LAKONIA, GREECE

        Dimitrios

                          This wrecked ghost ship has       been rusting

 on a Greek beach since the    1980s. 

Dimitrios. ELENA AMABILI (ATLAS OBSCURA USER)

This abandoned ship rots along a beautiful stretch of sand, the tide lapping at its rusting exterior. The vessel’s appearance on the Greek beach is almost as strange as the rumors that surround its history.

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Built in Denmark in 1950 as Klintholm, the 220-foot (67-meter) freight ship was later acquired by a Greek company, which changed its name to Dimitrios. The ship was moored in Gythio in 1980 and remained abandoned at the dock for about a year.

In 1981, the ship—which had been declared unsafe to use—broke free during rough weather. The uncrewed ghost ship sailed aimlessly throughout the Laconian Gulf for over a month until it finally became stranded on the shore where it rests today.

The abandoned ship is made even more alluring by the rumors that surround it. Some claim the vessel ferried goods as part of an illegal tobacco trade between Italyand Turkey and was later burned to hide the evidence.

Know Before You Go

The wreck of the Dimitrios is very easy to reach from the Provincial Road Skalas-Githiou. Beware of the collapsing floor if you manage to get inside.