Viclore

Please note that I am using the spelling Odesa here as that is the Ukrainian anglicisation of the word- Odessa is the Russian spelling.

About the catacombs

Underneath the coastal city of Odesa in the south of Ukraine lies the worlds largest network of tunnels. Whilst they’re referred to as “catacombs,” this is technically a misnomer as they are not and never have formally been used to store bodies. The catacombs instead arose from how local mining rights worked, and a lack of good building materials.

The ground under Odesa is limestone, which can be used to construct buildings. Whilst industrial scale mining took place, it was also common for people historically to mine under their houses to gather limestone for domestic use, and to sell it onwards. Over time, these smaller mines were interconnected, leading to the sprawling catacombs seen today.

In the future I’ll put together a post talking more generically about the Odesa catacombs, and sharing pics of my trip taken in 2024.

Seen throughout the catacombs as sketches, poems, and notes. Many of these are recreated in more accessible areas of the catacombs. Some of the nautical sketches have been recreated in an underground gallery of ships, and augmented with other sketches by local artists. One such sketch is of the sinking of the Titanic, signed by Alex Gorn. Below the sketch is another one of a bar of gold and an arrow pointing to the floor.

I asked my guide why the Titanic was here, and she told me an interesting story.

The legend I was told

Our tour guide told us the story of a rich Jewish man who once lived in Odesa. He had been on the Titanic but survived the sinking in April 1912. To commemorate this he had a statue of the Titanic made from 2kg of solid gold. When war came to Odesa he buried the ship it in the catacombs before fleeing, but never returned to Odesa. He started a new life and had a family in his new country. On his deathbed he told his kids of the boat and commanded them to return to Odesa and find it, but they never did.

People in Odesa still gossip about the golden ship, and some try hunting for it still. No one has ever admitted to finding it- our guide seemed to think that if it did exist then someone has already found it, but was wise enough not to tell anyone.

I decided to look online to see if I could find more information on the legend. However, it seems that the version I was told was just one of many!

Other versions

This is not an exhaustive list of versions of the story. However, this is a representation of the differing versions I have been able to find online. Perhaps one day I’ll return to Odesa and do a literature review in situ.

Different tour of the same location

From their photos they entered through a different location to us, and explored a different area of the catacombs¹. Still, they also heard the story of the golden ship from their guide.

In their version of the story, the subject does not seem to originally be from Odesa. Once upon a time, a wealthy aristocrat was rescued from the sinking Titanic. His rescue ship took him to Odesa, where in honor of his rescuers he commissioned a ship forged from solid gold. This version of the story is also unclear as to if the ship was a model of the Titanic itself, or of the ship which rescued him.

When the Bolsheviks took control of Ukraine six years after the Titanic sank, the man hid his treasure inside the catacombs. The story tells that this was done as he feared that the ship would be confiscated, rather than because he was fleeing the country. Again, the ship has never been found- and is still claimed to be lost in the tunnels.

The 25kg ship

One version describes a Jewish jeweller from Odesa who was saved from the sinking of the Titanic alongside his wife. Once he returned to Odesa he carved a statue of the Titanic from memory, with the result weighing 15-25kg of gold. He escaped from Odesa during the October Revolution in 1917, hiding his ship within the catacombs. He unfortunately died in Antwerp before he could return. His children were able to find a map of where the ship was hidden, and returned in the 1970s with the map to hunt for it. Another map was found and used in the 1980s, with no success. In the 2000s his grandchildren took their turn. Now it is said that the great-grandchildren can be heard digging for the statue, still with no luck².

Forgotten ship

Another version describes a rich tradesman from Odesa, who was one of the lucky survivors of the Titanic. After he returned home he had a golden copy of the Titanic made, using almost 20kg of gold. When the dark times of revolution arrived (Bolsheviks?), he hid his ship in the catacombs to prevent it being stolen by criminals and/or communists. He then fled the country, and forgot that he left his ship underground. Despite dozens of people hunting for the treasure, it has never been found³.

Golden ship as a reward

This story varies from the above as it makes no reference to the Titanic. Instead, it tells of a Ukrainian ship captain who saved the lives of a ship’s crew in the 1930s and was rewarded with a model ship made of gold. When the war started he hid it in the catacombs, but died in the war before he could recover it. And so, the treasure remains hidden⁴.

Crime boss loot

There is a lot of information available on the activities of the (literal) criminal underground within the Odesa catacombs. One legend says that the famous criminal boss Mishka Yaponchik hid his looted gold in the catacombs, where it remains to this day. The article follows this information by saying that story of the golden ship still excites visitors, suggesting that the golden ship was a part of the criminal’s hidden loot⁵.

Consistent points

Largely, the legendary golden ship is said to be the Titanic. It also most commonly seems to have been commissioned by a Jewish man (of varying profession) who lived in Odesa. He commissioned the very heavy ship from solid gold in celebration of his surviving the sinking. He left the country due to a war (which one is variable), and died abroad. Somehow people heard of this ship, and started to look for it. Nobody has found it (though I agree with my guide that if they did they wouldn’t likely have yelled about it).

As these are all hearsay or online sources, it is unclear what the original legend was. Once my Ukrainian is better, perhaps I’ll track it down one day. Or go quietly find the golden ship for myself.

It does beg the question: Was a man from Odesa on the Titanic? Read my follow-on post here: Uscher Pulner: The man from Odesa

References

1. A Tour of the World’s Largest Labyrinth: The Odessa Catacombs https://www.exutopia.com/urban-exploration-odessa-catacombs_20/ ↩︎
2. Odessa Catacombs Secrets and Mysteries Tour https://odessatransfers.com/odessacitytours/catacombs-tour/ ↩︎
3. Odessa catacombs https://leodessa.com/odessa-catacombs/ ↩︎
4. Odesa Catacombs – a tour through the underground labyrinth https://wildeast.blog/en/odesa-catacombs/ ↩︎
5. History of the Odessa catacombs https://hotel52.od.ua/en/history-of-the-odessa-catacombs/ ↩︎