The Greek Passengers of Titanic

By Danai Kanella

Now that Titanic 3D has been released, it raises some questions: how many stories were actually written and how many more have never been told about the world’s most famous ship? We all know how the orchestra played till the end as the heroic captain went down with his ship.
So this is another story, maybe less impressive and without the glamour of the well-known film adaptation, but that doesn’t mean it lacks interest. It is the tale of four Greeks, whose fate is related to that of the giant ship; the only Greek passengers of the Titanic.
Their names were Panagiotis Lymberopoulos, Vassilios Katavelos, Apostolos and Demetrios Chronopoulos, and they all came from the same village, Agios Sostis of Messinia. Like many of the passengers, the four friends were young – the oldest one was only 33 years old
– and they wanted to go to America in search of a better life. Unfortunately, their dream never came true. They all died during the most famous shipwreck in the navy’s history, with the bodies of the two brothers never to be found.

The memorial at Agios Sostis, Messinia

Lymberopoulos was the owner of a small factory in New York and visited his homeland for his son’s baptism. Despite his wife’s warning, he decided to return after the event, and took the Chronopoulos brothers with him. He was the only one who managed to be on one of the rescue boats since his knowledge of English helped him find his way to the deck. However, the boat was never found and all the passengers on it died from starvation. The irony of this being that he had changed his ticket, along with Katavelos, so the four could travel together on the Titanic.
In their village in Messinia, a small memorial stands inside the local church, revealing a small piece of history from the Titanic.