Divers have pulled artifacts from the wreck of the HMHS Britannic for the first time ever, and they include everything from silver-plated first-class trays and ceramic tiles from a Turkish bath to the ship's lookout bell and one of its navigation lamps.
Greek Ministry Of CultureA diver exploring the wreck of the HMHS Britannic, from which artifacts were just pulled for the first time ever.
At the turn of the 20th century, the White Star Line produced three Olympic-class passenger liners, the Titanic, the Olympic, and the Britannic, each meant to astound the world with their size and luxury. However, both the Titanic and the Britannic would tragically sink shortly after they were launched.
And while the wreck of the Titanic has been carefully documented in the years since, it’s only now that divers have recovered artifacts from the wreck of the Britannic for the first time. Though the Britannic is far less known than its sister ship, these artifacts are a chilling reminder that it likewise met a tragic end.
The First-Ever Recovery Of Artifacts From The Wreck Of The HMHS Britannic
Greek Ministry Of CultureA diver inside the Britannic. The extreme depth of the wreck required deep-sea divers.
According to a statement from the Greek Ministry of Culture, an 11-member diving team visited the site of the Britannic shipwreck, off the island of Kea in the Aegean Sea, in May 2025. The extreme depth of the wreck — roughly 400 feet — required deep-sea divers using closed-circuit rebreather equipment.
Armed with this technology, the divers were able to plunge to the final resting place of the Britannic, which sank in 1916. Divers then explored the wreck of the doomed ship and recovered a number of artifacts that had been sitting on the seafloor for more than a century.
These artifacts include the ship’s observation bell, its navigation lamp, ceramic tiles from a Turkish bath, and a pair of binoculars.
The Greek Ministry of Culture said that these artifacts will be transported to the National Museum of Underwater Antiquities — still under construction — in Piraeus, where they’ll be part of an exhibit on World War I.
Greek Ministry Of CultureOne of the most thrilling artifacts recovered from the Britannic is the ship’s bell.
Officials hope that these artifacts will be able to help tell the story of the Britannic. Though its sinking is far less known than that of the Titanic, it’s undoubtedly tragic in its own way.
How The Britannic Sank In 1916
Public DomainThe HMHS Britannic, pictured not long before its sinking in 1916.
Like the Titanic and the Olympic, the Britannic was built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast, Ireland, and was designed to be a luxury vessel for transatlantic voyages. In fact, when construction on the Britannic began in November 1911, the ship was planned to be even bigger and more luxurious than its sister ships. But when the Titanic sank in April 1912, the Britannic was redesigned to include more safety features, including more lifeboats and watertight compartments.
The ship was launched on February 26, 1914 — almost two years after the Titanic hit an iceberg — and was initially meant for commercial service. However, when World War I began in 1914, the Britannic became a hospital ship — the HM Hospital Ship Britannic, or HMHS Britannic.
Then, on November 21, 1916, the Britannic was in the Aegean Sea heading toward the island of Lemnos when it struck a German mine and began to sink about 45 miles southeast of Athens. Unlike the Titanic, which had a stunningly high death count, just 30 of the 1,060 Britannic passengers and crew were killed. But they died in an especially terrible way, as their lifeboats were sucked into the ship’s enormous, still-spinning propellers as they tried to escape.
One of the survivors, a woman named Violet Jessop, happened to have also survived the sinking of the Titanic four years earlier. She had even been aboard the third sister ship, the Olympic, when it almost sank after colliding with another ship near the Isle of Wight in 1911.
Greek Ministry Of CultureA diver near the Britannic wreck, preparing to cover the ship’s bell.
Like the wreck of the Titanic, which wasn’t discovered until 1985, it took decades to locate the wreck of the Britannic. It was finally found in 1975 by the famed French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau.
Now, with artifacts recovered from the Britannic for the first time, another chapter in its story is complete. Items like the bell, the binoculars, and the ceramic tiles offer a vivid look at what life was like aboard this doomed ship just before it went down.
After reading about how divers recovered artifacts from the Britannic for the first time, discover the full story of how the Titanic sank. Then, discover the stories behind some of history’s most famous shipwrecks.
