This vessel was manufactured at Dutch shipyards on February 23th, 1961 and named “Niels Maersk”. In 1976 was renamed to “Atlas River” and in 1980, Greek ship owners bought and renamed it as “Marianna”.
It was a cargo ship with total capacity 3,000 g.t., 91 meters length and 15 meters width.
On July 24th, 1981 “Marianna” sailed from Red Sea to Piraeus impregnated with 41,000 bags barley, water supply pipes, pesticides and stainless metal sheets.
The ship crashed into a reef between Naxos and Paros, which called “Amaras”.
Seamen were rescued by another ship, “Panagia Mirtidiotissa”, which sailed in the point of shipwreck. Everybody rescued and got off with safety at Saint Anna’s port in Naxos Island.
After “Marianna” remained on dryly for certain months, blower up by experts in order to facilitate safe ship passage. The forward piece of boat lied in depth 24m and it has been changed to a… artificial reef in which enough species of fishes find shelter. As it is now, the crane of the ship is half a meter above the surface and the remaining part of the ship is 35meters long and 15meters width. Many big and smaller parts are on ruins next to the reef.
Max depth 23m
Bottom time 40m
Visibility 20 m
Average water temperature 21 C
Prior dive experience: Open water diver +20 dives
