In the north Aegean Sea, on the Greek island of Lemnos (Λήμνος), stands a large, pyramid-like cairn at the center of ongoing discussion and competing theories: the Lemnos pyramid puzzle. This prominent stone structure, located at the end of a peninsula in the sheltered harbour of Mudros (Μούδρος), has prompted several explanations for its origin and purpose.
Does it date to the First World War?
In 1915, Mudros harbour was occupied by the Allied Powers as the forward base for the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, tasked with taking the Gallipoli Peninsula so that an Allied fleet could sail through the Dardanelles (Çanakkale Boğazı) and capture Constantinople (İstanbul).
When the Allied armies evacuated Gallipoli in defeat, the Royal Navy maintained Mudros for the duration of the war as its principal base in the Aegean, in order to watch the Dardanelles and support operations in Macedonia.
From 1920 to 1921, the abandoned military camps housed Russian refugees and Cossack soldiers fleeing the Bolsheviks.
Did White Russians erect the cairn as a monument?
This article explores the puzzle of the Lemnos cairn’s origin, presenting historical context and photographic evidence. While not comprehensive, the author hopes it will prompt discussion, suggesting new avenues for research into this enigmatic structure.
The structure today
The cairn is found at the eastern end of a narrow peninsula in Mudros harbour. During the First World War, the peninsula was known to British and Dominion personnel as Turks Head, or more generally as West Mudros. The point and cape were known as Kaloyeraki (Καλογεράκι). Its name today is Pounda (Πούντα).
The cairn is about 4.5 metres or 15 feet in height. Steps are cut into the western face.
These photographs, taken by the author in 2011, give an idea of its size and location on the harbour.
West Mudros peninsula and Kaloyeraki Point from the air. The cairn is on the point, at the end of the peninsula.
Mudros harbour from Mount Elias. West Mudros peninsula (middle-left) and Alago Island (right).
The cairn, looking west-northwest, back down the West Mudros peninsula.
Looking east-southeast to the cairn from the West Mudros peninsula.
Looking east-southeast to the cairn from the approximate location of the Australian field hospitals.
At the cairn, looking south towards the harbour entrance.
The cairn on Kaloyeraki Point seen from Mudros town at sunset.
His evidence for Australians building the structure rests largely on the war diary of 1st Field Company, Australian Engineers. An entry for March 1915 states that they 'erected shore beacons.' He suggests that its form (rough stone, cemented) is similar to the pier that Australian engineers built in Mudros harbour during the Gallipoli Campaign. Claven also quotes a member of the company, William Echlin Turnley, who wrote after the war that they ‘put up navigation posts round the Harbour’.
The 1st Field Company war diary (AWM4 14/20/7) records that the men reached Lemnos on 4 March 1915. The next day, a detachment made a reconnaissance for water on the southeast of the island. Then, on 7 March 1915, there are two entries: a detachment worked on water supply whilst another was sent aboard a troop transport. There are no further entries until 21 March 1915, which presumably summarises all work to that date.
The company:
erected a jetty 225 feet long
transported a stationary hospital ashore, and distributed stores and supplies to ships in the harbour
completed a reservoir and 1,700 feet of pipe that supplied 4,000 gallons per day
commenced erection of signal hut and barracks for Royal Navy at mouth of harbour
erected shore beacons.
The same entry records an order to bring off all shore parties and transfer wagons and horses to a transport in preparation for a move to the Dardanelles. There are no further entries until 24 April 1915, when they left Mudros harbour for their rendezvous off Anzac.
The Australian 1st Field Company engineers were on Lemnos for 17 days, and busy on a wide range of tasks across the harbour. The ‘shore beacons’ (plural) were most likely pole beacons or relatively simple structures. The author has counted about 17 shore beacons, mostly pole beacons, on a wartime chart (see below). The description by Turnley (‘navigation posts’) would support this view. In addition, Turnley claims the jetty was their ‘great piece of work’.
Examples of pole beacons placed on shore. The shape of the topmarks, like the sphere and diamond above, provide important information to mariners. Colour may also be used.
Shore beacons are part of an extensive set of navigation aids, including buoys, lights and leading marks. These examples are from a Russian military encycopedia published in 1911.
