1 Συνημμένο(α)
Σείριος [Sirios, Migrant, Audacieux, Migrante, Bancinu, Athinai, Βόριοι Σποράδες]
Ellinis and I want to start a new thread about Sirios (or Seirios) that many old timers remember from her travels to Vorioi Sporades.
Sirios was built as a (well known) yacht, became a cargo ship, then a passenger-cum-cargo ship in Malta (!) and finally our Sirios in Greece. We start with the traditional Miramar entry
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Report for "5330151"
IDNo: 5330151 Year: 1927
Name: MIGRANT Launch Date:
Type: Yacht Date of completion: 11.27
Flag: GBR Keel:
Tons: 348 Link: 1596
DWT: Yard No: 352
Length overall: Ship Design:
LPP: 39.0 Country of build: GBR
Beam: 7.4 Builder: Clyde SB
Material of build: Location of yard: Port Glasgow
Number of
screws/Mchy/
Speed(kn): 2D-
Owner as Completed:
Naval or paramilitary marking :
A: *
End: 1988
Subsequent History:
[1947 cv to cargo ship] - 31 VICTRIX J Sapene - 36 AUDACIEUX J. Sapene- 38 MIGRANTE F.G.T.Dawson- 39 MIGRANT - 47 BANCINU J.Gasan- 58 ATHINAI V.Vasilakis et al- 61 SIRIUS Kavounides Sg Co- 64 VORIOI SPORADES Saronikos
Disposal Data:
deleted 1988
So, she started as a small boat, a yacht belonging to K. Lee Guinness and named Migrant. Here is an oil painting by our Italian friend Luca Papaluca that was sold recently in an auction. It depicts Migrant
Συνημμένο Αρχείο 33891
Migrant was built at the famous Clyde Shipbuilding Co. An older reference comments
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The British & Irish Steam Packet Co. Ltd of Dublin took Lady Gwendolen, and another important customer was Blue Star Line with Brodhurst . Standard ships were built during the Great War as well as four gunboats of 800 tons. In 1919 the yard was taken over by the John Slater Ltd group of London. In 1927 the John Slater Group crashed and one of the last ships built by the Clyde Shipbuilding Co. Ltd was the motor yacht Migrant for K. Lee Guinness, who had her engined with 12-cylinder M.A.N. oil engines. The Castle yard was eventually sold to James Lamont, a ship repairer in Greenock, who did not use the Castle yard for ship repairing until 1938. The yard was a ship repairer only during World War 11, but began shipbuilding again in 1946.
In the 1930s she transferred to Jerome Sapene in France and changed names to Vitrix and then Audacieux. We do not have much idea what she did in the War, but in 1947 she was picked by Joseph Gasan, named Bancinu and used for a passenger/cargo route between La Valetta, Malta and the small island of Gozo! The following article first appeared in "The Times of Malta" Aug.7, 1997.
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PIONEERS OF INTER-ISLAND TRANSPORT SEA TRAFFIC BETWEEN MALTA AND GOZO
According to records which I have, between 1923 and 1937 the Malta Steamship Company operated two vessels, the Wembley which sank in 1935 and Golly which sank in 1937.
These were followed by the Gozo Mail Service Company which was a partnership between Joseph Gasan, Giovanni Dacoutros, the Grech family known as "Gelluxa" and some ten other Gozitans with minority shareholding.
This company operated under Joseph Gasan who also operated the Bancinu between 1950 and 1957 when it eventually ran aground and sank. During the same period Mr Gasan operated the Maid of Pinto, a wooden schooner which sank in 1951, and Pino which finished its service in 1957, the same year as the Bancinu.
Bernard Zammit operated two vessels, the King of England and Lady Strickland
In 1947 a new bandstand was inaugurated, the work of several enthusiasts from Ghajnsielem among them the late Guzeppi Cutajar and Angelo Gauci. Among the memorable events of the post-war period one notes the annual invitations which Capt. A. Zammit Cutajar extended to the Society on the occasions of the Feast of Comino and the inauguration of the ferry Bancinu to which the Band was invited by Mr. Joe Gasan, the owner of the ship.
Her transfer to Greece in 1958 must have been associated with some changes because the Greek Papyros Larousse of 1963 lists her as 535 tons, albeit it with the extremely slow speed of 10 knots!
I will let Ellinis provide any pictures an information from her Greek years
