Porto District

Portugal

Big steamship (at least 70m long).
Lots to see as this is still unidentified and only a handful of people have dived there.

This is only accessible by boat (several miles offshore). Basic Trimix certification needed as this a wreck laying at 58m.

Unidentified Steam Shipwreck is also known as Santo Andre.

Povoa de Varzim

Unidentified Steam Shipwreck

"Brenha" was a trawl fishing vessel, built in 1969. She was 32m long, 7.22m broad and 3.55m deep.

The vessel sailed from Leixões harbour on January 23rd 1996, at 11pm, en route to northern Spain with her crew of 14 men and her Captain João Rebelo da Silva.

Weather and sea conditions were rough, with heavy rain, strong winds and high waves.

Minutes after leaving port, just out of Mindelo Village, she hit Guilhada Rock, which made a hole in her hull.

The crew sent their first SOS at 11.30pm.

They were saved by a smaller fishing vessel, named "O Desterrado". When help arrived there was not much to do other than save Brenha's crew, as the vessel was full of water and doomed. There were no victims to regret thanks to David Leocádio, captain of "O Desterrado", who fought against the storm to save those fishermen and bring them all back home, alive and well.

Brenha sunk close to shore on January 4th 1996, at 00.30am.

The wreck rests in 27m, on a sandy seabed with her keel firmly settled on a rock. She lies on her starboard, pointing west. Only the hull remains intact, because, when she sunk, the vessel rolled over on the seabed until she hit a rock where she came to rest. The mast and the antennas are gone and the bridge damage looked as if it was trod on. In 2003 the bridge structure disappeared and left in her place a hole that leads inside the wreck.

It is possible to penetrate the wreck, however, great care is required as there are still fishing nets and loosing lines inside. This is a recent wreck but it is already full of marine life, turning this once fishing vessel into an artificial reef.

Source: www.submania.pt
(Reproduced with permission of the author)

out of Mindelo Village

Brenha

This is the wreck of one of two large barges on tow by the Marialva tugboat.

Marialva was a tugboat of 111 tons, built in 1937 and owned by SOFAMAR.

On December 7th 1959, with Oporto city in sight, the Marialva was sailing from Lisbon to Oporto with a cargo of cement. Approaching her destination, she faced a huge sea storm, which made the tug and the barges overturn and sink, killing all 17 crew members.

The second barge made of wood, ended up on a nearby beach. The wreck of the tug remains undiscovered.

The Batelao wreck is located 2 miles from shore, in front of the Douro river mouth, on a sandy seabed 27m deep.

Nowadays she lays in a state of decay, claimed by the seas of time, broken in two with both her stern and bow decks collapsed. Divers can easily distinguish some of her cargo. Cement which petrified when in contact with sea water and now looks like some sort of rock inside her cargo hull.

Besides her state of deterioration, this is an excellent dive. Full of marine life, like huge shoals of small fishes and the amazing garden of metridium senile anemones.

This one of the best night dives you can do in the area.

Due to her location there is a high possibility of strong currents in the area and it's quite normal to find fishing nets around this wreck.

Source: www.submania.pt
(Reproduced with permission of the author)

3 n. miles SW from Porto de Leixoes

Batelao

The history of this wreck is unknown. We know that she is quite old, built of wood, but what kind of ship, where she came from and her destination is still a mystery.

"Navio do Norte" is the name given by local fishermen to this wreck, located north of Angeiras village. It means "northern ship".

From this vessel rests her cargo, or part of it, composed of iron cannons, bullets, wheels and other iron debris. It's still possible to see some pieces of wood that belongs to the main structure of the ship that have remained well preserved under the sand.

This wreck rests in open sea, on a sandy bottom at 34m. Marine life on this site is amazing, with lots of small fish, lobsters, conger eels and amazing octopuses. There are lost lines and fishing nets on the wreck.

We believe that this wreck is part of the steam-boat Tiber, owned by British company P&O Line.

Tiber was an iron paddle steamer of 763 tons. This vessel was laid down on August 8th, 1846, and arrived in Southampton on October 26th from builders, Caird & Co in Greenock. She was originally to have been named "Ceylon", and ran P&O's Peninsular, Italian and Black Sea routes. Tiber was 56.29m long, 8.15m broad and 5.26m deep. She had 280hp engines, a speed of 9 knots and a bunker capacity of 225 tons. This steamer cost £28.600 and was insured for £20.000.

On 21st February 1847, early in the afternoon, Tiber sank out of Vila Cha when she was homeward bound from Gibraltar. Her captain was Mr Bingham.

The cause of her sinking is still inconclusive.

In Portugal we found documents that say that this ship sank due to a severe sea storm and despites the efforts of local fishermen to help with the rescue of both passengers and crew, around 30 people died in this tragedy.

In other researche, we found out that the ship was sailing in dense fog, hit a rock and sank in deep water within minutes with no casualties to report.

Her cargo and mail sank with the ship and were lost. Among the cargo was a load of gold coins destined for the royal treasury.

Source: www.submania.pt
(Reproduced with permission of the author)



Navio do Norte

A group of underwater rocks located between Mindelo and Vila Cha village. They form an amazing sandbank full of marine life.

With a maximum depth of 15m, some of the rocks almost reach the surface.

The marine life is quite good. Here the diver can find some gorgeous anemone carpets, crustacea, molluscs, fish and a variety of green and brown seaweed. It is also possible to find areas with types of gorgonians.

Source: www.submania.pt
(Reproduced with permission of the author)

Located between Mindelo and Vila Cha village

Bezerros

Pena



S from the exit of Rio Cavado. Cavalos de Fão are small rocks.

Cavalos de Fão is also known as Cavalos.

Cavalos de Fão

Moinhos is a 0-star rated scuba dive and snorkel destination in Portugal, Costa Verde, Esposende which is accessible from shore based on 0 ratings.

Moinhos

This is a rock dive. "Prego" is one of many underwater rocks located out of Lavra village.

With a maximum depth of 21m and a lower of 12m, this rock was baptized as "Prego" because of a crack that looks like a nail. "Prego" is the Portuguese word for nail. It's a nice dive where the diver can enjoy the anemone carpets, huge mussels the size of ones hand, sea bass and sea bream.

This site is also dived for spear fishing as the crack is a good hide for adult sea bass and sea bream.

There is a crucifix on the bottom of this rock in memory of a diver who lost his life while free diving.

Any diver can enjoy this excellent dive.

Source: www.submania.pt
(Reproduced with permission of the author)

One of many underwater rocks located out of Lavra village.

Prego

This is a rock dive. "Rodelha" is one of many underwater rocks located out of Lavra village. This rock looks like a cork with a 19m maximum depth and 5m as minimum.

The diver can find here the usual marine life of this kind of environments, such as anemones, molluscs, crustacea and a variety of fish.

Good for novice divers.

Source: www.submania.pt
(Reproduced with permission of the author)

Out of Lavra village

Unidentified Steam Shipwreck

Snorkeling and Scuba Diving at Unidentified Steam Shipwreck