The Underwater Research Center of the Russian Geographical Society completed field work on the motor ship "Armenia", which was lost on November 7, 1941, in the Black Sea near Yalta. Ahead, is the processing of the materials received, searching in the archives and the creation, in the future, of a memorial dedicated to the victims of the tragedy.
During three expedition trips, it was possible to unambiguously identify the vessel and restore the chain of sad events that led to the sinking of "Armenia".
"The final point of the field stage for the study of the "Armenia" motor ship was the retrieval of the ship's bell, which in the maritime jargon is called the watch bell," said Sergei Fokin, executive director of the URC RGS.
The bell was discovered back in 2020 and helped identify the vessel. Now, the bell’s conservation is almost done, and it will soon be presented to the general public.
"We hope that it will become a part of the memorial. We hope that we will be able to organize somewhere on the Crimean land, at the places of the last journey of "Armenia", a physical memorial, where people can come to honor the dead," Fokin added.
Work in the archives has been going on for about a year. It was possible to restore the details of several dramatic stories of the passengers of the "Armenia". With each new name, each story, the tragedy takes on ever more tangible proportions. All information received up to this moment is available on the project portal in the Passenger List. It will be constantly updated.
"We begin our story with the crew and medical personnel of the ship. These are more than 250 names, each of which was confirmed by archival research or letters from relatives. Almost 300 more names are being checked by our specialists. These are temporarily assigned doctors, evacuated wounded and civilians," reports the press service of the URC RGS.