The steamship Enee was built for Societe Navale Caennnaise in 1951 in the yard of Amsterdamsche Droog Dok Maats, Amsterdam. The ship measured 284.33′ x 38.4′ x 8.9 ‘ and her tonnage was 1685 gross tons. She was launched on 18th June 1951 and, after serving for her original owners for five years, she was purchased for the Scottish Navigation Company and renamed Zena before being sold to her final owners, Trisagi Corporation of Panama, in 1964 and renamed Stassa.
On 15th July, 1966 the Stassa was steaming through the Minch on a voyage from Archangel for Limerick with a full cargo of timber and a crew of 17 men (mainly Maltese and Moroccan) and the captain’s wife aboard when she ran aground on Renish Point, Harris due to a navigational error by her captain. At 4:10am that morning Wick radio received a message requesting immediate assistance. The Stornoway lifeboat was launched at 5:50am and sped to the site of the grounding but by the time they arrived most of the crew had reached the shore with the assistance of some of the local population. The master, H Pontikos, his wife and two Greek officers remained aboard the ship which had struck a rock hard swinging the bow completely round so that she now faced directly out to sea with a 40 degree list to starboard. Despite a large hole on her port bow and water flooding the engine room, the ship refloated herself on a rising tide later that day and was towed clear of the rocks by the lifeboat. At this stage it was hoped that the ship could be repaired and saved.
Stassa aground Rodel Bay
The Stassa was later towed to the relative safety of Rodel Bay and anchored while preparations were made to patch the hull and tow her to the mainland for repairs. When the salvage tug Cruiser arrived on the scene the initial inspections showed that she was severely damaged with multiple compartments flooded and only managing to stay afloat due to buoyancy from the cargo of timber. An alternative plan to beach her and remove the cargo was proposed. She was towed to a shallower and more sheltered part of the bay but continued to settle as water levels inside the ship rose higher and higher. On July 18th the ship started to list heavily to starboard until, on the 19th, she finally rolled over and sank.
The wreck of the Stassa lies in Rodel Bay in position 57°44.378’N, 006°58.209’W and is still fairly in tact lying on her starboard side on a sandy seabed in 22 metres of water rising 10 metres from the seabed. The site is generally very sheltered and not subject to any discernible tidal flows.
