Vasilios Katavelas
Vasilios Katavelas was a passenger on the Titanic.
Background[]
Vasilios Katavelas was born in the montain village of Áyos Sóstis in Peloponnes, on the island of Zakynthos, Greece. It was around 1893 when he was conceived. Vassillios' parents’ names are missing, but he had 2 brothers and a sister. They were Panagiotis, Petros and Lambrini Katavelas.
He grew up to become a farmer. As a 19-year old, he left for Marseilles, hoping to make it to America, to find his brother, Panagiotis, who worked as a newspaper seller. Vasilios sold some sheep from his flock to get the money for a ticket, before he left at the suggestion of his fellow Greek, Panagiotis Lymperopoulus, also from Áyos Sóstis. Vasillios’ destination was Milwaukee in Wisconsin. Two other Greeks from Áyos Sóstis were with them on their journey: the two brothers Dimitrios Chronopoulos and Apostolos Chronopoulos. Mr. Lymperopoulus already lived in America but had returned to Greece for family business. As he was the only one of the group to have ties to America, he was also the only one that could speak English. All four set off on their long trip from Áyos Sóstis. In Marseilles, they would receive health checks before they headed to the North of France for their next overpass, which would be across the Atlantic Ocean.
Titanic[]
On April 10, it was depature day for the grandest ship in the world, the RMS Titanic. Vasilios would sail with her in Third Class from Cherbourg along with his mates. They were the only four Greek passengers onboard this vessel.
On April 14, Titanic had a perfect voyage so far. This changed at the late night, when the ship rushed on, picking up speed earlier in the evening while changing course a bit more to the south, but still found herself in an icefield. At 12:39 P.M, the lookouts rang the bell 3 times to draw the attention of the bridge as they spotted an iceberg up ahead. This iceberg had not been visible to the two men in the crow’s nest sooner but the massive berg was less than half a mile away. Titanic had less than a minute to act. The Officers turned the rudder to hard-a-starboard with the engines slowed down and then reversed. This resulted in Titanic going about to port slowly but at the last moment, she still connected with the iceberg on starboard side. The collision had produced a series of thin gashes as well as brittle fracturing and separation of seams in the adjacent hull plates. Water seaped in through these damaged parts and soon, tons were inside the ship. The water level rose quickly.
On April 15, the captain and Titanic’s designer had a talk about the ship’s condition, as Thomas Andrews made calculations on her flooding process. The verdict was in: Titanic would not live to see the day.
What Vasilios Katavelas did during the night is not known. The poor man found his early demise through human error and Mother Nature, as did his comrades. Not enough lifeboats were on board and as the women and children went first on port side, there was no room for many male passengers.
Titanic stood vertical at 2:20 A.M, having been broken in two parts before she slid down the cold Atlantic. Many of her occupants became swimmers and struggled for their lives in the merciless ice waters.
Katavelas’ corpse was discovered by the Mackay-Bennett, to be listed as number #58. As he was foreign, they gave him back to the sea. The three siblings of Vasilios received his attire and belongings later, at the port of Piraeus.