Hordle june july22

Through the
Hurst Narrows:
SS Varvassi
From its vantage point opposite the Needles,
Hurst Castle is no stranger to shipwrecks,
many of them off the Needles, barely 1.5km
across the Solent. Among them was the SS
Varvassi, which went down in January 1947.
crossing until, on Saturday 4 January,
Captain Coufopandelis stopped the engines
near the Needles in order to pick up a pilot
to guide him through the Solent. In a stroke
of bad luck, the engines failed to restart,
and as the vessel drifted out of control on
the rising tide, it wasn’t long before she hit
the rocks and became wedged fast.
A Trinity House pilot was immediately taken
on board but, hoping that his ship could be
refloated on the next tide, the captain
declined the offer of help from Yarmouth
lifeboat. Instead, a tug from Southampton,
the Calshot, attempted to pull the Varvassi
clear of the rocks. As the weather
deteriorated, with rough seas and
increasingly poor visibility, the ship’s
bottom began to grind on the rocks, yet still
the Calshot tried to refloat her, and the
lifeboat was again turned away.
The 3,875-ton steam-powered freighter, built
by the Northumberland Shipbuilding
Company, was launched at Howdon-on-Tyne
in November 1914. Originally christened
Bronze Wings, she was renamed Noelle, then
Lady Charlotte, before Greek ownership
brought a change of style to Moscha D
Kydoniefs, under which name the ship did
convoy duty between Europe and North
America during World War II. Her final name
change, to Varvassi, came only in 1946.
As they boarded the Varvassi at Annaba in
Algiers, the largely Greek and South
American crew had no indication that this
would be different to any other sea-going
job: a standard haul from the Mediterranean
to the English Channel. Tucked down in the
hold was a heady cargo of tangerines and
wine, bound for Southampton, plus a load of
iron ore en route to Boulogne. Also on board
was a small herd of heifers to provide meat
for the journey, while some of the crew had
brought pets – cats and canaries – to keep
them company on the voyage.
It seems to have been an uneventful
By the following morning it was clear that
the vessel was beyond help, and the order
was given to abandon ship. With the
lifeboat now back on the scene for the third
time, all 35 members of the crew, plus the
captain and the pilot, were rescued and
taken safely to Yarmouth. Some, however,
returned to the ship the following day to
feed the cattle and try to salvage what they
could, but the weather wasn’t on their side.
The animals were slaughtered; almost
everything else went down with the ship.
For sailors in 1947, huge barrels of wine
bobbing around in the sea added an
unusual hazard to Solent navigation, as did
heavy baulks of timber later in the year as
the Varvassi began to break up. Local
beachcombers, though, revelled in the
unexpected bounty – though the tangerines
were said to be past their best.
Today, 75 years later, parts of the ship still
lie in shallow waters about 150m west of
the Needles lighthouse, her boilers
occasionally breaking the surface at low
tide: an ongoing hazard to shipping and a
constant lure for divers.
Tricia Hayne, Membership Secretary, Friends
of Hurst Castle. The group was formed in 1986
to support this historic building, which is
owned by English Heritage. Why not join us?
For details, contact trjhayne@gmail.com
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