A French passenger ship of 113 metres, scuttled beside the battleship Masséna on 9 November 1915 to build a breakwater at V Beach for the Allied evacuation. She lies in 5 to 7 metres of water off Cape Helles, close to where the River Clyde was beached. Almost nothing is published about the dive beyond her depth and her dimensions.
Where it is and how deep
40.0447° N, 26.1889° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
Saghalien and Masséna went to the bottom together on 9 November 1915, scuttled close to the River Clyde to make a breakwater at V Beach that would shelter the evacuation of the Allied force from Cape Helles. The dive centre's table gives 5 metres for her, the park's own page 7, and an Italian wreck guide 5 to 7 in Ertuğrul Bay, so the dive is shallow, bright and as long as the boat schedule allows, run with a guide like every dive here.
There is no published route for this one. The record gives a hull of 113 by 20 by 9 metres and the reason she is where she is, and then stops: no condition report, no species list, no position for the wreck itself. Treat it as a shallow structural swim over a transport that was sunk deliberately, with the briefing carrying the dive — the evacuation these two ships were sunk to protect took the last Allied troops off the peninsula in January 1916.
The wreck
- Vessel
- Saghalien
- Type
- French passenger and transport ship
- Length
- 113 m (371 ft)
- Sunk
- 1915
- Cause
- Scuttled beside Masséna as a breakwater for the Allied evacuation
- Lies
- In 5 to 7 m at V Beach, close to where the River Clyde was beached
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 | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair |
Season follows Gallipoli: April–May and August–September bring the best conditions; the wrecks can be dived all year.
Sources
- Gallipoli Wrecks dive site table — Gallipoli Wrecks
- Dardanelli, guida ai relitti della Prima Guerra Mondiale — Scubaportal
- AWM photograph G01854A — Australian War Memorial
- The cemeteries of Gallipoli, part one: Cape Helles — The Big Note
- Deep Heritage: cathodic protection for Dardanelles wrecks — Western Front Association
- French battleship Masséna — Wikipedia
- Massena and Saghalien — Gallipoli Historic Site Directorate (divinggelibolu.com)
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