DAY 1, FRIDAY 30 SEPTEMBER 2016

• Dive Operations. [Weather conditions permitting]. An International team of technical divers is planning to position 3 commemorative plaques, 1 each on the 100 year old shipwrecks. The 3rd plaque will be in memory of Carl Spencer. See the proposed bilingual plaque texts here!
• Morning to noon: arrivals, pre-registration, hotel settling in the lodgings, light lunch at will e.t.c.
• 14:00 Assembly of VIP’s, speakers, delegates, et.al. at the Korissia Port end dock
• 14:30 Boarding to Flotilla Vessels.
• 15:00 – 17:00 Flotilla Outing with a Laying of 100 Years Commemorative Wreaths ceremonies above the two shipwreck positions of S/S BURDIGALA & HMHS BRITANNIC in the Kea Channel.
• Free evening time upon return.
• 18:45 Buses will be starting in front of HOTEL KARTHAIA, Korissia Port heading towards the Folk Museum of Kea.
• 19:15 – 20:45 Open Film Session, a world’s premier of the DARK WATERS special for the event film version, kindly prepared by the U-Film/U-Boat Malta organizations. @ Folk Museum of Kea, Mylopotamos, open-air garden theater.

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DAY 2, SATURDAY 01 OCTOBER 2016 to be held at KEA EVENTS

The entire day of the Conference is dedicated in memoriam of Carl Spencer (1970-2009)

08:15-08:30 Buses will be starting in front of HOTEL KARTHAIA, Korissia Port heading towards KEA EVENTS. * For the Spouses/Escorts Program, go to the end of Day 1 below.

08:15 – 09:00 Registration Desk will be open, morning Coffee will be offered

09:00 – 11:0 Opening, Session Α1, President:……………………….

1. Brief Welcome from the President of the Event & Friends of Kea Society Byron E. Riginos + Video.  [5΄]
2. Welcome from the Mayor of Kea, the Hon. Yiannis Evangelou.  [5΄]
3. Keynote Opening from the Governor of Southern Aegean, George Hatzimarkos.  [10΄]
4. Leigh Bishop, will read a salutation from Vicky Spencer, widow of the late Carl Spencer, accompanied by few family pictures. [8’]
5. Opening Speech from the Director of Ephorate of Marine Antiquities, Hellenic Ministry of Culture Angeliki Simosi: Underwater Museums in the Sea Area of Kea and Proposals for their Promotion. The aim of our speech is to announce the designation of the new historical sea areas, which include three famous contemporary shipwrecks. Nowadays, a lot of wealthy people apply at the EMA in order to have the opportunity for a dive in the Britannic shipwreck. This was the reason that our Ephorate has decided to promote the three most important sunken ships in the Kea seabed, such as Britannic, Patris and Burdigala and to create an extensive underwater museum.   [25′]
6. Dimitris Galon: The sad story of S/S BURDIGALA, former S/S KAISER FRIEDRICH (1897-1916). A brief reference concerning the transatlantic travels and the steam, the battle for marine sovereignty in the Νorth Atlantic, the rising of the German merchant marine, the construction of S/S KAISER FRIEDRICH and the NDL and HAPAG. Focusing on the failure of S/S KAISER FRIEDRICH to meet the term of the contract with NDL. Further: The Compagnie de Navigation Sud-Atlantique, the renaming to S/S BURDIGALA, the requisition of the vessel and the sinking due to a German mine laid by U 73. Closing by focusing on the problematic “mine or torpedo”?  [35΄]
7. Derk Remmers: The unique Propulsion System of the S/S BURDIGALA (Ex-S/S KAISER FRIEDRICH). The Ferdinand Schichau Shipyard (Schichau Werft) at Ebbing  Danzig (today Gdansk, Poland) where the Burdigala was built, was famous for their fast Naval destroyers and patrol boats. Their propulsion designs were also influential to the construction of the Burdigala and are unique in the area of Ocean Liners. Also, the Steam Engines were untypical.  [18΄]
8. Questions & Answers  [5’]
   

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   11:00 – 11:30 – 30 minutes Coffee Break

   11:30 – 13:20 Session Α2, President:……………………….

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9. Maria Salomidi: The importance of shipwrecks as sources and sinks of marine biodiversity: implications for science, conservation and management. The importance of shipwrecks in attracting and protecting marine biodiversity, as an added value to science and recreational activities.  [18΄]
10. Simon Mills: The Odyssey of the HMHS BRITANNIC. The presentation is aimed at describing how the historical research into the loss of the HMHS Britannic has been reconciled through the use of manned exploration of the wreck, combined with support from scientific, media and archaeological interests, with a view to a progressive, controlled and sustainable conservation project for the future.  [25΄]
11. Michael Michailakis: 293 DAYS: THE WARTIME CAREER & THE SINKING OF HMHS BRITANNIC. The deployment of the Britannic in the theater of operations of the Eastern Mediterranean during WW 1 and the events that took place during and after her sinking in the Kea Channel .  [18΄]
12. Mark Chirnside: How the ‘Olympic’ class liners came into being. Mark will explore and summarize how the ‘Olympic’ class liners came into being, looking at the design, construction, financing and logistics of creating the three enormous ships. He will describe some of the changes made to ensure Britannic was more luxurious and comfortable than her sisters, as well as looking at many of the design changes made as a result of the Titanic disaster in 1912.  [18΄]
13. Joseph Bonanno: U-Boat Historian, with a quick touch on the topic of: HMHS BRITANNIC and the German/Austrian Archives. It will shed light on the controversy of the Torpedo Theory.  [10΄]
14. Dr. George Papatheodorou, Professor and Head of the Geology Department, University of Patras, Greece: “Modern Technologies for discovering shipwrecks, modern or ancient”. Modern marine remote sensing technology introduces many advantages that extend the range of conventional diving work providing the means to survey in a detailed and systematic way large sea-floor area. The underwater remote sensing techniques most commonly used for detecting and studying ancient and historical shipwrecks lying on the sea-floor or partly buried in it, employ: (i) multi-beam echo-sounder, (ii) side scan sonar (acoustic imaging) and laser line scan (optical imaging), (iii) sub-bottom profiler, (iv) marine magnetometer and (v) undersea vehicles for ground truthing. The objectives of the presentation are twofold: (i) to present the results of remote sensing surveys that carried out at sites of ancient and historical shipwreck in Greece and in Mediterranean Sea, and (ii) to prove the applicability of remote sensing techniques in underwater archeology showing that a combination of those can be a very effective tool. [10′]
15. Questions & Answers  [5΄]
    

