BATELAO 
By Luis Mota (SUBMANIA)

This is the wreck of one of two large barges on tow by the Marialva tugboat.

Marialva was a tugboat of 111 tons, built in 1937 and was owned by SOFAMAR.

She sailed from Lisbon to Oporto with a cement cargo. Near her destiny she faced a huge sea storm, which made the tug and the barges turned over and sunk, killing all her 17 crew members. It happened on December 7th, 1959, with Oporto city in sight.

The second barge made of wood, end up in a nearby beach and the wreck of the tug remains undiscovered.

The Batelao wreck is located 2 miles from shore, in front of Douro river mouth, on a sandy seabed at 27m deep.

Nowadays she is quite deported, broken in two and with her deck both on stern and bow fall down. Divers can easily distinguish some of her cargo. Cement which petrified when went in contact with sea water and now looks like a sort of rock inside her cargo hull.

Besides her state of deterioration, this is an excellent dive, full of marine life, like huge shoals of small fishes and the amazing garden of metridium senile anemones.

This is the best night dive you can do around here.

Due to her location there is a high possibility to have strong currents in the area and it's quite usual to find fishing nets around this wreck.

Minimum diving certification required to dive this wreck:
CMAS two stars or equivalent.

[ Batelao ] [ Bezerros ] [ Brenha ] [ Charneca ] [ Jakob Maersk ] [ Kassamba ] [ Navio Do Norte ] [ Olo ] [ Pelo Negro ] [ Prego ] [ Rodelha ] [ Ruy Barbosa ] [ Veronese ] [ Vila do Porto ] [ U1277 ]

THE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS DIVE SITE WAS PROVIDED BY:

Matosinhos - Portugal
web: www.submania.pt
email: info@submania.pt

© Luis Mota