Ιωάννα [Alexandros, Ioanna, Kathleen]

[Nicholas Peppas]

Ioanna belonged to the Veliotis Line. Eleftherios Veliotis was a smaller shipowner from Kranidi who was active in both cargo and passenger ships. At times, he had one to three passenger ships. His wife's name was Ioanna and this explains his love for ships with this name.

Following the small hint of our good friend Ellinis, Ioanna was built as a yacht, Kathleen, by Laird Brothers in Birkenhead, England. She was launched in April 1869 and had 187 tons.

She was bought by Veliotis in 1916. Argosaronikos was not her only route. On November 3, 1919, she was doing the Patras, Zante, Lixouri and Argostoli route.

19191103 Ioanna.jpg19211015 ioanna Panagia belliot.jpg

June 20, 1929 Ioanna schedule Also July 17, 1930
Ioanna1.jpgIoanna2.jpg

Ioanna was one of the vessels that went to mandatory retirement in 1934. She should not be confused with two other Ioanna vessels of the Veliotis company.

The first one was a 555-ton cargo ship, originally known as Eastham that belonged to Zarifis and Veliotis only briefly in 1915.

The second one is more well known, mostly because she fell a victim of the 1941 German bombardments . See http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?31683 where it is stated

Ioanna SS was a Greek Cargo Steamer of 1,192 tons built in 1901 by Ailsa Shipbuilding Company for the Shamrock Shipping Company, Larne as the Gransha SS. She was powered by a Triple Expansion 3cyl steam engine built by Muir & Houston, Glasgow. In 1919 she was acquired by Normandy Shipping. In 1923 she was acquired by Shamrock Shipping. In 1934 she was acquired by Elefherios Veliotis, Greece and renamed the Ioanna SS. On the 21st April 1941 she was sunk in a German Air Raid at Patras.

One can also see that with the mandatory scrapping of the passenger ship Ioanna in 1934, Veliotis wanted to have a new Ioanna in the family!