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    13:30- 15:00 – 90 minutes Lunch Break

    15:00 – 16:50 Session Α3, President:……………………….

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16. Leigh Bishop & Richie Kohler: The History of Technical Diving on HMHS BRITANNIC. A joint presentation with Leigh & Richie. Richie will begin with the Cousteau expedition in 1976, while Leigh will then cover the 2003 expedition and lightly touch on the 1998 expedition; Richie will then come back in and talk a little about 2006. Leigh will then talk about the 2009 expedition, about how the team was put it together and about the loss of his best friend Carl Spencer; Richie will pick on that with his talk about the boiler room explorations in 2009, and will then finish off with recent dives and the U-Boat Russian team. [40΄]
17. Dimitry Tomashov: Use of mini-subs and ROV’s in todays shipwreck explorations and U/W filming”. Dimitry will present incredible images from the June 2016 Britannic & Burdigala Centennial Expedition and talk about modern techniques of shipwreck exploring and filming using mini subs and ROV’s. [15΄]
18. Jonathan Mitchell: My grandmother Sheila Macbeth, led a long and full life after the sinking of the HMHS BRITANNIC, dying in 1994 at the age of 103. This talk will concentrate on her account of the last voyage – life on board as an Army nurse, the sinking, the rescue, and her arrival in Athens, where she was a French interpreter for Greek and Russian medical staff before returning to Britain. It will touch on her later life, as a nurse on the Western Front and her eventual retirement to Edinburgh, from where she flew out to Kea in 1976, joined Jacques Cousteau, and returned by submarine to the wreck.  [20΄]
19. Maria Mouzaki-Hionatou: Myths, Stories and Hear-Says about the Britannic. Maria will talk in her unique way about these accounts from living relatives of Kean’s which have been handed down from grandparents-to children-to grandchildren. It is worth to mention that many grandparents either assisted shipwreck survivors or were eyewitness to the events which took part in Kea 100 years ago.   [10’]
20. Round Table Discussion, Results & Wrap-up of the Conference.  [25’]

* Spouses/Escorts Program: Bus will leave on Saturday 1st Oct. at 10:30 in front of HOTEL KARTHAIA and will return around 16:00. A tour of the island will be made, visiting interesting spots, stopping for shopping, enjoying a lunch and if weather and time allows even a quick swim may be included. A lady escort, member of the B o D of the Friends of Kea Society-SFK will entertain and make sure that our non-conference participating guests will have a memorable time!

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17:00 – 17:10 Buses will be starting in front of Venue heading towards HOTEL KARTHAIA, Korissia Port.

17:05 – 20:30 Free time

20:45 – 21:00 Buses will be starting in front of HOTEL KARTHAIA, Korissia Port, heading towards KEA EVENTS.

• 21:00 – 24:00+ GALA DINNER @ KEA EVENTS
• Greeting by the Organizers
• Buffet Dinner
• Actor-producer Yannis Simonides will offer poetry by 6^th century lyric poet Simonides of Kea praising heroes and fallen warriors, in the original Greek and in English language
• The Youngsters of Kea Ensemble live performance
• A DJ takes over to dance us through the starry night past midnight…

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DAY 3, SUΝDAY 02 OCTOBER 2016

09:30 Buses will be starting in front of HOTEL KARTHAIA, Korissia Port heading towards Ioulis [aka Hora], Kea’s capital and picturesque town.

10:00 – 11:30 Brunch at the ‘Spiti Sti Hora’ [Hosted by SFK Member Chris Liodakis, with magnificent vistas of Ioulis below, the Kea Channel & Makronissos Island in the distance].

11:30 – 12:00 Leisurely downhill walk on the paths of Ioulis

12:00 – 13:00 Visit of the Archeological Museum of Kea @ Ioulis [Guided Tour will be offered by the resident archeologist’s].

13:15 Buses will be starting in front of ‘Piazza’ heading towards HOTEL KARTHAIA, Korissia Port.

Departures from Kea, with ample time to catch the 15:00 Ferry to Lavrion – End of the “100 Years Kea’s Shipwrecks” Event.

19:00 – 20:30 Historic film Voyage about the two Sinkings -“Ιστορική αναδρομή από την βύθιση του Βρετανικού και του Burdigala”. A free entry for film showing @RESTEION Municipal Center, Korissia. A selection of films by the Municipality of Kea, targeted towards the local audience.

• ⇒ Note: this Program is subject to changes and adjustments.