Bermuda · Bermuda · Wreck · Artificial reef
Hermes
An intact ship on sand at 24.4 m, wheelhouse at 13.7 m
Area photo: c&rdunn · CC BY-SA 2.0
A 50 m freighter cleaned out and scuttled off the south shore in 1984, and one of Bermuda's most popular dive sites. She sits upright and almost fully intact on flat sand at 24.4 m, listing about 10 degrees to port, whole enough to be worked from one end to the other inside a single dive.
Also known as Brava Fogo.
Where it is and how deep
32.2452° N, 64.7995° WPublished position for this site.
Site maps published elsewhere
The dive
The Hermes lies about 1.8 km south of Warwick Long Bay, on flat sand in 22.9 to 24.4 m. She is almost fully intact and sitting upright, listing around 10 degrees to port, which makes the dive an orientation rather than a search: you drop onto a whole ship and work it from one end to the other, with the sand around the hull giving a constant depth reference.
The wheelhouse is the shallowest structure at 13.7 m, so the profile stages itself — superstructure high, deck below it, the sand alongside the hull at 24.4 m. At 50 m long she is small enough to circle inside a single dive. She was thoroughly cleaned and made 'diver friendly' before being towed out and scuttled in 1984, so this is a wreck laid down for divers rather than a casualty left where it fell.
The wreck
- Vessel
- Hermes
- Type
- Freighter, ex-U.S. Coast Guard buoy tender
- Length
- 50 m (164 ft)
- Built
- 1943
- Sunk
- 1984
- Cause
- Deliberately scuttled as an artificial reef after engine failure left her abandoned in Bermuda
- Lies
- Upright and almost fully intact on flat sand at 24.4 m, listing 10 degrees to port
Built in 1943 in Pennsylvania as a U.S. Coast Guard buoy tender, the Hermes was working as a freighter in 1983 when engine trouble on a run from Rhode Island to the Cape Verde Islands forced her into St George's Harbour, where she was abandoned. The Bermudian Government bought her from the Bermuda Dive Association, had her thoroughly cleaned and made 'diver friendly', and on 15 May 1984 she was towed about a mile off the south shore near Horseshoe Bay and scuttled.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Off-season | Off-season | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Off-season |
Season follows Bermuda: May to October is the season, warmest July to September at 27–28°C; the water falls to about 19°C by March, and winter storms make diving the exception.
Dive videos
Diving the Hermes Wreck Bermuda (The Bermuda Triangle!) · BlueWorldTV on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How deep is the Hermes wreck?+
The hull sits on sand in 22.9 to 24.4 m, with the wheelhouse — the shallowest part of the structure — at 13.7 m below the surface.
What certification do I need for the Hermes?+
The bottom is at 24.4 m, past the 18 m limit an Open Water certification carries, so the Hermes calls for Advanced Open Water or equivalent deep training. The wheelhouse at 13.7 m keeps part of the dive shallower, but the sand alongside the hull is a 24 m dive.
Sources
- The Hermes — Bermuda 100 (UC San Diego)
- Hermes dive site — PADI Travel
In The Logbook
- Ships sunk on purpose, and where to dive themWrecks · 14 min read
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