The Shipwreck in the Sea of Marmara closes the eastern arc of the crossing. A medium-draft merchant steamer on the Istanbul–Salonica route, calling at Çanakkale, was sunk by the Black Octopus of the Bosphorus.
| Type | Event |
| Location | Sea of Marmara |
| Spanish entry | El Naufragio del Mar de Mármara |
The sinking
Local chronomancy normally restricts the Octopus’s jurisdiction to the straits (Bosphorus). That night it went out into the open waters of the Sea of Marmara, recorded as a major anomaly.
The plate shows the three-funnel steamer going down bow first, one funnel still smoking, a cephalopod’s arms the size of the ship coiled around mast and bridge, suckers on the hull. In the electric sky: on the left an old white-bearded man standing on an aerial boat, Paulus or one of the archive’s saints (unidentified); on the right a raven-angel carrying a naked man, wing spread, lightning falling behind. Below, the sea swallows hull and passengers: a head with open mouth, a floating chest, a sinking cloak.
Rescue
There was no ordinary rescue. The eastern crew abandoned the European passengers on the orders of a first officer revealed as an agent of the Black Hand. The group’s passengers were saved by crossed interventions: the old man (Paulus or an analogous figure; see Paulus of Alexandria) stabilized part of the waves over a wide radius, and the raven-angel, an uncanonized figure with no sure name, lifted one companion out of the water mid-sinking.
Cause
The lightning was not accidental: the Storm Riders were operating that night, and the Octopus used the storm to surface outside its jurisdiction.
Open questions
- Whether the Storm Riders enabled the Octopus, or it exploited them without prior agreement, is an open hypothesis.
- Akala is listed among the related entries; no role is stated.