The ship was built as Bolivian in 1919 at
West Hartlepool, United Kingdom, by Irvine's Shipbuilding for Frederick Leyland & Company[1][3] and was
registered at
Chios,
Greece.[2] In 1933, the ship became owned by N.G. Livanos and was renamed Alfios.[3] Later that year, it was obtained by Theofano Maritime, who would operate the ship until it sunk in 1946.[2]
On 24 April 1946, Alfios was in transit across the
Atlantic Ocean from
Glasgow to
Halifax to pick up a shipment of
pit props.[4] While steaming near
Sable Island, Alfios ran aground on a shallow spit of sand. A week after the ship was wrecked, on 1 May,
HMCS Middlesex set out to rescue the 30 crew and 2 passengers stranded on Alfios. Middlesex successfully rescued everyone aboard, bringing them to safety in
Ottawa.[5]
By 1 June 1946 Alfios was still firmly aground in the place where it wrecked, with its breeches buoy rigged from the deck to the shore.[4] In the 1980s, the wreck was still visible from the air, and its position was precisely mapped by a
Canadian Hydrographic Service survey.[6]
References
^
abRiordan, Katherine (5 October 2007).
"Alfios - 1946". Nova Scotia Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. Retrieved 28 May 2022.