WRECKS

MS Argo

ex HMS Flint, former Royal Navy Isle class trawler
Length – 54,5 meters
Width – 9,2 meters
Beam – 5,9 meters
Tonnage – 507 GRT
Sunk due to mine

Min depth 42 meters
Max depth 49 meters

Argo was a former Isle class trawler, probably HMS Flint build in 1942 in Quebeck, Canada for Royal Navy. Isle class trawlers were used as an escort vessel. After 2ndWW HMS Flint was sold to a Norwegian shipowner Waldemar Skogland in Haugesund and rebuild into reefer/cooler/freighter at Rosenberg Mek. Verkstead in Stavanger. A hull rebuild was minor. A steam engine was replaced with a diesel engine. More information’s I found on warsailors.com website. The only photographic is from the book “Vare motorskip”. Argo was delivered to the owner in May 1947. Its first trip was on charter to Statens Fisketransport, Ålesund, and left Haugesund for Northern-Norway to load fish filets for the Continent.

In January 1948 ARGO was on her way from Venetia to Rijeka carrying tomatoes when she went on a mine and sank in the Kvarner bay. Only 1 man from the crew of 12 survived. In contact with Venetian archives, I’m trying to receive the Crew list.

Argo sucked in a mine in the same minefield were Swedish ship Sirius sunken in 1947. Sirus was recovered in 1956 by Brodospas. Rebuild and in service under name Mosor.

Today Argo is lying on 49meters depth. From explosion scraped in two parts almost same size, 25 meters each. Distance between the bow part and stern part is around 80 meters. We put a line in between some years ago. The bridge is disintegrated by an explosion and lost somewhere in between.

On this dive, we usually have very good visibility, sometimes more than 30 meters. Both bow and stern parts are nice to dive. Frequently you can find big congers, lobsters and lots of fish.

The wreck is well known by local fishermen for years, but only recently identified. On stern and bow parts there are some nets left. This summer we are planning to clean it up from nets and do some more intensive research and mapping the wreck.

Special thanks go to Trygve Eriksen for his contribution in this story.

Video by Visionaries a team of divers participating on DOC CON 2015 in Krnica

R.N. Cesare Rossarol

Length – 85 meters
Width – 9 meters
Beam – 3 meters
Tonnage – 891 to 1270 long ton
Sunk due to mine

Min depth 43 meters
Max depth 49 meters

Ludovico De Filippi born in Turin was the last captain of Cesare Rossarol, Italian light explorer sunk on the underwater mine in front of Liznjan in Kvarner bay. He was awarded with the Cross of Knight of the Crown of Italy for attractive serenity of spirit to encourage his crew while the ship was sinking. “He was a wonderful example of sublime sacrifice when he gave his lifebelt to a sailor who wasn’t able to swim and in this generous action he lost the life.”

Giovanni Pizzini was one of the best Italian pilots thru Austro-Hungarian minefields lying around Pula harbor. Pizzini successfully leed the ship from Pula south to Cape Kamenjak and then on the way to Rijeka harbor. Just in front of Liznjan, a small village on eastern Istrian coast, unfortunately, Rossarol hit an underwater mine.

Cesare Rossarol was a Poerio class light explorer build in Sestri Ponente, Genoa. It entered the service in 1915. Main duty was scouting, escorting destroyers, fighting other smaller ships and airplanes and patrolling high and low Adriatic Sea. Extremely fast, was very efficient in combat. At the end of WWI Cesare Rossarol was participating in the occupation of Istrian and Dalmatian coast by Italian troops. After the proclamation of the armistice on 4th of November 1918 Rossarol was in Pula.

16th of November 1918 Rossarol was on the way to Rijeka. It was lunchtime, just around noon. The boat hit a mine a mile from the coast. Explosion scrapes it in two parts. Ship sunk rapidly, in a few minutes. Unfortunately, 98 men died.

The bow part of the ship is separated from the stern and turn upside down. Some munitions can be seen on the bottom around the wreck. The stern part is lying in sailing position, slightly inclined on the left side. Maximum depth is 49 meters. Stern wheel, telegraph, and canons are still in position. Visibility can be either very god or quite poor. Mainly depends on the deep-sea currents. Frequently we can see a lot of fish around the wreck. Especially Congers and Scorpionfish.

Some years after the tragedy an unknown person raised a monument oncapeMunatVeliki in memory of died officers and sailors.

