Lakonia

On 19 December 1963, the Greek-owned cruise-liner Lakonia departed Southampton for an eleven-day Christmas cruise to the Canary Islands. She was carrying 646 passengers – all of whom were British apart from 21, and a crew of 376 who were a mixture of Greeks and Germans. At 2300 hrs 22 December, they were about 200 miles north of Madeira when a fire was discovered in the hairdressing salon. Fire alarms and other warning systems, however, were so ‘quiet’ they were not heard by either the passengers or those who were required to respond! At that time, most of the passengers were partying in the main ballroom and dismissed the first suggestions of smoke as probably being from cigars. Captain Zarbis attempted to use the ships public address system only to discover it was already out of action. Still nobody warned the passengers and it was only when smoke began to fill the ballroom that the band stopped playing. What then followed included considerable confusion, allegations of looting by crew members and instructions which were either unclear or impossible to follow. Many of those who had already retired, were to die in their cabins.

Even the first distress call made by the chief radio officer was broadcast long after it might have been sent. Within an hour of that call, however, he had no option but to leave his post because the fire was spreading so rapidly. As it did so, boilers began to explode and a number of lifeboats were also lost.