MS Athina B
{{Short description|Merchant ship}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image= Athina B.jpg |Ship image size= 250px}} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country= Japan |Ship flag= 60px |Ship name= MS Kojima Maru |Ship owner= |Ship operator= |Ship ordered= |Ship builder= Ujina, Hiroshima |Ship yard number=479 |Ship laid down= |Ship launched= 1968 |Ship completed=March 1968 |Ship christened= |Ship renamed=*MS Hung Wei (1973)
|Ship acquired= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship homeport= |Ship fate= |Ship identification= {{IMO Number|6818148}} }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header=title |Ship country=Greece |Ship flag=60px |Ship name=MS Athina B |Ship in service= |Ship out of service=21 January 1980 |Ship renamed= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship honours= |Ship homeport=Piraeus |Ship fate=Scrapped February 1980 |Ship identification={{IMO|6818148}} }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class= |Ship tonnage= 3,468 tons |Ship displacement= |Ship length= {{convert|89.7|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |Ship beam= {{convert|12.8|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draught= |Ship draft= |Ship depth= |Ship ice class= |Ship sail plan= |Ship power= |Ship propulsion= |Ship speed= 12 knots |Ship capacity= |Ship crew= |Ship notes= }} |
The Athina B was a merchant ship. On 21 January 1980 she suffered engine failure in bad weather and beached at the English seaside resort of Brighton, to the east of the town's Palace Pier. The ship was a temporary tourist attraction, with the Volk's Electric Railway opening out of season to serve the large number of sightseers.[http://www.pastfinders.com/athena_b.htm Pastfinders] The anchor of the ship is on display on Brighton seafront.[https://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/places/placesea/athina-b/athina-b-9 My Brighton and Hove] Anchor A restaurant in Brighton bears the name of the ship[https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/17587103.athena-b-offers-free-meals-homeless/ The Argus] and a painting of Athena B by Dennis Roxby Bott is in Brighton Museum.[http://www.art.virtualmuseum.info/ag_20th/bott.asp Virtual Art Museum] Note incorrect spelling of name.
Career
Built as the Kojima Maru at Hiroshima in 1968, she initially sailed under the Japanese flag. She was renamed Hung Wei in 1973 and Nina Pa in 1976, before being sold and renamed the Athina B in 1979, sailing under the Greek flag.[http://www.miramarshipindex.org.nz/ship/list?IDNo=6818148&search_op=OR Miramar Ship Index – MS Athina B]
Final voyage
The Athina B left the Azores on 11 December 1979 laden with 3,000 tonnes of pumice. Her destination was the port at Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex. During the voyage, she had problems with her generator, gyro compass and radar, and put in at La Rochelle in France for repairs. On arrival at Shoreham on 20 January, force seven or eight winds meant she was unable to enter harbour. Her engines failed, and a Mayday call was issued. The Shoreham lifeboat Dorothy and Philip Constance took off half the crew and the captain's family, with the rest being rescued on the morning of 21 January. Four missions were needed to rescue all those on board. The ship drifted eastwards and eventually ran aground to the east of the Palace Pier. The ship broke her back and was declared a write-off.[https://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/places/placesea/athina-b/athina-b-4 My Brighton and Hove] Athina B article[https://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/places/placesea/athina-b/athina-b-7 My Brighton and Hove] The rescue[http://www.shorehamlifeboat.co.uk/athinab.html Shoreham Lifeboat] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515062511/http://www.shorehamlifeboat.co.uk/athinab.html |date=15 May 2008 }} website
Awards
Coxwain Ken Voice was awarded a RNLI Silver Medal; Crew members Ken Everard, Michael Fox, Peter Huxtable, John Landale, Jack Silverson and Geoff Tugwell were awarded the RNLI's Thanks of the Institution on Vellum; Crew members Peter Everard and Derek Silverson received letters of thanks signed by the director of the RNLI for their part in the rescue of the crew of the Athina B.
Salvage
The ship remained on the beach for a month, guarded by the police to prevent looting. After a mobile crane was used to remove the cargo, she was refloated and towed to a scrapyard at Rainham, Kent on 21 February 1980, where she was scrapped.[https://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/places/placesea/athina-b/athina-b-6 My Brighton and Hove] Guarding the wreck
See also
- MS Riverdance – ferry that ran aground at Blackpool on 31 January 2008.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20061127225611/http://www.terramedia.co.uk/fisherscircle/stair_cupboard/athena_b.htm Poem] about the incident
- [http://www.bikersassociationofnorthdevon.co.uk/projects/athenaB.htm Photo] of the beached ship
- [https://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/places/placesea/athina-b/athina-b-5 Photo Gallery]
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygWqxmfrL3g Video] Lifeboatman's story of the event
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20080216120133/http://www.shorehamlifeboat.co.uk/images/mayday.wav Recording] of the Athina B captain's Mayday call
{{Brighton and Hove}}
{{1980 shipwrecks}}
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Category:Merchant ships of Japan
Category:Merchant ships of Greece
Category:Maritime incidents in 1980
Category:Shipwrecks in the English Channel