Seafarer of Chios

Chios is one of Greece’s traditional seafaring homelands, with a maritime history that peaked from the mid‑19th century. Chian mariners excelled on the seas, though they suffered heavy losses in both World Wars. After 1945, Chios’s shipping families rebuilt their fleets and helped project Greek shipping worldwide, while also investing in education by establishing maritime high schools and merchant marine academies. Despite the profession’s hardships, from the 1950s many young people left the land to follow life at sea. Seafaring is now an integral element of Chian identity, reflected in the architecture of coastal settlements such as Vrontados, Kardamyla, and Sykiada, and in monuments to sailors, such as the Unseen Sailor in Vrontados and Daskalopetra and the Kardamyla Sailor on Marmaro beach in Kardamyla, honoring those who dedicated their lives to the sea.