Bibliography:

www.gravitazero.org

www.marina.difesa.it

WDSTrieste

More info about R.N. Cesare Rossarol you can find on www.rossarol.krnica.com

Video by GUE Italy

Video by Luca Palezza during GUE Project Rossarol 2016

Video by Alex R. Thomassen and Edward Smith during GUE Project rossarol 2014

Project_Rossarol_small_achtersteven_DSC3578

SS Vis

ex Renteria

Length – 80 meters
Width – 13 meters
Beam – 6 meters
Tonnage – 1772 GRT
Sunk due to a mine

Min depth – 48 meters
Max depth – 60 meters

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SS Hans Schmidt

ex Albireo

Length – 112 meters
Width – 15 meters
Beam – 8,1 meters
Tonnage – 4427 GTR
Sunk due to a mine

min depth – 29 meters
max depth – 34 meters

MTB 655

Length – 35 meters
Width – 6 meters
Beam – 1,9 meters
GRT
Sunk due to mine

Min depth 43 meters
Max depth 49 meters

SS Kalliopi

ex Robert Dale Owen

Length – 130 meters
Width – 16 meters
Beam –8 meters
Tonnage – 7170 GRT
Sunk due to mine

Min depth 45 meters
Max depth 62 meters

Video by Visionaries a team of divers participating on DOC CON 2015 in Krnica

SS Lina

ex Nuevo Estramadura, ex Ville de Nemours

Length – 66 meters
Width – 9 meters
Beam – 5 meters
Tonnage – 1049 NRT
Sunk due to bad weather

Min depth25 meters
Max depth 55 meters

Lina, or Lena as some call her, is for sure the top wreck destination in the Kvarner bay. As she sank close to the cost, the bow top is on 25 m depth, it’s not unusual for Lina to be divers first date when it comes to wreck diving. And first dates are hard to forget. Maybe that’s why we keep coming back and find it exacting as we’ve just seen it for the first time.

Most steamships build by the end of 19th century were done in Scotland. Their shipyards were in those times building almost half of world trade fleet. Lina was built in 1879 at Andrew Leslie shipyard like Nuevo Estramadura. 70 meters long and 9 meters wide, it had 1049 GRT. Lina was powered by a triple expansion steam engine. In 1907 ship changes owner, the new one is Socita’ Adriatica, from Bari, Italy. Ship-owner was Vincenzo Granata. Lina belongs to Well deck type of ships. The hull was made from steel while the deck was made out of wood. Main bridge and cabins were positioned in the middle of the ship.

It sank in 1914 carrying wooden cargo which remains can still be seen. It sank like no other ship in Kvarner bay. During the thick fog, it hit the shore of island Cres, near cape Pecenj. Bow top thus stayed on 25 m, while the stern is on the 55 m and always wrapped in fog.

Wrecks’ bow is marked with the buoy. Here is where we start the dive. Slow descending following the rope and we are at bow. We continue on the right side going deeper to the stern. Wooden deck is now gone and enables us to see cargo remains and if you look a little bit closer you can see conger or maybe a lobster. Now we are at 30 m depth. We have a bow mast ahead of us, still standing straight. If you look up, you can see a swell of fish swimming around it. We continue, passing the engine room and main bridge. We are at 40 m. Although the ship silluet goes deeper, we turn around, follow the left side and slowly ascend toward the bow. Beside outside site seeing, the wreck is possible to explore within. Unique light and shadow play. After 30 min, we are back where we started. Ascend is done swimming towards the coast rocks, which we see right in front of us. Decompression and here we are at the surface.

Since Lina is so close to the shore dive is possible almost under every weather condition. Dives so far showed us visibility is good, if not excellent. We always meet interesting creatures, maybe a conger or a lobster. One word, first love is unforgettable.

Video by Northsea explorers

Video by Team pitch blue

Schooner Kostrena

Length – 42 meters
Width – 9,4 meters
Beam – 5,9 meters
Tonnage– 555 GRT
Sunk due to bad weather

Min depth 29 meters
Max depth 42 meters

SS Constantinos

Length – 79,2 meters
Width – 10,9 meters
Beam – 5,4 meters
Tonnage – 1727 GRT
Sunk due to a collision

Min depth – 31 meter
Max depth – 41 meter

SS Luana

ex Majorca, ex Leopold De Wael

Length – 77 meters
Width – 10 meters
Beam – 4,5 meters
Tonnage – 1107 NRT
sunk due to a mine

Min depth – 39 meters
Max depth – 48 meters

At the very beginning of this story, I should say that from most of the divers SS Luana is wrongly named SS Giuseppe Dormio. Booth ships are a similar size and build. Sunken in almost the same period hitting an underwater mine and they sunk relatively close to each other. It was an easy mistake. Among local scuba divers, SS Luana is still named SS Giuseppe Dormio and will be probably forever. These errors are frequent and difficult to correct.