Excerpt from a preliminary Admiralty chart, dated 1917, showing a number of pole beacons at the head of Mudros harbour.
Claven links the work of the Australian engineers to a chart of Mudros harbour that marks a beacon on Kaloyeraki Point as ‘conspicuous’. However, as will be shown below, that chart dates to 1920. Wartime charts and sailing directions do not mark that beacon as ‘conspicuous’. The symbol for triangulation station (triangle with dot in the centre) might also have been conflated with the pyramid-like shape of the present-day structure.
Excerpt from the post-war Admiralty chart, published in 1920, showing Kaloyeraki Point with its trig station and beacon. Note other navigation aids on the West Mudros peninsula: chimney (63 feet high), beacon on hill 70 (centre of image, part of 1916 sailing directions for vessels taking the West Pass into the harbour), and distillery chimney (67 feet high, conspicuous).
We should also remember that in early 1915, the expeditionary force expected to establish deep beach-heads on the Gallipoli Peninsula from which they would advance north to Constantinople. Mudros was but a staging post. It was not until the landings had been checked, and German submarines threatened shipping off the peninsula, that the base on Lemnos acquired a new and desperate importance.
The second part of Claven's evidence for the structure existing in its present form in 1915 is a single photograph that he admits is ‘tantalisingly inconclusive’.
Image: Albert William Savage, early January 1916.
The image, a crop of which is shown above, was taken by Albert William Savage, an Australian hospital orderly who had been a commercial photographer in Sydney before enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force.
The original photograph shows a group of nurses and soldiers at West Mudros looking over the harbour in late 1915 or early 1916. The caption reads 'Evacuation of our troops from the Peninsula. Barges conveyed them from transports to the Island.'
Claven asks: 'Is there a hint of the top of the structure emerging from above the hill in the distance?'
In 2011, the author and Cheryl Ward mapped a number of locations on Mudros harbour, and one of our principal techniques was to take then-and-now photographs. West Mudros is ideally suited to this approach. The area has not been built over, and sight lines are clear in all directions. Wartime photographs generally show identifiable features in the background.
Compare below the photo by Savage with a photo we took in the same location in 2011. The present-day cairn is clearly visible in the modern-day shot.
December 1915 or January 1916. (Image: Albert William Savage, State Library of NSW.)
The same view in 2011.
Savage took a second photograph, of troops landing at West Mudros, from the same location. The hand-written caption on the album page gives a date, January 1916. It was probably taken on the same day as the photo with the nurses above.
A crop of the photograph by Savage, with inset zoom of the feature on Kaloyeraki Point.
Applying contrast, and zooming into the feature, the feature on Kaloyeraki Point appears rectangular. It is reflecting the sun and may have a black, dark or non-reflective top.
The scale alone is sufficient to preclude it being the present-day structure on Kaloyeraki Point.
Columnar beacon?
It is tempting to suggest that the feature is a columnar beacon. It's on the same spot at the present-day cairn.
But none of the hundreds of photographs taken at Mudros during the Gallipoli Campaign show a columnar feature of this size at this location.
‘Sunrise, Lemnos, [Greece, 1915].’ Florence Elizabeth James-Wallace Collection, F831, Album 2, page 17. (Image: Fryer Library, University of Queensland.)
The photograph above was taken at dawn from a slightly different position and greater elevation, probably by Savage. It is from an album kept by Sister Florence Elizabeth James-Wallace.
The white mark on the skyline of Kaloyeraki Point (right slope) is probably a blemish. It is not rectangular when zoomed in Photoshop. It is too far along the downward slope to match the images shown above.
Adjusting the exposure in Photoshop reveals no obvious columnar feature on the summit of the hill. A column should appear black against the lighter tone of the distant hills.
Detail from a panorama taken by A. W. Savage in late 1915.
With the sun up, a white-painted column should be visible on the summit above Kaloyeraki Point. We see nothing shining like the bright feature in the evacuation photo, but we do see the masts and superstructure of passing vessels.
