Banyuls-sur-Mer & the Côte Vermeille · France · Wreck
Alice Robert
A 95 m WWII escort cut in two by a torpedo, mast top at 25 m, bow at 50 m
Photo: Francois Guillon · CC BY-SA 4.0
The Alice Robert was a French refrigerated banana carrier, launched in 1934, that the German navy rebuilt as the fast escort SG11 and lost to a British torpedo off Port-Vendres on 2 June 1944. The torpedo cut her in two. Today she is the deepest wreck on the Catalan coast, with the top of the mast at 25 m and the foot of the bow at 50 m, and she is thick with groupers, anthias and moray eels.
Also known as Le Bananier, SG-11.
Where it is and how deep
42.5893° N, 3.1299° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The descent is to the top of the mast, the shallowest point of the wreck at 25 m. From there the hull opens out below you. She lies in two pieces, cut apart by the torpedo that sank her, with the stern section about 350 m east of the main hull, so the dive is a tour of a broken ship rather than a swim along one continuous deck, and the deeper you go the more of the 95 m of hull you see.
The bow is the deep end: its foot rests on the bottom at 50 m, which makes this the deepest wreck on the Catalan coast and sets the shape of the dive. The wreck is full of fish and rich in fixed growth: groupers hold on the wreckage, anthias cover the fixed fauna, and moray eels live in the plating.
With bottom time short at these depths, the ascent comes early: back up the structure to the mast top at 25 m and then the decompression stops. The wreck carried a large quantity of munitions, and although two clearance campaigns have been run, treat any ordnance you see as untouchable.
The wreck
- Vessel
- Alice Robert
- Type
- Refrigerated banana carrier, rebuilt as German escort SG11
- Length
- 95 m (312 ft)
- Built
- 1934
- Sunk
- 1944
- Cause
- Torpedoed by the British submarine HMS Ultor on 2 June 1944
- Lies
- Cut in two off Port-Vendres, the stern about 350 m east of the main hull; top of the mast at 25 m, foot of the bow at 50 m
The Alice Robert was built in 1934 at Nakskov in Denmark for the Compagnie franco-coloniale de navigation, a refrigerated cargo ship that carried bananas from the French colonies to Bordeaux and Nantes. After Opération Anton in 1942 the German navy took her over, rebuilt her as a fast escort and renamed her SG11 in the Kriegsmarine. On 2 June 1944, sailing out in company with the SG21, she was cut in two by a torpedo from the British submarine HMS Ultor and sank off Port-Vendres. Because the wreck still held a large quantity of munitions, a first ordnance clearance campaign ran in June 2020 and a second in October 2022; all activity near the wreck was banned while the work went on.
Marine life and season
- Groupers
- Reef fish swarms
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair |
Season follows Banyuls-sur-Mer & the Côte Vermeille: The Banyuls centres open year-round, but the sea averages 12 °C in February against 23 °C in August, the reserve's snorkel trail runs June to September, and the Tramontane can stop boats in any month.
Know before you go
- The bow lies at 50 m and the shallowest point is the mast top at 25 m: this is a planned deep dive with staged decompression, not a recreational profile.
- The ship carried a large quantity of munitions; ordnance clearance campaigns ran in June 2020 and October 2022, and anything that looks like ordnance is left alone.
Questions divers ask
How deep is the Alice Robert wreck?+
The top of the mast is at 25 m and the foot of the bow is at 50 m, which makes it the deepest wreck on the Catalan coast.
Why is the Alice Robert called Le Bananier?+
She was built as a refrigerated cargo ship carrying bananas from the French colonies to Bordeaux and Nantes before the German navy converted her into the escort SG11.
What happened to the Alice Robert?+
On 2 June 1944 she was torpedoed by the British submarine HMS Ultor while sailing out with the SG21; the torpedo cut her in two and she sank off Port-Vendres.
Sources
- Alice Robert — Wikipédia
- Le Bananier / Alice Robert - Scubago — Scubago
Photo credits
- Orange and pink jewel anemones encrusting steel plating on the Alice Robert wreck by Francois Guillon, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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