Diving Survey and Identification of a Shipwreck at 78m Depth

In 1992, with side-scan sonar, a shipwreck was discovered at 78m depth in the northern part of the Bulgarian Black Sea shelf. picture 1 »   picture 2 »

The interpretations of the sonar records showed that it was a ship of about 63m length with a superstructure in the midsection, with gigs or shafts, ropes and bars/rods on the masts and a high forecastle. Two masts with holds in between stood out, as well as a high funnel. The top of the front mast was 23m above the bottom and the top of the hind mast was 20m above the bottom. Data interpretation gives grounds to assume that it might be a cargo ship, built between 1905 –1908.

Further investigations to find out the name of the ship, her owner, destination, load and the cause of the shipwreck, based on literature references and direct approaches to insurance companies (e.g. Lloyd) proved unsuccessful. No evidence was found.

The main goal of the project is to collect maximum information about the shipwreck by carrying out a diving survey.

The results of the survey could make the ship an object of interest to different organizations or private entities as:

• ship owner or insurance company
• marine and archeological museums
• marine conservation organizations
• organizations engaged with recreational wreck diving
• the ship might be of commercial importance if she contains valuable load
• TV companies

2. Implementation of the Project

Phase 1
From the 10th to the 17th of June, 2004, Institute of Oceanology, in close cooperation with Black Sea Wreck Diving Centre and the financial support of other organizations and private entities, carried out an underwater expedition at 78m shipwreck, located with side-scan sonar north-east of Cape Kaliakra. The organizer and main executive body was the Institute of Oceanology in Varna. The project was a part of a program for creation of a new technology for underwater diving activities.

Dives at 78m depth obviously requires the use of artificial breathing mixtures - (Helium-oxygen or TRIMIX). Ten dives with diving teams of two divers for five working days were planned, as well as two days positioning of the diving ship above the shipwreck.

The diving surveys were performed by combined application of the methods of Surface Supplied Diving and SCUBA diving. Thus, the shipwreck was identified and general preliminary data was gathered. The dives were performed from the board of research vessel Academic which had enough room and hoisting capacity to accommodate the team and all necessary technical equipment, including a decompression chamber and tanks with breathing gas mixtures.

The main goals of the expedition were to test a Surface Supply System with an open type Diving Bell and to do a diving survey of the shipwreck. At the beginning of the expedition, the exact location, size and position of the wreck on the bottom were established with the help of a sonar and GPS. Due to very bad weather conditions only 4 out of 7 days were used for diving. Six dives were carried out using Surface Supply System and an open type Diving Bell. The first goal, testing the diving equipment of the Surface Supply System was successfully achieved, but for achieving the second goal of the expedition the dives were not enough, as the bad weather conditions did not allow the ship to stay stable over the wreck all the time, so only one of the dives was on the wreck itself, which was not enough for a thorough diving survey. The depths of the dives were from 65m to 75m.

Phase 2
At the end of October 2004, some of the participants of the expedition, together with other divers, carried out 35 dives using autonomous diving equipment - techno diving system, and TRIMIX. The weather conditions were perfect - no waves, excellent visibility of 25-30m. The results were very good - the name of the ship is Kristina and it is loaded with lumber. The ship is very well preserved and is not covered with mussels. It is a perfect diving site for technical wreck diving!

There is a very nice film about Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the expedition!!!

Phase 3
Institute of Oceanology Varna and Black Sea Wreck Diving Center are organizing new expedition in June - September 2008, for picking up additional information about its nationality, owner, the cause for the shipwreck etc. We plan 15 days for the expedition. The average cost of the expedition is estimated to be approximately 40 000 Euro. We are looking for partners and financial support!

N.B: During this expedition, or in a separate one, we plan to do a few exploration dives on two World War II Russian submarines, still not visited by divers, at 59 and 60m depths, which will be our next targets. Join us!

You can download a short film from our web site about one of these submarines!

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