2 Seattle women return to site of Greek ferry tragedy

Christine Shannon envisions the sculpture as a simple shepherd's hook with a glass window, poised to face the rocks where, five years ago, a Greek ferry sank into the Aegean Sea.

"We want to say thank you to the people who went out of their way to help the victims," said Shannon, a Seattle artist who designed the sculpture and hopes to erect it in Greece next month.

For the sculpture, Shannon and her friend Heidi Hart, plan to attach a bronze plaque to the shepherd's hook with words of the ancient Greek poet Archilochus from Paros: "Trusting their lives to the arms of the waves."

Shannon and Hart, both of Seattle, were aboard the ferry Samina Express on Sept. 26, 2000, when it struck rocks near the island of Paros and sank, killing at least 80 of the more than 500 people on board.

Shannon and Hart were called heroes for distributing life jackets and pulling survivors into their lifeboat, the only lifeboat that made it to shore.

Now the two women, who are returning to Greece for the fifth anniversary of the sinking, want to donate Shannon's sculpture to the people of Paros to thank them for all they did after the accident.

"This is something Heidi and I could do," said Shannon, "to thank them for showing compassion to total strangers."

Information

Express Samina Memorial: www.expresssamina.com

The two women were reading on the ferry's upper deck when they saw the vessel was headed right for a group of rocks.

After the collision, Hart raced to a box that held life jackets and put one on. When someone shut the box, Hart and Shannon wrenched it open and began throwing life jackets to others on the deck.

They were certain they were going to die.

In the lifeboat, they struggled to save two men who clung to the sides. Hart grabbed one man's hand and refused to let go.

Shannon has applied for a grant from the Mary Gates Foundation at the University of Washington to help pay for the sculpture, which she hopes to erect in Greece in time for the anniversary. If she doesn't receive the grant, she said she'll find another way.

"If it happens 10 years from now because I have to pay for it myself, that's what will happen," said Shannon, who expects the sculpture will cost $8,000.

Joel Schwarz, of the UW, said university officials were "favorably impressed" with Shannon's proposal but that no decision has been made.

Shannon, a UW student, left last week for Greece, with a stop in New York City, and will join Hart, who will arrive in Greece Sept. 22.

While Hart, a commercial-property manager, went to Greece for the one-year anniversary, Shannon has not been back since the accident. She plans to ride a ferry on the anniversary date, which she acknowledges will be hard. She said she wasn't able to board a Washington state ferry until three years after the sinking, and was in tears when she rode the boat across Puget Sound to Kingston.

Initially, Shannon hoped to have the sculpture in place for the first anniversary, but everything was put on hold after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Five years after the accident, Shannon still has nightmares. "I'm getting better, but being there in Greece, I don't know," she said.

Hart said she, too, had a hard time riding a Washington ferry after she got back from Greece. "I was panic-stricken," she said. "My heart just sank. I got stuck in an elevator a year ago and I freaked out. Christine was the only one who could talk me through it."

While waiting to hear about the grant, the two women have formed a nonprofit organization to help pay for the sculpture and have an Express Samina Memorial Web site.

Hart said when she returned to Greece with her mother for the one-year anniversary, she was surprised, and pleased, by all the safety changes made since the accident.

Shannon said the controversy surrounding the sinking is still a court matter in Greece. The captain and three crew members have been charged with manslaughter.

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com