Dago na Tech Dive Mag

Texto: Jorge Russo Fotos: Armando Ribeiro (Invited Photographer), Jorge Russo, José Alberto and Manuel Leotte

The ship SS Dago was a tramp-ship built in Dundee, Scotland, in 1902 by the ship-builders Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering, Co. Ltd., by request of Wilson Line of Hull.

Wilson Line was purchased by Ellerman Lines and become Ellerman Wilson Lines, at the time, the biggest privet merchant company of the world.

She was registered in the port of Hull that same year with the register number 113645, on behalf of Wilson, Sons & Co. Ltd,.

When was built she had 280 feet and 1653 gross tones. In 1909 was lengthened for 1757 gross tones. She suffered a major repair in 1930. With a steel hull, she had 5 hatchways and a single deck. On the engine room there were two steel boilers with 200 pounds of working pressure, powering a steam vertical reciprocating compound triple expansion engine, with 154 N.H.P. SS Dago had a maximum speed of about 11,5 knots.

In 1902 the steam technology present in the SS Dago was, still, a modern one, but when she was sunk, this technology was already obsolete, with diesel engines already very common and largely used on merchant shipping, even in small Tramp-ships as the kind of SS Dago.

Nevertheless, the ship was largely used for the war effort, between 1939 and 1942, manly transporting goods from and to England, especially in convoys OG and HO on the Gibraltar-Liverpool-Gibraltar Atlantic route.

However, on March 15th 1942 she was on a solitary voyage. Departed from Gibraltar and heading to Liverpool, she would be stopping in Portugal, mooring in Lisbon and Leixões, before leaving to Liverpool. She never got to her destiny.

On her last voyage, SS Dago had a crew of 37 men, 5 of them from the Royal Navy as naval gunners. As many merchant ships in the WWII, SS Dago was fitted with anti-aircraft defensive armament, including 2 Twin-Marlins; 2 Hotchkiss; 1 stripped Lewis,1 Holman Projector and 2 P.A.C Rockets, besides an anti-magnetic mine apparatus, switched off at the time.

The sinking On March 15th 1942, SS Dago was on a solitary voyage out of any Convoy with no escort. She departed from Gibraltar to Liverpool, planning to stop in the Portuguese ports of Lisbon and Leixões, near Oporto. She carried 300 tonnes of general cargo.

It was a hazy afternoon with strong wind and swell. By 17:00 an aircraft was sited, and the crew was called to battle stations. Shots were fired towards the plane causing him to sheer away. Fortunately all missed, it was a British Short Sunderland flying boat.

SS Dago was steaming at 10,5 knots steering 010º from Lisbon to Leixões. At 17:35 she altered course to 352º in order to pass Cape Carvoeiro – Peniche, 2,5 miles distant.

Around 18:00 another plane was sighted, this time it was no doubt, it was a German Focke-Wulf 200 Condor. The plane approached from the bow, starboard side and on sight of the ship turned sharply and crossed her from bow to stern. At this time, no shots were fired from the plane. The ship’s gunners were ready and everything was fired. The P.A.C Rockets were fired too soon and did not harm the Focke-Wulf. The plane managed to pass over the ship for two runs without being harmed, but on the third run he fired his cannon, not injuring any of the crew. This time he dropped a pack of three bombs. One hit the forecastle destroying it completely, the second one fell in the second hold that was empty, and the third was a near miss, but managed to damage the bridge of the port side, destroying the deck emergency gear that stops the engine.

With only one watertight door, open at the time and the ship still running, the water from the bow probably got quickly to the engine room and the ship started settle from the bow immediately after the bomb attack. The captain said that the water reached amidships when he came down off the bridge.

The abandon ship order was given and the crew started to lower the boats, and the Chief Engineer went down to the engine room and stopped the engine.

With the ship sinking very rapidly and the stern so high from the water that they could see the propeller, managing the boats was very difficult. One of them was almost lost by the propeller blades when the ship, suddenly came down again, fortunately the engine was stopped.

By the crew testimonies SS Dago sunk completely after only 5 minutes after the bombs exploded. Incredibly, from the 37 men no one got killed from the attack, with only 4 injured, none seriously

One hour later, a motor life-boat from the near fishing town of Peniche came and rescued them, towing their boats to port.

This way the British 1.757 tones Tramp-ship was lost with all her cargo, fortunately with no losses of life. She rests now quietly at approximately 50 m deep.

The wreck On a sandy bottom, 50 meters deep, just 500 meters from another wreck there's what’s left of SS Dago. The wreck is broken in two large segments, separated apart exactly in the second hold, where the second bomb exploded. The bow section lies on its port side, oblique to the stern section.

The stern section lies straight in the bottom with the keel buried in the sand. The Bridge, galley and saloon were long gone and transformed in a sea of rubble, where we can see the very impressive triple expansion steam engine and boilers, standing out.