The shining feature in the evacuation photo above is probably part of a ship's superstructure, reflecting the early morning sun. These could reach a height of 100 feet, which would be visible over the summit of Kaloyeraki Point, which contemporary charts state was 71 feet.
1916 survey by HMS Endeavour
What do we know from contemporary maps?
The British Admiralty conducted surveys and soundings of the harbour in 1835 and 1902, but the definitive wartime chart was the product of a 1916 survey conducted by Commander J.A. Edgell, Royal Navy, in HM survey ship Endeavour.
How was the chart developed?
Triangulation schemes, Mudros
Triangulation of 11 stations from a point in Mudros town, taken from Endeavour's survey data book. ‘K’ is the trig station on Kaloyeraki Point.
'Description of stations.'
Geodesic mark dated 1974, near the present-day cairn. Perhaps in the same spot as Endeavour's surveyors in 1916?
The UK Hydrographic Office in Taunton, Somerset, holds the ship's survey data book (SFD 8/13/2). It documents the triangulation schemes employed.
From a carefully determined baseline, the surveyors measured angles to distant points. Theodolites were set up on these points, measuring angles to additional points, so extending a network of triangulation over the harbour. Astronomical observations and levelling information verified the position of these points, their bearing from true north, and their elevation.
For one scheme, the surveyors triangulated 11 stations from a point in Mudros town. One of these stations was 'K' (see sketch above), on the summit of Kaloyeraki Point.
The station was marked by a 'bolt stave.' This was a temporary ground mark that could not be easily moved, so that the position could be quickly recovered without any need for re-observing.
At a guess, the 'bolt stave' was a boat-hook stave sunk into the ground, with a copper bolt marking the position. When measuring angles to this station, the mark would be made visible with a pole or stave with flag. When measuring from Kaloyeraki Point to other stations, a theodolite would be placed over the mark.
According to the Endeavour survey data book, other types of geodesic marks placed around Mudros harbour were beacons, pole beacons, and in one instance, a ‘cairn and bolt stave on eastern side of 104 foot hill on N shore of W Pass.’ (No cairn is mentioned at Kaloyeraki Point.) A cairn used as a geodesic mark had to be relatively small, as a theodolite could not be placed over a large cairn.
1916 sailing directions
Also found in the Endeavour survey book is a typed, 10-page set of ‘Sailing Directions for Port Mudros’ signed by Commander Edgell. They describe the key features and hazards in the harbour, as well as the anchorages and approaches.
We can assume they date to 1916.
Features related to the ‘Sailing Directions for Port Mudros’, 1916.
Here is a summary of the sailing directions, focusing on the parts pertinent to our puzzle. Follow the sailing directions on the Google Map above, which can be opened in a new window.
Entering the harbour
The entrance points to the harbour were Buda Point to the east and Limni Point to the west, distant 1.3 miles (2.4 km) from each other.
To the east, the salient points were Buda, Sangrada and Meganoros.
Sangrada Point showed a flashing white light every 3 seconds. The light was 35 feet high, on a white stone and iron structure at the extremity of the point, and visible for 5 miles.
Behind Meganoros Point was a hill 129 feet high, on which was established a signal station. This structure was one of the 'most conspicuous' points for navigators.
To the west, Limni Point had two beacons. Above Stearn Point, just north of Limni Point, were another two beacons, white with X-shaped top marks. (A good anchorage was available northwest of Limni Point in Vrulidhi Bay. The point of that name had two white beacons with oblong top marks.)
East, Middle and West passes
Having passed Limni and Buda points, a vessel had a choice of three passes to reach Mudros and the inner harbour.
East Pass, the channel between Black Rocks and Sangrada Point, had the least breadth. Talikna Point and two windmills provided the leading mark.
The channel between Alago Island and Black Rocks was known as Middle Pass. The lower white beacon above Stearn Point, bearing 215 degrees astern, led through the middle of the pass.
West Pass required vessels to steer midway between Channel Rocks and Alago Island, then between Wynne and Kaloyeri shoals. The navigable area was noted as being relatively constricted, and not recommended. A beacon – ‘not very conspicuous’ – on 70 foot hill on the West Mudros peninsula, west of Kaloyeraki Point summit and southeast of the distillery chimney, was suggested as a steering mark when passing Alago Island.