Luana was yard no 177 in S.P. Austin & Son shipyard in Sunderland. She was built in 1892 like Majorca for Leith, Hull & Hamburg shipping company. Mostly was transporting cargo from Hamburg to Leith.

77 meters long and 10 meters wide was a typical example of well deck build. Luana had three cargo holds. One on the bow and two on the stern part. Even today you can admire a beautiful auxiliary wheel on the stern of the ship. Luana was equipped with a 136 HP triple expansion steam engine. In 1924 Majorca was sold to Belgium and she changed her name in Leopold de Wael.

In 1933 finally were sold to an Italian shipowner Raffaele Romano from Naples and renamed SS Luana. In March 1947 she was transporting bauxite from Manfredonia to Venice. Five miles south of Cape Kamenjak Luana hit the mine and sunk rapidly. Unfortunately, 12 crew members were lost in the tragedy.

Today the wreck is on the bottom of the sea at 49 meters depth. Upright with bow oriented to the north. A bow part is largely damaged from a mine explosion. There is always a permanent line that links the surface bouy to the wreck. This is where we start our dive. A few minutes later we are at the main bridge, which is the shallowest part of the wreck, 39 meters. Maximum depth is 48.

Always excellent visibility, often more than 20 meters. Diving on this wreck you can frequently meet a large swell of fish witch are literally hiding the wreck. Main wooden deck is no more in places so we can easily see what has hidden in cargo holds. With careful planning, it is possible to penetrate the wreck. Besides that the most beautiful part is the auxiliary wheel on the stern. A few moments later we are on the way back toward the main bridge and slowly ascending to surface. On this wreck, you can easily find congers, lobsters and other inhabitants that are the real owner of this wreck.

Whenever we dived on this wreck we had excellent visibility. One thing to pay attention are sea currents that sometimes can be really strong.

Bibliography:

Marijan Zuvic
Paul de Keijzer
Andrea Moro
TWAS
WWW

TA 35

ex Giuseppe Dezza

Length – 73 meters
Width – 7,3 meters
Beam – 2,7 meters
Tonnage – 616 tonnes
Sunk due to a mine

Min depth 30 meters
Max depth 35 meters

UJ 201 ex Egeria

former Gabiano class corvet Egeria

Lenght – 64,4 meters
Width – 8,7 meters
Beam – 2,8 meters
Tonnage – 728 tonnes full load
Sunk due to a torpedo hit

Min depth 57 meters
Max depth 63 meters

More about UJ201 former Egeria you can read at the following link

Thanks to Angelo Colla for the nice story.

SS Pascoli

ex-SS Szeged

Length – 99 meters
Width – 13,5 meters
Beam – 6,4 meters
Tonnage – 2859 GRT
Sunk due to mine

Min depth 48 meters
Max depth 60 meters

Thanks to the tip we had from a fisherman that lost a fishing net there back in 2010 we start our diving adventure on Pascoli. And this is a short story about this shipwreck.

Back in 1944 in the area where Pascoli sunk there was a large military operation named „Frechdach“.

The goal of the operation was to support German troops in Greece. The operation was launched from Pula harbor in February 1944.

German military convoy on the route to Greece was attacked by allied forces in the area of Premuda island, 45 miles south from Pula.

In that battle, the German fleet lost 2 units. The UJ201 and Kapiten Diedrichsen.

Once we had a tip from a fisherman about possible new wreck site off Premuda island we were quite sure that it should be one of the 2 ships lost in „Frechdach“ operation.

Next day the weather was good enough and we sailed from Krnica toward the position of the sunken ship.

Once we reached the shipwreck it was clear that this shipwreck is neither of the two lost in the battle.

Consulting the literature I found out that an Italian merchant ship named SS Pascoli has been lost 12 miles south of Susak Island. Using other resources available I found out that Pascoli was built in 1902 in the UK under the name of SS Szeged for a Hungarian naval company based in Rijeka.

In 1922 ship changed the name to SS Pascoli.

In meantime I manage to find some historical photos from the ship, blueprints… basically, we were ready for the next dive and hopefully confirmation that our ship is really SS Pascoli.

In the moment of sinking Pascoli was in service for Italian Royal Navy. Cause of sinking was a collision with an underwater mine. That was quite unusual since there were not know minefields in that area.

Anyway, we did few dives on the wreck and at the end confirmed that our wreck is SS Pascoli.

We always had very good visibility and wreck itself is very well preserved with a lot of marine life.

In 2011 guys from Northsea Explorers did an awesome video on SS Pascoli.

We go back on SS Pascoli every year and it is always a great adventure.

SS Pascoli by Northsea explorers