In the forward hold, in the bow section, some of the cargo is still visible, as a dozen of linoleum rolls with several different patterns.

In spite of the general destruction and deterioration, the wreck with its two segments is a very impressive view. Normally the open sea dive on SS Dago means ruff swell, strong currents and poor visibility, at least till 25 to 30 meters, but after that, usually, the sea seams to open for the divers and the SS Dago wreck shows with all her splendour.

Being at 4 km from the shore and 50 m deep, it is not an easy dive. We can only dive there in very good weather conditions and, of course, with the adequate certification, experience, gear, training and surface support.

It is certainly one of the best dive experiences of its kind in Portugal and a time capsule, that we deeply wish and ask to be preserved, in an attitude of respect for the wreck, who built the ship, who crew her and who survived that March 15th 1942. Finally, respect for all the divers to come, who certainly prefer to observe it complete with all its detail and not dilapidated in a form of worthless souvenirs.

Has not always been so.

The research

It has long been heard about the location of Dago. The fishermen spoke often of a location where they lose the fishing nets, as the presumed site of the sinking. Many divers "went to Dago," but in reality, no one had gathered the evidence necessary and sufficient, so that with high security, one could say that there was the wreck of the ss Dago, sunk in 1942.

This uncertainty was reinforced by the existence of another wreck a few 500 meters away. When we asked the fishermen, divers and diving centers, where was the ss Dago, sometimes they indicated the coordinates of one, sometimes of the other. The testimonies were distinguished when describing the Dago, sometimes it was one wreck, others the other one. It was necessary to undertake a more rigorous and scientific gathering evidence on the ground, and simultaneously enhance the historiographical research around the ship, its owners, its technology, aircrafts involved in that day, March 15,th, that had a deep impact, locally and nationally. Naturally it is impossible and irrelevant to determine who was the first to dive in the wreck. We know that the group in Silence made some dives in 2005. XploraSub started diving there in 2007. On the same occasion also Paulo Costa was interested in. Team member and author of the first national magazine article about the sinking, probably was the first person who became interested in her historiography. Paulo Costa gathered the largest and most important set of documents that is known about the ship and the sinking. In 2007, João Sá Pinto directed a documentary for RTP2 Portuguese national television. In this documentary we can watch the historiographical issues surrounding the ship and the sinking, and the wreck is observed through an amazing set of images, captured between 2005 and 2006. In August 2007, a happy coincidence would create conditions for the initiation of a genuine research project around the ss Dago, in its various aspects. The author was looking for a team with training, experience and interest to investigate this wreck, and XploraSub was seeking scientific guidance for the same purpose. With the synergies of this collaboration and integration of Paulo Costa, a diver himself, the project starts. The project had two main objectives: The historiographic research and in situ records of the wreck, which would run simultaneously. The dives were initiated immediately, and still occur today, with the aim of mapping the wreck first, measure it, check its orientation and context, and, most importantly, measures to collect outstanding areas of the ship for comparison with plans at the time of its construction. Let us remember what was to prove which of those two wrecks actually corresponded to ss Dago, if any of them. For this purpose we analyzed the two wrecks, not just what was usually referred to "the Dago". Luck was on our side and the second wreck had an engine, that even though a steam engine did not coincide with the ss Dago's one. The second wreck was then deleted from the possibilities notes. Now we had to find remarkable structural correspondences between the ship's plan and the wreck. Based on the first immersion and the remarkable data collected after compared with the plans of construction, we can now very safely say that, in fact, the place where the fishermen know there is an artificial obstacle that divers considered as "Dago", was indeed the wreck of the ss Dago, lost in Peniche-Portugal in 1942. At present, the investigation continues, the wreck continues to be recorded and every day we receive new info and documents related to the ship and her sinking.

The Team

XploraSub is a group of Tech divers that exists since July 6th, 2005. The team’s aim is to explore and hold researches in areas accessible only to advanced divers. Our main areas of interest are wreck and cave diving. Presently we are developing several projects on both areas.

We recognize that the development of projects within this framework is only possible through a cohesive team, continuous updating of knowledge, access to specialized equipment and sharing information and experience.

The SS Dago project team is Carlos Gomes, Carlos Trindade, João Pedro Freire, Jorge Russo, Luísa Tavares, Manuel Leotte, Nuno Sousa, Paulo Carmo, Paulo Correia, Paulo Costa, Pedro Encarnação, Pedro Ivo, along with invited photographer Armando Ribeiro.

Contacts and links

SS Dago project on Facebook.

SS Dago project email: ssdagowreck@gmail.com

XploraSub: www.xplorasub.com

Jorge Russo (Project Coordinator): russochief@gmail.com

link para descarregar: Tech Dive Mag #2 (Março 2011)