Anchorages
The most spacious anchorage was to be found inside the triangle formed by Maganoros Point, Cape Pavlos and the northeast extermity of Alago Island. The best holding ground was in Euriance Cove and Blenheim Cove. Nearer the entrance to the harbour, as we have seen above, was an anchorage in Vrulidhi Bay.
Relative importance of Kaloyeraki Point beacon
Commander Edgell’s document notes the presence of a beacon on Kaloyeraki Point (‘there is a beacon on the summit above the point’), but there is no reference to this beacon in the sailing directions for the passes. Perhaps he means the beacon on the 70 foot hill to the west, which is mentioned in the West Pass directions.
The beacon on Kaloyeraki Point was part of an extensive system of navigation aids around Port Mudros. As well as shore beacons, the sailing directions describe a large number of buoys, some with lights. The author would caution against ascribing the beacon on Kaloyeraki Point a role that was critical or exceptional.
1917 wartime chart
Title block of preliminary chart of Lemnos Harbour, based on the 1916 survey, updated to 1917.
Below we see a detail from a chart produced from the 1916 survey by HMS Endeavour, and labeled ‘preliminary’. The magnetic variation is set for 1917, and ‘small corrections’ are noted to February 1917. The scale is 1:13,000. The chart was produced at the Eastern Mediterranean Press of the Hydrographic Department.
Wartime chart printed 1917, with annotations dated 1918.
On the summit above Kaloyeraki Point, we see the spot height (71 feet), and to the right, the symbol for triangulation station (triangle with dot in the centre).
We also see the label ‘beacon’, with the description ‘B.W.’, meaning that it was painted black and white. The label is appended by what seems to be the number 20 in brackets, which represents, for this chart, the height of the top of the object ‘above the level of the Sea.’ The top of the beacon was therefore 20 feet above Mean Sea Level. The summit of Kaloyeraki Point has an elevation of 71 feet. Was this beacon below the summit?
On the 1917 chart, the beacon at Kaloyeraki Point is not labeled 'conspicuous' and does not appear on the list of ‘Objects on this Chart conspicuous to the Navigator.’
Annotations, 1918
Sometime after June 1918, a handwritten annotation was made below the beacon: 'Lt. F. Red if reqd'. This translates as light, fixed (as opposed to flashing or occulating), red, if required.
Western face of the cairn in 2003. Image: ΕΥΑΓΓΕΛΟΣ ΤΖατζογλου, Google Maps.
Southern face of the cairn post-restoration. Image: Saltpilgrim, Tripadvisor.
Notably, the present-day cairn has a tall shelf cut into the structure, on the side that faces south towards the sea. This side of the cairn was badly damaged until its repair in the 2000s, as the photo above shows. If the shelf was part of the original design, its purpose might have been to house a light for vessels entering the harbour. The shelf might have been used to protect the light from the prevailing north-northeast wind.
The handwritten annotations on the preliminary 1917 chart were made after June 1918, as a cable has been pencilled in and marked with this date. The chart was probably used to allocate berths for ships assembling in Mudros harbour for the signing of the Armistice, prior to the Allied fleet sailing through the Dardanelles to occupy Constantinople (İstanbul).
But, we're getting ahead of ourselves.
1920 published chart
Here we have an excerpt from the first public chart produced from the 1916 Endeavour survey. It is titled 'Port Mudros,' and was published by the Admiralty on 3 August 1920. The magnetic variation is set to 1920 and the scale is 1:17,000.
(A digital copy was available online at the British Library until the recent cyber-attack.)
Excerpt from the 1920 chart.
On the 1920 chart, we see again a black-and-white beacon marked at Kaloyeraki Point, but this time it is marked 'conspicuous.'
Unlike 1917, the beacon at Kaloyeraki Point does appear in the chart's list of 'Objects on this Chart conspicuous to the Navigator.'
These conspicuous objects are:
Black Rocks
Sangrada Point Lighthouse
Square Tower
East Mudros Cathedral
Meganoros Signal Station
Anvil Rock
Talikna Point
Distillery Chimney
Clump of Trees, Ispatho Island
Beacon on Kaloyeraki Point.
