Word: lakonia
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Dates: during 1964-1964
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Though the Lakonia was 33 years old, she was on her first voyage under the Greek flag. As the Dutch liner Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, she had for years plied the route from Holland to the Netherlands East Indies, during World War II had served as a British troop ship. Unlike newer ships, her bulkheads below deck were wood-paneled and her wiring system was oldfashioned; three times, under the Dutch, the liner was hit with small fires that were easily brought under control. A year ago, with passenger traffic proving unprofitable, the Dutch owners sold the vessel to the Greek...
...Ringing Bells. Tragedy was the farthest thing from anyone's mind when the Lakonia left Southampton. Most of the passengers were elderly Britishers off to enjoy Christmas in the sun; three honeymoon couples were on board, as well as schoolboys joining their parents in Madeira and a group of five London taxi drivers on holiday. On the first day at sea, Captain Mathios Zarbis, 53, ordered the only boat drill held during the cruise. Only the constant trouble with the Lakonia's electrical system gave reason to suspect trouble ahead...
Memory Drums. The first distress message was tapped out at 11:30 p.m. and gave the Lakonia's position as 180 miles northwest of Madeira. Already, thick, billowing smoke was seeping from under the door of the barbershop, where the fire apparently had started. And by now, the flames had burned their way through the floor. So thick was the smoke that Passenger George Chapman was forced to grab a gas mask as he tried to force his way below to his sleeping three-year-old son Geoffrey. "I thought if I had to die, I wanted...
...shortly after Captain Zarbis gave the order to abandon ship, the last mayday message was flashed: "S O S from Lakonia. Last time. I cannot stay any more in the wireless cabin. We are leaving the ship. Please help immediately...
More than 3,000 miles away, the distress signals were picked up by a U.S. Coast Guard station. The Lakonia's position was immediately fed into an AMVER (Atlantic Merchant Vessel Report) computer, which plots the location, course and speed-and records such information as whether a doctor is on board-of some 850 merchant ships in the North Atlantic. Within moments, the computer's memory drums typed out the names of five vessels within 100 miles of the Lakonia, and urgent messages were flashed to them to proceed to the stricken liner. The five were the Argentine...