The Shipwreck of Costinesti

Costinesti is a small village located on the shores of the Black Sea - Romania.

On October 15, 1968, Evangelia, the ship that belonged to Greek businessman Aristotle Onassis failed in still mysterious conditions at 1.5 nautical miles offshore from the beach of Costinesti resort.

The ship that is 131 feet long, 17 feet wide and 10 meters high was built on the Harland & Wolff shipyards in Belfast - Northern Ireland, where the famous Titanic vase was built.

Over time the ship has worn several names: Empire Strength by 1946, Saxon Star until 1961, Redbrook up to 1965 and last name Evangelia.

One of the legends of the ship's shipwreck says the incident was intentionally caused by the ship's captain, at the behest of Greek shipowner Aristotle Onassis, in order to obtain compensation, the ship would be sent to the disposal after two years.

Approximately 12 hours before stranding, the crew of the Evangelia requested radio help. According to the coordinates transmitted by the Greeks (longitude and latitude) at the time of signaling the state of difficulty the ship was failed.

Arriving shortly in the area indicated, the Greek ship was not to be found. After a new radio contact, the Greeks sent the savior other coordinates, indicating another position.

After several hours of searching, unfortunately, at the point of the coordinates transmitted, no ship was found. The rescuers called the Evangelia ship once more, but it did not respond.

Due to the unprecedented situation, the rescuers began searching with a smaller ship that could closer more than the shore, and decided to look in the opposite direction indicated by the Greeks. Thus, the Evangelia vessel was located next to the current Costinesti resort, at the time a small fishing village

For a month, the Greeks tried to get the ship out of the area where had failed, but without success. The ship ran over a rocky plateau on the seabed, and that's where it got stuck.

A storm that took place in October 2014 destroyed the wreckage of the Evangelia ship, was torn into two by the very strong waves.