[2][3] She had a single screw, driven by a four-cylinder two-stroke diesel engine that was built by Vickers-Armstrongs of Barrow-in-Furness[2] and gave her a speed of 12+1⁄2 knots (23.2 km/h).

[9] In October 1981, Telamon was en route from San-Pédro and Abidjan in Ivory Coast to Thessaloniki with a cargo of logs.

On 31 October she was in the strait of La Bocayna between the Canary Islands of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote when she developed a leak in one of her holds in a heavy storm.

[8] Telamon's captain, Manolis Avtzigiannis, contacted the harbour master at Los Mármoles, Arrecife, via VHF radio, requesting emergency assistance.

The harbour master, Antonion Sivera, had the ship manoeuvered with the aid of two lines attached to the shore, and grounded on the soft beach in the Las Caletas area of the port, near the DISA oil tanks.

On 1 November, technicians from an environmental organisation flew from London to Lanzarote with equipment to contain any leak and disperse any oil if it escaped from the wreck into the water.

[8] A company considered refloating Telamon, but the cost was estimated at 100,000,000 Spanish pesetas, so the wreck was left in situ.

[11] In 2014 the Las Palmas Port Authority authorised a local company, Recuperadora Lanzaroteña, to dismantle and scrap the wreck, but work did not begin.

[14] The Navy then issued a new invitation to tender,[15] and in October 2021 awarded a new contract to Recuperadora Lanzaroteñas,[16] which began dismantling the ship in September 2022.