Once upon a time there was a mysterious ship named “Panagiotis” . The dark stories about this ship vary and nobody really knows the truth on what happened at that night outside the northern coast of Zakynthos…
It is believed that “Panagiotis” was sailing on open sea somewhere between Kefalonia and Zakynthos, year 1982, when something happened that became the cause for the ship to become the well-known Shipwreck… Information says it was mechanical problems, others say it was lack of fuel, a crew fight, a failed “business”, a storm or all together. Sure is that the ship’s purpose was to smuggle cigarettes, possibly to Italy.
Smugglers, boxes of illegal cigarettes and a ship in the middle of a wild October sea… God knows what happened…
And then the sun rose and the villagers of the nearby Volimes were to face a curse or a blessing… A lady is said to have met some castaways in the morning on her way to her farmland- barefoot Italian sailors (or smugglers) and a Greek. A boy is said to have found a ship adrift, when he went fishing with his father. And soon the villagers would encounter a sea of floating boxes full of cigarettes…
There is different information on what happened to the crew: some say they never showed up, others say that members of the crew reported the incident themselves at the village, others say they have information on members that fled. Zakynthians, however, are said to have been smoking from those cigarettes long after…
At that time, the cove, where the ship was found, had a small beach named “Spirili”. After that game of fate, the ship remained there adrift, prey to the wild waves, the wind and the sea salt, and became a mark on Zakynthos’ map and a postcard picture worldwide , renaming the beach to “Shipwreck beach” and “Smuggler’s Cove”…