There is no number in brackets after the label. Indeed, the label ‘beacon’ is placed in a different position, on the summit itself.
Sometime between early 1917 and 1920, a beacon on Kaloyeraki Point became ‘conspicuous’. It is tempting to speculate that the present-day cairn was erected during this period.
Engineers at Mudros
Engineer war diaries remain a likely source of information about the construction of the beacon on Kaloyeraki Point. The dedicated seeker after pyramids will want to browse all relevant archival records.
For the period of the Gallipoli Campaign, the author has transcribed the engineer order of battle from the History of the Corps of Royal Engineers and made it available as a Google Sheet.
After the evacuation of Gallipoli in January 1916, the Royal Naval Division garrisoned Lemnos until their removal to France in May 1916. The Army had little desire to man the Aegean island bases but temporarily replaced the RND with garrison troops, including some artillery, engineers and details.
In November 1916, the artillery and infantry part of the garrison was replaced by the 3rd Royal Marine Battalion. The Portsmouth Company was stationed at West Mudros, with a detachment at East Mudros.
In November 1917, the Army withdrew all their troops, and the Royal Marine garrison was expanded and took over all duties. The Royal Marine Works Department, under Captain E. Nottingham Palmer RMLI, took responsibility for all roads, piers and buildings.
In 1919, the British garrison was reduced to a minimum, finally quitting the island in June 1921 when the Union Jack came down and Lemnos was formally handed over to the Greek authorities.
‘Beacon Hill’ and ‘Beacon Battery’
Anti-aircraft (AA) guns were emplaced about Mudros harbour, to protect the base from enemy air attack.
The Ottoman army air service had an aeroplane squadron at Galata, about 10 km (6.2 miles) southwest of Gelibolu on the European shore of the Dardanelles, while the Imperial German Navy had a seaplane station near Nagara Point, on the Asian shore of the Dardanelles, just north of The Narrows. These aircraft attacked Mudros on numerous occasions. Mudros was even bombed by a Zeppelin, flying from its base in Bulgaria, on the night of 20/21 March 1917.
There are intriguing references to an AA battery on West Mudros.
Contemporary reports on the Zeppelin attack describe AA guns coming into action, among them AA guns at Kaloyeraki Point.
When the 3rd Royal Marine Battalion garrisoned the island, their history states that they took over an AA battery at ‘Beacon Hill’.
Later in that same history, there is reference to a battery of two 3-inch AA guns at West Mudros, and the name given is ‘Beacon Battery’.
It is speculation only, but perhaps the AA battery named ‘Beacon Battery’ was emplaced on Hill 71 — ‘Beacon Hill’ — the summit above Kaloyeraki Point, and it gained its prosaic name in typical British Army fashion, describing the obvious feature of that location. There appear to be remnants of a gun emplacement on the summit, near the present-day cairn.
However, the author has not seen the name ‘Beacon Hill’ on contemporary naval charts or army maps.
French engineers
French engineers may well have been active on West Mudros post-WW1. Burials from the wartime cemetery at East Mudros were concentrated at Seddul-Bahr, and the French were also responsible for the Cossack camps in 1920/1921 (see below). French war diaries may contain clues.
1918 Armistice
The Armistice with the Ottoman Empire was concluded in Mudros harbour in October 1918. A postcard in the author’s collection, depicting the Allied fleet at anchor, shows a structure on Kaloyeraki Point in the same location as the modern-day pyramid.
Is this the origin of the modern-day cairn?
This may be the earliest photograph to show a feature in the same location, and with the same scale, as the present-day structure. It appears to be painted black and white, and is certainly conspicuous. Its function as a beacon seems beyond doubt.
Detail from a postcard showing the Allied fleet in Mudros harbour for the signing of the Armistice with the Ottoman Empire, October 1918. A structure on the summit of Kaloyeraki Point is silhouetted against the water in the bay beyond. The white shape below the structure may be a photo blemish.
Theory: erected by White Russians as a monument
Some 25,000 refugees of the Russian Civil War (1917–1923) were given sanctuary on Lemnos by the Allied Powers, making use of the infrastructure developed at Mudros during the First World War.
