print dive site review | contribute site info / photo
Scuba Diving in Baikal Lake, Irkutsk Region, Listvyanka, Russia
Reader Reviews:
Dive Site: Unknown Shipwreck
Location: 138km from CircumBaikal Railway
Description: Supposedly a fishing boat
Depth: 25 meters (82 feet)
Visibility: 20-25 meters (65-82 feet)
Rating: ***
In July 2008 Three Dimensions-Baikal dive club members launched an exploration expedition of the Baikal in the area of Sharizhalgai village (138km of CircumBaikal railway) in search of the possible remnants of trains that got off the track and fell into the lake in this area.
The lake held in store something unexpected for us: a 100-year-old unknown ship 16 meters (53 feet) long and 5 meters (16 feet) wide. This is the only shipwreck in the Baikal that can be visited, as very many other ships reported sank in the lake are lying at unreachable with regular scuba depths.
The ship was probably a fishing boat that sank as a result of a hole in its bottom. Presumably, the boat crew did not take enough precautions and came too close to the tunnel construction site during explosion works (CircumBaikal railway is famous for its tunnels, which are multiple in number, as the railway is constructed in the whole rock).
On the boat we found a vinegar bottle made in Moscow (Leopold Stolkind (Леопольд Столкинд) Manufacture) in the beginning of the XX century. Some of the online news reports (RIA Novosti, for example) had it that we found human remnants aboard, which is nonsense. Firstly, because we never gave such comments; secondly, because even if some of the crew members found their deaths aboard the ship, 100 years is a huge time period for the lake to completely erase anything that can be associated with human body.
The lake floor relief in the area of shipwreck is rocky and quite steep (about 45°), the ship lies on its keel, you can easily see all parts of the boat.
We made just two dives on this wreck, so the area is not completely explored yet. We are planning more expeditions to see the ship neighborhood.
Andrey Bobkov, PDA Instructor | 17/09/09
Do you have any comments on this dive site?
print dive site review | contribute site info / photo | top 
Do you run a dive operation in this area?
Click here to find out more about being listed on this
page in dive site directory.
|
