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Diving on The Zenobia ship Wreck - a Swedish roll-on-roll-off ferry fully loaded with 108 trailers and trucks. She sank outside Larnaca's fishing harbour at 2:30 am on Saturday the 7th of June 1980 - Sign Up for the PADI Open Water Diver Course Online

The Zenobia Ship Wreck

Swedish roll-on-roll-off ferry fully loaded with 108 trailers and trucks, registered to carry up to 140 passengers. She sank on her maiden voyage to Cyprus in 7 June 1980 off Larnaca's fishing harbour. Zenobia is now lying on her side at 42 metres.

She has two decks, and two stern doors (1 port, 1 starboard) , powered by two 7 cylinder, single acting, oil-fired two strokes engines. They delivered 18,760 bhp.

She sank outside Larnaca's fishing harbour at 2:30 am on Saturday the 7th of June 1980. Her history and the intrigue over her sinking deserve an article on their own but to give you an idea the rumours range from computer error and insurance scams to Middle Eastern security forces



 

The most popular theory though surrounds her computerized ballasting system, as this reportedly developed a fault while on route to Larnaca.

A maintenance team was sent aboard to correct the problem and successfully managed to correct the list to 5°. However, at 5pm on the evening of the 6th June 1980 the Captain mistakenly dismissed them, dispatching them back to land.

This was later to prove to be a fatal mistake as the following day at 2am she sank, taking her cargo to her final resting place...

Position: 34,53.5 N, 33,39.1 E (1500 metres from the shore)
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