses from WW 1. I found the same ship listed, however this listing stated that the ship had been captured by a German submarine, rather than sunk. Lloyds had no more information on the vessel.[FONT="][/FONT]
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As the Germans and the Ottoman Turks were allies during WW 1, we made the assumption that they turned the prize over to them. The engine gauges were all of English manufacture, however Arabic numbers were crudely scratched into the brass faces to aid an Arab crew (I assume). The binnacle and compass were also English.[FONT="][/FONT]
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We found a napkin ring that bore the name of a shipping line based in Liverpool. I made a very small effort to find out something about them but came up with nothing. I can't remember the name, however I do remember seeing it years later noted in a book I was reading about the Englishman that found "Tut's" tomb. He had utilized the same shipping line in his travels between Egypt and the U.K. Somewhere I have a slide photo of the napkin ring and, if I can locate it, I'll forward a copy to you.[FONT="][/FONT]
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I've no doubts that the wreck is the Ionia, however the German/Turk connection is pure assumption. When we were building the NGL plant in 1980, we discovered several graves in the plant site. Other grave sites were also found along the coast at the industrial park. I talked to an old Arab that lived in the area and he said they were the graves of people that had washed up from the sea. He didn't know the year but said something had happened in the sea many years ago and, as the bodies washed ashore, the locals buried them. There may be no connection, however if you plot the prevailing winds form Shermo reef you could assume that bodies, resulting from a disaster that area, could reach the industrial park.[FONT="][/FONT]
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I might also mention that we found many champagne bottles, both empty and unopened. Unfortunately, the unopened bottles were tested and the contents tasted like sea water.[FONT="][/FONT]
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It was a fun wreck and it provided us a lot of pleasure. It has been fun researching and speculating on the history of the vessel. One interesting story is that one of my dive buddies, involved in the discovery and search of the wreck, is named De Barza. We found some bottles inside the dinning room marked "The De Barza Mineral Water Company". Needless to say, he was dumbfounded to find his name on a bottle from a wreck in the Red Sea. After contacting his family in New York, he learned that they had owned the De Barza Miniral Water Company in Hungary and WW 1 put them out of business. Afterwards, they imigrated to New York. This little side note also helps date the wreck.[FONT="][/FONT]
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Let me know if the picture comes through. Also, let me know what is happening in the Red Sea these days.[FONT="][/FONT]
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Thanks, Dan M.
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