subject: Evangelia Shipwreck - Almost Unchanged After 44 Years [print this page] "Evangelia shipwreck" ("The Costinesti Shipwreck") is the most well-known shipwreck on the Romanian coast. Evangelia was a merchant ship, constructed by the shipyard that built the famous Titanic, Harland and Wolff in Belfast, Ireland UK, and launched as early as May 28th, 1942 with its first name "Empire Strength".
Consequently the vesell held the names "Saxon Star", "Redbrook" and lately "Evangelia", its last owner being the Greek firm Hanton Embinas Andros.
Within the night of Oct 15th, 1968, on a heavy haze, Evangelia sailed very close to the coast and beached between 2 rocks at about 200m from coast in the vicinity of the locality Costinesti, in the place where it lies today. The place in which it beached is a very rocky one which could have made the recovery operations extremely expensive and maybe also dangerous. The vessel, that has been a very outdated ship at that moment, was left by the staff and so became the property of the Romanian state.
Shipwreck story is pretty suspect and a lot of tales have arisen in time. The most known is that the ship was the property of the famous rich shipowner Aristotle Onassis who, with the captain, would deliberate the wreck of Evangelia in order to get the insurance coverage. Intentionally sinking hypothesis can be reinforced by cons that, during the time of the foundering, even though haze seemed to be really thick, the sea has been really quiet and almost all navigation systems worked properly. The former Romanian communist government kept quiet around the circumstances when a Western Europe merchant vessel shipwrecked.
In the following years, Evangelia wreck had enticed an increasing number of holidaymakers leading to the improvement of the regional travel industry and thus turning out to be one of the most important emblems of the Costinesti resort. Though it is in an advanced state of degradation, Evanghelia shipwreck stubborn to stay on the surface, almost in the exact same status in which it shipwrecked.
In the event you stop by Costinesti, rent a motorboat to pay a visit to the wreck in the morning : it is pretty extraordinary. You may find several lodging options through more than 400 accommodation units in the village.
