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 Team pitch blue
