Getting to the bottom of it – a deep dive into Lake Geneva

Would you take a deep dive into Lake Geneva? You never know what you might find.

I’d love to be able to describe to you how I plunged into the lake, dressed in a squeaky rubber suit, and snorkeled my way to the bottom on a voyage of discovery.

Despite my love of sailing, however, I’ve got a strong aversion to deep, dark, ice-cold water, and anyway…. you never know what might be down there!

Luckily, other people are not so averse to exploring the depths, so If like me, you’re curious about what’s in Lake Geneva, apart from fish, let’s find out.

++By the way, there’s a challenge for you, worth an amazing 500 euros, at the end of this blog++

How big are we talking?

Firstly, let’s get an idea of the size of this lake.  Over 73 km long and 14 km wide at its broadest part, the lake contains 89 thousand billion litres of water.

At its deepest part, it plunges to a depth of 310 metres.  To help visualise how deep this is, think of 70 double-decker London buses on top of each other. It takes a sinking sailboat 2½ minutes to reach the bottom at 300 metres (984 ft), going down at a rate of 7km/hr.

That’s deep.

Fed by the river Rhone in the east, it’s said it takes 11 years for a single drop of water to travel from one end to the other at Geneva.  Please don’t ask me who took the time to measure that.

As you can see, we’re not talking about any ordinary pond, it’s enormous.

The perils of the deep

Keeping in mind that the lake was formed over 150,000 years ago, with the melting of the Rhone Glacier, there have been countless watery tragedies.

The vagaries of the winds, the instability of heavily laden vessels, and the difficulties of navigating in poor visibility have all contributed to a succession of disasters over the centuries.

The water, like a witch’s oils,

Burnt green, and blue and white

Samuel Taylor Coleridge – The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

With the development of underwater exploration, it’s now possible to get a glimpse of some of the more recent objects deposited on the lakebed.

So, if we were to do that deep dive, what’s at the bottom?

Ammunition

For a start, there are 1,500 tonnes of live ammunition, dumped in the lake by the Swiss in the years 1940 to 1960. Most of it can be found in a 10 km² area, at a depth of around 50 metres, near the shallower Geneva end. In the last few years, divers have identified shells and bombs of all types resting on the lakebed.

The SS Rhone

One of the saddest wrecks has to be the steamship, the SS Rhone.

On 28 November 1883, the Rhone was travelling from Evian to Lausanne. On the opposite side of the lake was a smaller vessel, the Cygne, due to sail from Vevey to Thonon via Evian.

The weather was so wild that the Captain of the Cygne hesitated to sail. Some passengers got off.  Eventually, he decided to set off directly to Thonon. Halfway across the lake, the weather improved, so he switched tack and headed to Evian as originally intended.

According to records, the Cygne veered off course in high winds and struck the larger Rhone steamship following its usual route from Evian to Lausanne.

14 lives were lost.  Today, the wreck of the SS Rhone lies at a depth of 300 metres between Evian and Lausanne.

The SS Hirondelle

Heavily laden with 350 passengers, most returning from the market in Vevey to Clarens or Montreux, the Hirondelle sank in a shallower part of the lake close to Peilz.

Sailing along the shoreline, the Hirondelle encountered a small boat coming in the opposite direction.  Hesitating, the helmsman decided to manoeuvre the steamship between the bank and the smaller vessel and hit the rocks lining the bank.  The passengers either scrambled ashore or onto the other vessel and astoundingly, no lives were lost.

In their rush to leave the stricken boat, they also managed to strip it completely of its furniture, carpets, tables, and mirrors.  Also stolen was a barrel of wine, a large ham, and the Captain’s binoculars.  So, a lucky day for some.

Of the 4 steamships that lie at the bottom of the lake, the SS Hirondelle is the one most accessible to experienced divers.

The remains of another steamship, the hull of the redundant SS Aigle II/Simplon, were scuttled deliberately in 1935. This also sits in the deepest part of the lake.

Steam Yachts

The SY Nemo, (SY standing for Steam Yacht) sank in 1875 having arrived on Lake Geneva from England only a year before.

Several wealthy individuals living along the shoreline of Lake Geneva/Lac Leman owned private steam yachts. A dashing combination of billowing sail and steam propulsion they were ostentatiously fitted out with velvet seats, shiny brass fittings, mirrors, and burnished wood. The height of luxury at the time.

Railway Carriages

Yes, there are even a few railway carriages that slipped from the deck of their transport vessel during a storm in 1859. Their rusting bones can be found on the lakebed towards Bouveret.

Airplanes

Surprisingly, there’s no reference to any plane from World War II landing in the water, That’s despite the heavy deployment in regions around the lake.

However, there are remains of a De Haviland Vampire of 1951 and several civilian light aircraft. There’s also a photo of a wonderful bi-plane from the 1920s-30s wrecked, but not sunk, at Ouchy.

Other smaller boats

In addition to the larger steamers, you can find underwater photographs of several small pleasure boats on the www.sub-rec.ch site.  They list at least 8 sailboats and 8 motor cruisers, most of which they’ve photographed.  You can see these for yourself on their website. In reality, there are probably many more.

You can also find more details on the official site:

Register of the underwater wrecks of Switzerland

Our own wreck

We have a dinghy, similar to a Wayfarer, permanently submerged under our small boat in the local marina. Even the prospect of claiming salvage rights hasn’t tempted me down there yet.

On a clear day, however, you can scare the living daylights out of children with stories of the Black Pearl rising from the deep.

+++ The Challenge +++

Here’s the challenge for you!

There is a reward of 500 euros being offered by www.sub-rec.ch. The Swiss underwater exploration site is appealing for readers to help trace the UK shipbuilder of the SY Nemo.

If you have time on your hands, this could make a fascinating piece of detective work. (However, you might want to check with them that the reward hasn’t been claimed yet).

I’ll start you off with this (possible red herring) from Wikipedia:

“Statistics show that Clydeside was the premier building area for steam yachts in the UK. 43 shipbuilding yards on Clydeside built 190 steam yachts between 1830 and 1935. Scotts Shipbuilding & Engineering Co Ltd of Greenock Scotland built 23 steam yachts between 1876 and 1904”