A rainy day, the director of the Industrial Museum of Syros, collects information on an old shipwreck. He goes to Athens, where he conducts an extensive research, and then, he sails with his team of divers to the island of Kea, in Cyclades. They locate this historical shipwreck at a depth of 55 meters near the coast of Kea and the story begins…

The shipwreck is a steam engine paddle ship that looks like a riverboat. The ship is called “Patris” and was owned by the first shipping line of Greece, the “Hellenic Steam Navigation”, based on Syros. It was one of the first ships that used a paddle wheel steam engine, before the discovery of the screw propeller and it sunk in 1868.

The team begins to dive at the site on a regular basis: they enter the wreck, study the vessel and salvage a number of objects. The museum director gathers all relevant information on the shipwreck and soon, he has to choose whether or not they should lift one of the paddle wheels. This particular kind of propulsion system cannot be found anywhere else in the world. The team decides to attempt lifting the paddle wheel. One floating crane, one towing boat and a number of other vessels all co-operate on the salvage operation. But at the sea there are a number of unforeseen factors. The weight of the paddle wheel was more than what was anticipated and the depth of 55 m. posed difficulties in the precise control of the crane…