SS Cyprus

SS Cyprus was a lake freighter that sank during a gale storm on Lake Superior on 11 October 1907. The ship went down in 460 feet (140 m) of water at 46°47′N 85°36′W / 46.79°N 85.60°W / 46.79; -85.60Coordinates: 46°47′N 85°36′W / 46.79°N 85.60°W / 46.79; -85.60, in United States waters about 8 miles (7 nm; 13 km) north of Deer Park in Luce County, Michigan. All but one of the 23 members of the crew perished.

Construction

The Cyprus was built in Lorain, Ohio and launched 17 August 1907. She was a 420-foot-long (128 m), 15,000 ton (13,608 tonne) steel-hulled steamer. She was owned by Pickands-Mather, and based out of Fairport, Ohio, northeast of Cleveland, on Lake Erie. A marine trade publication described Cyprus as a very seaworthy vessel in an article published after her sinking.

Sinking

On only her second voyage, Cyprus was hauling iron ore from Superior, Wisconsin to Buffalo, New York when a moderate gale arose off Deer Park. The gale, according to contemporary accounts, was reported as nothing that Cyprus couldn't have handled. According to Second Mate Charles G. Pitz — the sole survivor — Cyprus had been pounded by northwesterly waves all afternoon which caused an increasing list to port. At around 7:45 p.m. the ship lurched to port and capsized. Pitz and three others, which included Captain F. B. Huyck (according to some accounts) secured themselves on a raft. By 2:00 a.m. the raft and its occupants were within 300 feet (91 m) of shore when breaking waves flipped the raft, and all but Pitz drowned in the surf. Pitz unwittingly staggered ashore, just a half-mile east of the Deer Park Life-Saving Station. All the bodies but two were eventually recovered.

Cyprus

Cyprus (ⁱ/ˈsaɪprəs/; Greek: Κύπρος [ˈcipros]; Turkish: Kıbrıs [ˈkɯbɾɯs]), officially the Republic of Cyprus (Greek: Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία; Turkish: Kıbrıs Cumhuriyeti), is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, off the coasts of Syria and Turkey. Cyprus is the third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean, and a member state of the European Union. It is located south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, northwest of Israel, north of Egypt and east of Greece.

The earliest known human activity on the island dates to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains from this period include the well-preserved Neolithic village of Khirokitia, and Cyprus is home to some of the oldest water wells in the world. Cyprus was settled by Mycenaean Greeks in two waves in the 2nd millennium BC. As a strategic location in the Middle East, it was subsequently occupied by several major powers, including the empires of the Assyrians, Egyptians and Persians, from whom the island was seized in 333 BC by Alexander the Great. Subsequent rule by Ptolemaic Egypt, the Classical and Eastern Roman Empire, Arab caliphates for a short period, the French Lusignan dynasty and the Venetians, was followed by over three centuries of Ottoman rule between 1571 and 1878 (de jure until 1914).

Cyprus (disambiguation)

Cyprus may refer to:

Locations

Ships

Animals

See also

Cyprus (theme)

The Theme of Cyprus (Greek: θέμα Κύπρου, thema Kyprou) was a Byzantine military-civilian province, located in the island of Cyprus, established in the 960s after the reconquest of Cyprus by the Byzantine navy. Prior to this the island had been a Byzantine-Arab condominium for three centuries, except occasional short periods where it was occupied by either power. A rebellion by governor Theophilos Erotikos in 1042, and another in 1092 by Rhapsomates, failed as they were quickly subdued by imperial forces. At the end of the 12th century there were again separatist tendencies in Cyprus: Isaac Komnenos of Cyprus proclaimed himself as "basileus" (emperor) in 1185. Cyprus remained under his command until its conquest from Richard I of England in 1191.

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