When the White Army in South Russia collapsed in March 1920, about 4,000 wounded and refugees were sent to Lemnos. They arrived at Mudros without warning, and the Royal Marine garrison worked quickly to improvise accommodation and help the sick. The majority of these refugees were women and children. A winter under canvas was thought to be out of the question, so arrangements were made with the Serbian Government to take the whole camp in October.
Later that year, in November 1920, nearly 15,000 Cossack soldiers reached Lemnos, having been evacuated from Crimea. The French now assumed responsibility for the refugee camps at Mudros, as they had had recognised General Wrangel's government, whereas Britain had not. The camps at Lemnos reached their peak (some 21,000 men) between February and April 1921 and then declined steadily until the last camp at West Mudros closed in October 1921.
Documentary, titled 'Lemnos: the Russian Golgotha.'
Lemnos was one of several locations for White Russian camps.
Troops of their regular army were quartered in the town of Gelibolu (Gallipoli), situated at the northern end of the Dardanelles on the European shore of the Gallipoli Peninsula.
An impressive monument was erected by the White Russians at Gelibolu.
The White Russian monument at Gelibolu. Image: Vrangel (Mariia D.) collection, Hoover Institution.
A sketch of the monument features on the cover of a 1955 booklet, ‘Галлиполи: Лемнос, Чателджа, Бизерта’. Source: archive.org.
The structure on Kaloyeraki Point bears a superficial resemblance to the Gelibolu monument. The likeness is probably the source of a popular theory that the cairn is a Cossack memorial.
However, no dedication or ceremonial photos of the structure at Kaloyeraki Point have come to light from Russian or French archives. The written record is also seemingly silent.
Unlike the Russian Gelibolu memorial, the Mudros cairn is not stepped and has no plaque or dedication. Indeed, the stairs cut into the structure are an unlikely feature for a monument.
1923? photograph
Is this the earliest definitive photograph of the present-day structure?
‘Waiting for Jack to come on shore. Sarpi, Lemnos Island.’
The photograph was taken from the harbour’s western shore, southeast of the modern village of Kallithea (Καλλιθέα).
The image is courtesy of Markos Psarakis, who has done wonderful work matching historic Lemnos photos with their present location. Unfortunately, nothing is known of the provenance of this photograph, except for its date, which is said to be 1923.
The feature on the point (which has been zoomed using Photoshop) appears triangular, not rectangular. The scale approximates the current cairn.
(Incidentally, the vessel before the point appears to be a destroyer. The Royal Navy had a considerable presence in the Aegean during 1922 and 1923 because of the so-called Chanak Crisis. The photograph was probably taken by a British sailor.)
1944 British Army map
Pictured below is a section of a 1:50,000 scale map, titled Limnos West, that is part of the series Aegean Islands: GSGS 4468.
The map was produced by 512 Field Survey Company, Royal Engineers, in July 1944, from a 1:50,000 Greek map dated 1931, with revision from air photographs in June 1943.
British Army map dated 1944, based on a Greek map dated 1931. The structure on Kaloyeraki Point is labeled 'monument.'
Although the map key includes a symbol for beacon, the structure on Kaloyeraki Point is designated a 'monument' and labeled as such.
However, a note of caution. This is an army map. None of the shoals, rocks and hazards in the harbour are marked. The map is not intended for coastal navigation. (In contrast, Admiralty charts, which are updated versions of Endeavour's 1916 survey, continue to label the structure as 'beacon' until at least the 1950s.)
Perhaps the beacon was interpreted as a monument by the RE survey company in 1944, or the label was inherited from the 1931 Greek map. Nevertheless, this map is relatively early evidence for the structure's purpose being thought of as commemorative rather than utilitarian. It also suggests that the structure was pyramid-like before 1944, and probably by 1931.
(Incidentally, the symbol for monument on the coast near 'Vigli' marks the mass grave of Turkish POWs and Egyptian Labour Corps workers who died on Lemnos during the First World War.)
