Did you know that the only grave belonging to a pirate is in Romania?
The Multiethnic Maritime Cemetery in Sulina is entirely unique, hosting the stories of many impressive and troubling destinies.
You will find Christian orthodox believers, Old Believers, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, Catholics in this cemetery where sailors and fine ladies alike rest for all of eternity.
In 1856, the town situated between the Black Sea and the Danube became the site of the European Commission of the Danube – leading to an influx of foreigners via the porto-franco and a subsequent cosmopolitanization of the place. Up until the communist, it was a most prosperous area, thanks to its fishing industry.
The cemetery leads directly to the beach, and used to be the main pathway you had to cross through to get to the beach.
Near the old and decrepit chapel, with its wooden tower and Mediterranean color scheme, an old hearse stands parked for decades on end, and wooden crosses are piled by a delapidated bench.
At the beginning of every autumn, a memorial service is held for the pirates – Greek and Maltese pirates who found shelter from the West they looted here in Sulina.
A Greek pirate, for instance, was buried in 1871, at only 33 years old, and his tombstone -written in Greek- bears the famous skull&crossbones emblem belonging to pirates.
Wandering through the cemetery, one can see several beautiful graves with English descriptions. One such tombstone honours a young woman “aged 28 years – drowned off Sulina on the 27 September 1896 by the foundering through collision of the S/S Kylemoor”.
You can see the grave of Princess Moruzi (the granddaughter of Ioan Sturdza – the ruler of Moldova) who drowned in the icy waters of the Danube.
A haunting statue of two little children serves as a cautionary tale – a brother and sister who died wandering too far into the Danube’s waters.
There is even a spot in the cemetery where lovers traditionally exchange engagement rings – near the graves of two engaged, Margaret Ann Pringle and William Webster, who died at sea and were buried together in Sulina, far from their home.
A haunting excursion into an untouched past, the cemetery is worth a visit – as are the entire regions, in fact, of Dobrogea and the Danube Delta.
