Author: Roberto Delaide
Photo credit: Roberto Delaide, Massimo Ardizzoni
It was a dark night in 1957, in the port of Otranto, Italy. A steamship was finishing its loading (glass and grain) and beginning its exit maneuvers with three crewmen on board. As soon as it left the port, the boilermaker increased the pressure and began loading the boilers. The ship's bow was headed toward Greece.
Suddenly, about three miles offshore, hell breaks loose! A boiler explodes, and the ship begins to take on water.
The large tugboat Ardimentoso arrives promptly from the port of Otranto and throws a cable to the rescue ship, the Adonis II.
The attempt to tow the wreck back to port then begins, but something goes wrong.
The Adonis II, a cargo ship at least 130 meters long, begins to sink. The tugboat is unable to cope with the emergency and risks sinking along with the ship it is towing. There is panic on board.
The Adonis II begins to sink and to avoid the same fate, all that remains is to cut the towing cable... but the on-board blowtorch that would have been used to cut the cable does not light, there are moments of panic. Two of the crew board the tugboat, but the Adonis is sinking ever faster, and there are fears for the tugboat Ardimentoso.
A daredevil sailor remains on the Adonis II and with the strength of desperation tries to cut the cable with the club, bam... bam... bam... he swings the club and suddenly the cable breaks, hitting the sailor who loses his arm on impact with the cable.
The Adonis II is sinking!
The Finding
It remained in that place in silence until the 80s when a local coral fisherman saw this enormous signal on the monitor of his echo sounder... full of joy, he thought it was a large boulder, and hoped there was coral.
The area, the Strait of Otranto, is exposed to significant currents and is therefore rich in coral.
He goes down thinking about the coral together with his friend Franco Muoio, but they are disappointed, a ship... what a shame!
No one has ever dived onto the wreck and no one has ever taken a photograph of the wreck, at least until today.
The team:
Domenico Picca, director of the Hyperbaric Medicine Department in Bari
Salvatore Bortone, owner of DWD Diving in Diso (Le)
Delaide Roberto Technical Racing Director NAUI
Massimo Ardizzoni IT NAUI
Fabrizio Demoro NAUI Instructor
Codiferro Nicoletta NAUI Instructor
Annarita Bortone, owner of DWD Diving in Diso (Le)
The dives were conducted by dividing the group into two separate teams: the research team and the photography and video team.
The wreck is located in sailing trim approximately three miles from the coast, at a depth of 72 metres.
A team operated in CCR with real bottom times ranging from 30 minutes to 45 minutes, using RGBM tables with a pressure of 1.3 during the dive and 1.5 from 9 meters with variable runtimes (depending on the bottom time) from 60 to 90 minutes despite the poor visibility conditions of those days. Approximately 60 photographs were taken and a video of approximately 20 minutes was edited. The team would like to thank Franco Muoio, the discoverer of the wreck who brought us to the site and collaborated with us throughout the week, the DWD diving center ( www.divingdwddiso.it ) of Diso for logistical support and assistance, and Dr. Domenico Picca, head of hyperbaric medicine in Bari, for his assistance and support.
To dive on the Adonis II wreck you can contact:
DWD a diso Diving DWD :
Via Pastorizza, 20 – 73030 Diso, Lecce
Castro Marina, Lecce – Salento – Puglia
Tel & Fax 0836921276 – Cell +39 339.2549004
Reproduction of the text and photos in this article, even partial, is strictly prohibited without the author's consent.
