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we only found the bow section , but it was stacked with plenty of interesting artefacts , from portholes to bottles of Metaxa brandy . In some literature it ’ s referred to as the ‘ Metaxa Wreck ’.
While we were underwater , the wind had strengthened further and after some discussion we decided to call it a day and made our way back to port . The journey out had taken us over two hours and the worsening conditions made our return journey over four hours . It was dark when we reached the busy shipping lane at the south end of the Dardanelles ; it felt a bit like crossing the MI on a mobility scooter .
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Tangled remnants of HMS Majestic |
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More wrecks ... and some life !
The wind eased a little overnight , which gave us a chance to dive HMS Majestic again . We were looking forward to seeing another part of this large battleship but for reasons beyond our understanding the dive guide took us to the same part we had seen two days earlier . It wasn ’ t all bad though ; it gave us the chance to plan some photographs rather than just ‘ take snaps on the go ’.
In the afternoon we dived two very shallow wrecks in Ertugrul Bay – the Massena and the Saghallen . The Massena was an old French battleship that was deliberately run aground as a bulwark to help with the landings in November 1915 . The Saghallen was a French passenger ship that had been used to evacuate French citizens from Istanbul earlier in the conflict . Its final mission was to be run aground on ‘ V ’ beach to help with the rapid evacuation of French and British forces in December 1915 . There wasn ’ t a great deal to see of the wrecks , but octopus and nudibranchs gave some photographic opportunities . There was a large rusty sphere that we briefly thought might have been a mine but it ’ s more likely to have been a mooring buoy . It was fun to rub the surface to see just how much backscatter you could get in one image .
Our final day of diving was spent in the Ariburnu area . We first dived a barge at 29 metres . The date and nature of its sinking are unknown but some of the structure would indicate that it may have been used for transporting animals . This makes good sense , as horses were used extensively in WWI .
Just a little closer to the shore , we explored a small freighter that had been sunk in 21m during the retreat in December 1915 . There wasn ’ t a lot left of the superstructure but there was plenty of small stuff to look at . There were probably more nudibranchs and scorpionfish than I had seen for a long time , and I was delighted that I had reconfigured my camera to macro for the last day .
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Rainbow wrasse on the Ariburno Barge |
Scorpionfish face |
Mating Coryphella |
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