(15-04-10) A ship sunken in 1974 in the Ria de Arousa is the star in this 11th article about Galicia (Spain). It is now completely covered with white anemones and has become a wreck that, over time, has created its own ecosystema.

    Everything that is born or what the human being creates has an ending one day. In case of ships, when bad weather, a rock, accident or just being sunk to create a new ecosystem, their lives as vessels end and a new life begins, maybe better and more respected.

    This is the case of shipwrecks. Dives that attract any diver in the world like the strongest magnet. Every area has a representative. For instance, the Boreas in Catalonia, the Thistlegorm in the Red Sea, and the Aries in the Ria de Arousa.

    The Aries was a coal ship 47 m long and 392 tones, build in Santander in 1947 to travel the transport line of wood from the harbours Laxe and Camariñas to Morocco. In the way back it loaded any kind of product.

    In 1974 the shipowner from A Coruña, Alfonso Núñez, ordered José Valiña Lavandeira, from a shipyard, to make improvements in order to improve its skills and widen the route to Casablanca. From then, this is the last picture known of the Aries alive.

    Aries crew was seven people between 17 and 53 years old. The skipper was Manuel Castiñeiras Centeno, and the mechanics were Constantino Pasandín Mourelle and Bautista Vidal Canosa. The cook was Nasilicio Ponte Delgado and the three sailors were Luciano Tedín Castro, Manuel Varela Ferreiro and Juan Antonio Puñal Varela.

    On Wednesday December 7, 1977, at night, there was a storm in the Ria de Arousa with winds 70 km/h and very high waves. The Aries was entering the Ria with destination Puebla del Caramiñal, loaded with 500 t of crushed marble from Garrucha. 

OUT OF CONTROL WITH THE RUDDER DAMAGED

    A mechanical breakdown made the rudder be disabled, so the ship went to the Loberías, a group of huge rocks off the Rúa Island. 

    Sailors tried desperately to save the imminent collision dropping the anchor, but that night the Aries was going to end. A chain link broke and the ship drifted waiting for the collision. The seven sailors were able to save their lives thanks to the help of the shipmaster Joaquín Oujo and his small coastal fishing boat the San Ramón.

    The shipwreck, that in 2006 was set for one of the Nafosub proofs, lies on a sandy bottom with gravel, 20 m. deep in an area with currents, which makes it be completely covered with white anemone or Sagartia elegans.

    Although the visibility can reach the 10 or 15 meters, this time we had to be content with the usual: 3 to 5 m and 14ºC. Diving here has two dangers: one is the oxidized metal itself (we have o be careful not to get cut), and the other one is the anemones because if you touch them and then you touch your face where the epidermis is thinner, you can have problems. I recommend you using gloves.

    The rest of the dive is very easy, just swim around it, remembering that here, among metals, the compass does not work. Our senses will be surrounded by a warm melancholy. When the air finishes or the computer indicates the ending, we will think that time has stopped, but the watch will indicate one more hour.

    The dive is very easy. We only need to remember where the ending of the rope is. Maximum we would have to swim 50 meters in one direction. The way of moving the flippers is “as a frog kick”. Remember it well if you want the dive lasts.

TAKE CARE NOT TO MOVE SEDIMENTS WHEN DIVING

    The only place where one can go inside is the bridge. But watch out, it is completely covered with a small mud layer and I remind you that if you dive wrong the dive is finished.

    The inside has been robbed and there are no the radio or the binnacle, just the toilet in a small room next to the deck stern. Here we will meet a free space where two people can prowl around undisturbed.

    Going out from stern to bow, we will see the cargo hold, which occupies most of the ship and is completely empty. Nothing is known about the marble it carried, and now its sandy bottom houses a small colony of scallops and variegated scallops.

    Small and big pouts live here too. It seems that they are happy to see us and go out to visit us, as well as the abundant ballan wrasse. Nevertheless, the most attractive thing is the great amount of crabs that hide in the crevices or behind a group of mussels.

    Outside this place we won’t meet the deck bow over which still remain the anchor windlass and some big mooring cleats.

    The rails that separate us from falling to water support the pass of the time well, unlike the pass of recreational fishers who, sometimes, leave their anchor systems in the ship.

    When swimming over the rails everything becomes dark green again, as if it was a cliff, and it begins an almost vertical and sharp bow of about 8 meters long, from where we cannot see the bottom. Looking at it from the bottom upward, in sunny days, it wonders everybody.

    This time I have to thank my mate Aldrey for his help giving me many of the documentation needed to write this article. The video of this dive, film with the little visibility I told you, is also his. If you want to watch it, click here. Thank you Aldrey.

Text and pictures: Jacobo Alonso
http://fotosub-jacoboalonso.blogspot.com
Video: Jose M. Aldrey
We have dived with: www.hydronauta.com