1952 sailing directions
The 1916 sailing directions for Middle Pass give a bearing to a beacon above Stearn Point. In contrast, the US Naval Oceanographic Office's 1952 sailing directions specifically mention the beacon on Kaloyeraki Point when using the Middle Pass.
Enter Mudros Bay about 3/4 mile off the Kombi Islet light structure, steer 335° for the southern extremity of Alago Island. When Kaloyeraki Point beacon bears 018° alter course and head for the beacon until Sangrada light structure bears 133°. Then proceed northeastward to the recommended anchorage.
(The author has not checked other pilots, and our beacon may have entered the sailing directions much earlier than the 1950s.)
The author's best guess
Australians are gamblers, so the author is obliged to have a punt.
I believe some form of beacon has existed on that point since time immemorial. Its earliest form was probably just a few rocks placed atop one another. In 1915, the land mark was enhanced or enlarged. It took the form of a modest column or cairn, painted black and white.
No photographs exist because the 1915 beacon was not, in modern parlance, Instagram-worthy. Nor could it be seen from the West Mudros peninsula, being on the other side of the summit. Perhaps the area was out of bounds. During the survey by Endeavour in 1916, it made sense to place a geodesic mark in a location where it would not be interfered with.
Sometime between 1917 and 1921, when the Royal Marines garrisoned Lemnos and took responsibility for all works at Mudros, a conspicuous beacon was erected.
The date range can be further refined. The preliminary (1917) and published (1920) Admiralty charts suggest that the Kaloyeraki Point beacon became notably 'conspicuous' after February 1917 and before August 1920.
One would expect Royal Marines to be more sympathetic to the needs of the fleet than their army counterparts. And, according to their war history, they were able to call upon an expert cadre of professional engineers.
As a shore beacon, the cairn is a classic form. Perhaps the ‘conspicuous’ beacon was a cairn erected by the Royal Marines. It might even have been built to satisfy the requirements of a grand fleet anchorage when the Armistice with the Ottoman Empire was concluded in Mudros harbour in October 1918.
Ultimately, while clues point to a wartime origin, the Lemnos pyramid puzzle is not yet solved. The story of this enigmatic structure awaits further discovery.
Over to you…
Please get in touch if you have any further information.
Sunset view from Mudros port to Kaloyeraki Point and its cairn, 2011.
References
Archival records
Australian Imperial Force unit war diaries, 1914-18 War, 1st Field Company, Australian Engineers (Australian War Memorial, AWM4 14/20/7)
HMS Endeavour, Survey Data Book number 67 (UK Hydrographic Office, SFD 8/13/2)
'Explanation of Signs and Abbreviations as shown on the Charts issued by the Hydrographic Department', Admiralty navigation manual (London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1938)
History of the Corps of Royal Engineers, Vol. VI (Chatham: The Institution of Royal Engineers, 1952)
Sailing Directions for the Mediterranean, Volume V: The Aegean Sea (US Naval Oceanographic Office, 1952)
Bagni, Bruno, 'Lemnos, l'île aux Cosaques', Cahiers du Monde Russe, 50/1, January-March 2009
Blumberg, General Sir H.E., Britain's Sea Soldiers : A record of the Royal Marines during the war 1914-1919 (Devonport: Swiss & Co., 1927)
Claven, Jim, 'The mysterious beacon of Lemnos – and its Australian connection', Neos Kosmos, 14 May 2020
de Broglio, Bernard, 'Zeppelin raid on Mudros', The '14-'18 Journal, Australian Society of WW1 Aero Historians, vol. 1, 2021
Robinson, Paul, The White Russian Army in Exile 1920—1941 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2002)
About this article
Researched and written by Bernard de Broglio, first published on 17 December 2023. All photographs are by the author unless otherwise credited.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Len Barnett, Margaret Carter and Steve Moore, Liz Kaydos, Iain Logie, Markos Psarakis and Bill Sellars for their help. The author is solely responsible for any errors of fact or interpretation.
Changelog
All notable changes to this page are recorded here.
2025-08-26
New platform for deployment plus Armistice 1918 fleet postcard added.
2024-01-03
Added references to anti-aircraft battery ‘Beacon Battery’ and location ‘Beacon Hill’.
