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

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

I’d love to tell you how I plunged into the lake in a squeaky rubber suit and snorkelled my way to the bottom on a voyage of discovery.

But despite my love of sailing, I have a strong aversion to deep, dark, ice-cold water.

And besides….you never quite know what might be down there.

Luckily, others are less hesitant. So if, like me, you’re curious about what lies beneath the surface of Lake Geneva,  let’s find out.

How big are we talking?

But before we go any further, it helps to understand just how vast this lake really is.

Stretching over 73 km in length and 14 km across at its widest point, Lake Geneva holds an almost unimaginable volume of water – around 89 trillion litres.

And then there’s the depth.

At its deepest point, the lake plunges to around 310 metres.  To put that into perspective, imagine stacking around 70 double-decker London buses on top of each other.

A sinking boat would take roughly two and a half minutes to reach the bottom….dropping at around 7km/hr.

That’s deep.

Fed by the Rhône in the east, it’s said that a single drop of water can take up to 11 years to travel from one end of the lake to the other at Geneva.

Please don’t ask me who took the time to measure that.

This is no ordinary lake – and we’ve only just scratched the surface. From the balcony in Thollon, the lake looks calm enough…

The perils of the deep

The lake itself was formed over 150,000 years ago, as the Rhone Glacier retreated – and over the centuries, it’s seen more than its share of tragedy.

Sudden winds, poor visibility, and heavily laden vessels have all played their part. Even on calm days, the lake can be deceptive.

Over time, accidents, misjudgements, and bad weather have left their mark – quietly accumulating on the lakebed below.

And some of those stories still lie deep beneath the surface, waiting to be discovered.

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 catch a glimpse of some of the more recent objects resting on the lakebed.

So, what’s at the bottom?

Ammunition

For a start, there’s something less romantic than sunken yachts on the lakebed.

Around 1,500 tonnes of live ammunition were dumped here by the Swiss between the 1940s and 1960s. Much of it lies in a relatively small area – roughly 10 square kilometres – at depths of around 50 metres, towards the shallower Geneva end of the lake.

In recent years, divers have identified shells and bombs of various kinds resting quietly on the lakebed.

And that’s only part of the story.

The SS Rhône

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

On 28 November 1883, the Rhône was travelling from Evian to Lausanne. On the opposite side of the lake, a smaller vessel – the Cygne – had set off from Vevey towards Thonon via Evian.

The weather was so wild that the Captain of the Cygne almost didn’t sail. Some passengers chose not to board.

In the end, he set off anyway, heading directly to Thonon. But halfway across the lake, the weather eased, and he altered course towards Evian as originally planned.

According to records,  in the heavy winds the Cygne veered off course – and struck the larger Rhône which was following its usual route across the lake.

The result was devastating.

Fourteen lives were lost.

Today, the wreck of the SS Rhône lies at a depth of around 300 metres between Evian and Lausanne – hidden far below the surface of an otherwise peaceful lake.

The SS Hirondelle

The Rhône is not the only story the lake holds.

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

Sailing close to the shoreline, the Hirondelle encountered a small boat approaching from the opposite direction.

Hesitating, the helmsman attempted to steer the steamer between the bank and the smaller vessel – but instead struck the rocks lining the shore.

Passengers scrambled ashore or onto the other boat and, remarkably, no lives were lost.

In the rush to abandon the stricken vessel, little was left behind.   Furniture, carpets, tables, and mirrors were stripped from the boat – along with a barrel of wine, a large ham, and even the captain’s binoculars.

A lucky day for some.

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

Another vessel lies much deeper. The hull of the redundant SS Aigle II/Simplon was  deliberately scuttled  in 1935 and now rests in the deepest, darkest part of the lake.

Steam yachts

The SY Nemo, (with ‘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 – or Lac Léman – owned private steam yachts. A dashing combination of sail and steam, they were fitted out with velvet seats, polished brass, mirrors, and burnished wood: the height of luxury at the time.

Here’s a challenge for you.

At one point, the Swiss underwater exploration site www.sub-rec.ch. was offering a reward of 500 euros for help tracing the UK shipbuilder of the SY Nemo.

Whether or not it’s still unclaimed, it remains a rather tempting mystery.

Railway carriages

And then, improbably – railway carriages, lost overboard during a storm in 1859. Their rusting bones can still be found on the lakebed towards Le Bouveret.

Airplanes

You might expect to find wartime aircraft here – but surprisingly, there’s little evidence of planes from the Second World War.

What has been found, however, are remains of a De Havilland Vampire from 1951 along with several civilian  aircraft.

There’s even a photo of a 1920s-30s bi-plane – wrecked, but not sunk – at Ouchy.

Other smaller boats

In addition to the larger steamers, there are countless smaller boats too – casualties of storms, accidents, and forgotten summers. You can find underwater photographs of several small  boats on the www.sub-rec.ch site.

You can also find more details on the official site of the Register of the underwater wrecks of Switzerland

Our own wreck

There’s 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 your children with stories of the Black Pearl,  from Pirates of the Caribbean, rising from the deep.