A 183 m First World War troopship aground at the entrance to Souda Bay, lying in 16 to 20 m of water. The Minnewaska was a passenger liner requisitioned by the British and was carrying about 1,800 troops when she struck a mine in November 1916; her captain ran her ashore and every soul aboard got off. No current is reported on the site and it is dived at all levels.
Also known as Minnewaska III, Minnewaska Wreck.
Where it is and how deep
35.4931° N, 24.1672° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The wreck lies where her captain put her, run aground 46 m west of Cape Deutero at the entrance to Souda Bay, with the remains still partly under water. Depth on the dive averages 16 m and bottoms out at 20, and no current is reported here, so it is a slow swim along a very large ship rather than any kind of fight to hold position.
Scale is the thing on this dive. She was about 183 m long with a 20 m beam, so a 46 to 50 minute dive is spent working along a fraction of her at a time rather than circling the whole hull. Visibility in the bay runs from 10 to 30 m, and that decides how much of the structure you take in at once: on a good day the shape of the ship is legible, on a poor one it arrives piece by piece.
The wreck
- Vessel
- SS Minnewaska
- Type
- Passenger liner requisitioned as a British WWI troopship
- Length
- 183 m (600 ft)
- Built
- 1909
- Sunk
- 1916
- Cause
- Struck a floating mine at the entrance to Souda Bay
- Lies
- Run aground 46 m west of Cape Deutero, partly submerged in 16 to 20 m
The Minnewaska was launched at Harland & Wolff in Belfast on 12 November 1908 and completed in 1909 as a passenger liner, then requisitioned by the British government as a troopship. On 29 November 1916 she struck a floating mine off Souda Bay with about 1,800 soldiers and 200 sailors aboard. Her captain ran her aground rather than let her go down under them, and a two-hour evacuation by the trawler Danestone, three drifters and the destroyer HMS Grampus took everyone off without a life lost; he was awarded the Order of the British Empire for it. The hull was sold to Italian shipbreakers two years later.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair |
Season follows Crete: April to November is the season, warmest from July to September; the summer meltemi can blow out the exposed north-coast sites for a day or two at a time.
Dive videos
Wreck of the Minnewaska - Crete - 4K · WaterTrek 360 on YouTube
DIVING @ PALAIO-SOUDA ISLAND- BRITISH WRECK MINNEWASKA · Ga tos on YouTube
Questions divers ask
Is the Minnewaska suitable for a first wreck dive?+
It is dived at all levels. The wreck sits between 16 and 20 m, no current is reported on it, and it is big enough that a 46 to 50 minute dive covers only part of the hull.
Did anyone die when the Minnewaska sank?+
No. She was carrying around 1,800 soldiers and 200 sailors when she hit the mine, and a two-hour evacuation got everyone off. Her captain was awarded the Order of the British Empire for running her aground.
Sources
- Dive SS Minnewaska - WWI Shipwreck in Souda Bay, Crete — Salty Descents
- Minnewaska wreck - Dive in Chania Crete — TheDiver.gr
- Minnewaska III Shipwreck: A Dive into Maritime History — Scuba World Chania
- SS Minnewaska (1908) — Wikipedia
Photo credits
- Original capacity plan drawing of the troopship SS Minnewaska showing deck layout and hold volumes by Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
In The Logbook
- Your first wreck dive: what to expect and whereFirst dives · 6 min read
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