FacebookTwitterEmailLinkedin The Aegean Sea is famous for its beautiful, blue, crystal-clear waters. Yet, those same waters swallowed SS Heraklion on a cold winter night in 1966 and claimed hundreds of lives in what would be one of Greece’s deadliest maritime disasters. The incident This is the story of a voyage that began like countless others but ended in catastrophe. On the evening of December 7, 1966, the roll-on/roll-off passenger ferry SS Heraklion departed from Souda Bay, Chania, Crete, bound for Piraeus port. Although planned to leave at 19:00, the departure was delayed for about 20 minutes to allow the loading of a refrigerated truck carrying oranges. This delay was considered a commercial disadvantage for the owners, who often pressured captains and crew to arrive as early as possible to gain an edge over competitors. RelatedNews Fire aboard berthed ferry injures crew member NTSB investigation: Towing vessel collides with bulk carrier and sinks var jnews_module_21363407_1_6a01fcd03c0ef = {"header_icon":"","first_title":"Related","second_title":"News","url":"","header_type":"heading_8","header_background":"","header_secondary_background":"","header_text_color":"","header_line_color":"","header_accent_color":"","header_filter_category":"","header_filter_author":"","header_filter_tag":"","header_filter_cpt_post_tag":"","header_filter_cpt_tribe_events_cat":"","header_filter_cpt_web_story_category":"","header_filter_cpt_web_story_tag":"","header_filter_text":"All","sticky_post":false,"sticky_post_filter":false,"post_type":"post","content_type":"all","sponsor":false,"number_post":"2","post_offset":0,"unique_content":"unique1","include_post":"","included_only":false,"exclude_post":"21363407","include_category":"","exclude_category":"","include_author":"","include_tag":"157,1748,33,2107,3606,2840,34","exclude_tag":"","exclude_visited_post":false,"post_tag":"","tribe_events_cat":"","web_story_category":"","web_story_tag":"","sort_by":"latest","show_date":"","date_f