Nasim II Wreck
Type of Dive
- Tech
The descent to the stern of the wreck allows you to reach the propellers which certainly deserve a few shots. We then go down the side of the ship towards the bow, following the outline of the wreck until we reach the area where the helm station rests on the sand. It’s easy to glimpse a row of still intact portholes, a beautiful foghorn, and many, many lobsters. We swim along the deck exploring the deck structures and looking inside the bridge where a conger eel and some grouper peep out. There are few openings through which it is possible to enter the Nasim II wreck, and even in those cases it is absolutely not recommended to do so: these are blind rooms, cluttered with dangling electrical wires and a thousand objects where you could get caught in.
After passing the helm station, going towards the bow, we encounter other cars resting on the sand around 60 meters of bottom, it is worth stopping in this area to observe the gash in the keel that was created at the moment of the impact. At this point the return is easy, we retrace the high side of the ship paying attention to the multitude of nudibranchs, squid eggs and taking a look into the blue where it is possible to see snappers, amberjacks and sunfish, just like those of the video.
NOTE: If you already know the wreck and have already counted every single bolt, you can start looking for the keys in the dashboard of one of the many cars present in the “parking lot”!
NOTE: If you have already found the keys too then it’s time to change direction; the wreck is the perfect starting point for some of the most beautiful technical dives on the island!
Nasim II wreck (1976 – 2016) – Giannutri Island
Type: Cargo
Weight: 870 tons
Dimensions: 228 x 38.6 feet.
Motorisation: Two Sulzer 6TD36 diesels, 1800 BHP
Building yard: Brooke Ltd marine, Lowestoft, England
Year built: 1959 (Two sister ships built by the shipyard, Llyn and Halcyone)
Type of dive: advanced – technical
Min. depth: 47 metres
Max. depth: 60 metres
Bottom type: sandy
Interest: biological – naturalistic – photographic
Visibility: good – excellent
Currents: scarce mainly N\S
Position: about 500 meters from cala maestra
Originally the motor vessel Nasim had another name, Llyn and in the years following its launch it was destined for the loading of generic material, above all of a fruit and vegetable nature, on the British routes Southampton – Weymouth towards the Channel Islands.
In 1965 it underwent the first revision and the name was changed to Sealink. In 1972 it was sold to a Greek shipping company which renamed it Valmas. Again in 1973 the ship will change its name, Skiron.
In 1975 it was sold to Jupiter ss Co inc, Panama, which renamed it with the name of Nasim II
On February 11, 1976, the cargo ship Nasim II dropped its moorings in the port of Livorno bound for Alexandria in Egypt. The cargo manifest consisted of 49 cars (12 Fiats, 35 Peugeots and 2 Mercedes), 16 trailers and 3 forklift trucks destined for the North African market. It is not clear whether the sea was calm or stormy as reported by the ship’s officers, the fact remains that at 04.30 in the morning of 12 February the ship hit the rocks of Punta Scaletta on the island of Giannutri and sank in less than twenty minutes in the waters between Punta Pennello and Cala Maestra, a short distance from the shore.
Already from the first days following the shipwreck, the wreck was raided by divers who returned to the surface with their booty taken from the ship, consisting of car doors, seats and everything that could be removed and resold.
An old carpenter, who witnessed the shipwreck, describes how after the collision the captain would have tried to direct the bow into the small bay of Cala Maestra in an attempt to ground the unit and avoid sinking. This could be the explanation why the Nasim wreck today rests on the sandy bottom with the bow facing north, rather than south, as the direction of its route would suggest.
Today it lies on a sandy bottom of about 60 meters, lying on the left side, with the bridge facing the open sea and the bow towards Cala Maestra.
The cars transported on the bridge are instead found scattered on the bottom, between 33 and 60 meters.
Legend says that every boat has a soul and that the name is written in a book kept by the sea gods, allowing them to recognize it wherever it sails. Changing a boat name without “let the gods know” is an affront.
Seafarers with superstition always have an open door and would have said: fate sealed.
At the beginning it was called Elk, then Skiron and finally Nasim II, the name with which he ruined his career.
On the night of February 11, 1976 when the motor ship Nasim sank in less than twenty minutes with the keel ripped open and its load of cars…
The ship was sailing on the route Alexandria of Egypt – Livorno, ran into a strong storm that pushed it on the cliff of the island of Giannutri.
