If you were told that there was an island somewhere that became Popis, your mind would surely go either to Mykonos or to Santorini or to one of the famous
Greek islands that are literally flooded during the summer months with people who visit them to enjoy their beauty, swim in their clear blue waters and of course have fun.
And yet the islet that literally became Popis is located a breath away from Attica and more specifically just 700 meters from the tip of Vouliagmeni also known as Laimos.
It is about the rock island called Kasidas and apparently this island got its name because it is a completely rocky island.
But let’s find out in detail its history and how the well-known expression “It became Pope’s” came about
Watch the video and get to know his story:
The story of Popi from pireorama
In the year 1920, a converted passenger steamer of 408 square meters became the property of the “Continental Steamship” of Potamianos and bears the name “Popi”.
“Popi” was an old schooner, which when it joined Potamiano’s company was already forty years old. She had started as a private pleasure yacht and after constantly changing owners she ended up being converted into a cruise ship.
On November 27, 1934, the “Popi” set sail on the islet “Kassidi” which is about three hundred meters from the rock islets “Fleves” and one mile after the cape “Mikros Kavouri” which is none other than the cape that extends after the Neck of Vouliagmeni .
The ship was loaded, at least officially, with 122 passengers (that was the number of tickets that had been issued, while it would later turn out that the passengers reached 140 as many had issued a ticket on board) but also with goods – including cheese – and a captain George Pilalis.
The ship would run the route of Piraeus, Syros, Paros, Naoussa of Paros, Naxos, Folegandros, Sikinos, Oia, Ios, Thira, Anafi, Amorgos, Aegiali, Schinoussa, Heraklia, Koufonisia, and return via Naxos, Paros, Syros, to he once sailed to Piraeus from where he departed!
When the “Popi” ran aground, both the ship’s officers and the crew made sure to give priority to unloading the cheeses the ship was carrying on the rocky island, rather than rescuing the passengers.
After the grounding it began to list to the right while its passengers tried to save themselves. No one was found to lead them on deck to safety. This absence of the crew in the hour of danger increased the confusion, while a voice in the darkness was heard: “We are drowning, save yourself as you can.”
Although the ship never fully sank, eleven passengers drowned in the panic that ensued. Three gendarmes who were found accompanying prisoners in Anafi, turned on flashlights with which the people were able to see and get out. One instruction was enough for the passengers to get out and disembark literally by simply walking to the nearby land of the rocky islet of “Kassidio”.
It should be noted that the steamship “Popi” did not have a wireless telegraph device.
The grounding of the ship, among other things, caused the strong protest of the Association of Radiotelegraphers who issued a protest “because of what happened to the A/P “Popin” but mainly because of the fact that the coastal vessels until then did not carry a wireless telegraph.
The panic that prevailed during the abandonment of the ship, as the impact occurred at night, there was no help from the crew, the ship did not have a telegraph, was deeply etched forever in the memory of the maritime world and the islanders so that the expression “became the “Pope” ””, became synonymous with the panic and disorder of the night of the shipwreck.
And not only that, but after the ship was towed to Piraeus and repaired with only a few repairs, it was launched on the line Patras, Zakynthos, Argostoli, Lixouri.
Soon, however, the “Popi” ran aground on this line as well, putting its passengers in immediate danger for the second time. They said that due to the high center of gravity the ship was vulnerable to steep gradients.
He didn’t really want the expression of the shipwreck to come back again, since the maritime world was once again talking about the exploits of “Popi”!
So as “Popi’s” feats…. were growing people avoided traveling on this ship because they felt unsafe. The passengers who had experienced the experience of a trip with “Popi”, recounted their experiences of their almost fatal journey.
Then the ship was changed to disconnect from its bad history, it was renamed “Epiros”. With this name it was one of the ships of the company “Hepirotiki”, which also in the interwar period included the ships “Elvira”, “Kimon”, “Petros”, “Tassos” and “Fokion”.
source: tilestwra.com
