Zenobia

Zenobia was crowned Empress of Palmyra around AD 260 at perhaps 20 years old, and is shown above on the obverse of an Antoninianus, a coin of the third century (worth about 2 Denarii). Zenobia reigned as queen of the Palmyrian Empire in Syria, following the accession of her husband Odaenathus. Zenobia, thought to have been high born, became the ruler of Palmyra (following the assassination of Odaenathus), and is known for having launched an invasion of Roman territories in the East, culminating in the annexation of Egypt in 270, although in reality still bound to Rome, her rule extended across Ancyra through Anatolia to Egypt. In 272 Zenobia declared her son “emperor” and Palmyra independent, prompting Roman reprisal and her defeat in battle. Zenobia was exiled to Rome where she died around 274 AD (Wikipedia)……. A fitting back story to a Ship crowned in Malmo Sweden, sailing to Athens, which eventually died, very young, just outside the harbour at Larnaca, Cyprus

Zenobia, a brand new “Roll-on-Roll-off” ferry, had been constructed in the Kockums shipyard in Malmo, Sweden, and she was “state of the Art” at the time, fully computer controlled and pride of the yard, she was Lloyd’s registered, registration number: 7806087 and completed in 1979. Zenobia’s details: Length overall: 172,02 meter (560 feet), Beam: 23.04 meter (75 feet), Draught: 13.01 meter (43 feet), Gross tonnage: 12,000 tones, and finally, her Maximum speed was 21.5 knots…an impressive ship! Sailing almost immediately following her sea trials Zenobia was bound for Athens, on the way the captain encountered steering problems and Zenobia took on a distinct list to port. It was initially believed the list was caused by excess water pumped into the ballast tanks, this was pumped out and she then departed for Larnaca, Cyprus, before eventually expecting to reach Syria

Zenobia arrived at Larnaca on 2 June 1980, still dogged by ballast problems from the computerized pumping system, which was continually pumping water into the side ballast tanks due to a software error, making the list progressively worse. On 4 June, Zenobia was towed out of Larnaca harbor to prevent her becoming an obstruction, should she sink, and was left at anchor around 1.5 miles offshore. On 5 June, with Zenobia listing at nearly 45°, the captain dismissed the engineers and maintenance crew, and made requests to return her to Larnaca harbor, these were denied, sealing Zenobia’s fate……… at around 2:30am, 7 June 1980, Zenobia capsized and sank in Larnaca Bay

I had wanted to dive Zenobia since hearing about the wreck from TIDSAC divers over the last few years, by all accounts she was the best wreck dive you could get, bar those of the Red Sea, and some said she was better than most of those! Zenobia was the main reason for taking Phill up on his offer of a break in Cyprus, I knew he was going to be working most of the time and I had no desire to be in the way of his wife, sat around their home for a week. I had been in touch with Ian McMurray at Octopus Divers beforehand, having been told of his exploits recovering unfortunate divers, (those who made the mistake of getting lost within Zenobia), over the 13 years she had sat on the bottom of Larnaca Bay. I once again took the little Suzuki trials bike out, and made my way to Ian’s quayside slot where we loaded up and briefed the dive, assigning buddy’s as Ian went about preparing to motor out the mile and a half or so to the wreck

  My log-book entry reads “Zenobia the now famous Cyprus ferry wreck c/w cargo of lorries sank when ballast computers went haywire on her maiden voyage (for the second time) A whole wreck intact, dropped to bridge @ 17m then over side & along to cargo decks & lorries. They hang on chains as Zenobia is on her side. A great look around this area, then back along the hull to the bridge for a look. Two precautionary stops – 9m & 6m a fascinating wreck.” My buddies on the dive were Two BSAC divers, one a Scot, “Jock” and one called “Charlie” both seasoned divers who looked after me very well

I vividly remember seeing the glint of sunlight on the deck rails of Zenobia as Ian moored over her, she is only 16m or so beneath the surface and she is a big wreck, you can make out some of her hull, the upper promenade along her Starboard side, and as we rolled back into the bay, under beautiful Cyprus sunshine, you could see her in all her glory below you, Zenobia was, and I am sure still is, an impressive sight. The descent is an easy one, we had little if any current on the day and we quickly made our way, as was our training, to the deepest depth agreed on the brief, which was the 30m mark. At that depth, hovering above her stern, it was possible to make out her prop some 10m below us , and to see her stern decks with the twisted remains of the trucks, some at the limit of their deck chains, some completely free, having broken them during the sinking

My memory has us spending a little time just circling the stern deck, looking at the lorries just meters below us, and then swimming back along the deck to the main superstructure, the beginnings of the restaurant and the accommodation and bridge structure. There was no penetration to be had on this dive, for a start I had never dived her before, something I am absolute with at all times, no “entry” until I feel I have familiarised myself with the lie of the wreck around me, and even then it is often several more dives before I would feel confident enough to enter a wreck, no matter its condition.

We swam back along the deck and passed the bridge windows and the entrance door, the wreck was only 13 years old when I dived her and there was considerably less growth on her than in the photos I have found of the areas we dived, and I only recall One of the windows being broken on her bridge…… This was the window used to rescue a diver trapped inside in an air pocket several years beforehand, luckier than her dive guide who paid the price for getting lost in the accommodation area, having disturbed the fibre board partition walls, long since reduced to tiny shards and lying in wait for those passing, creating a black-out of tiny debris, almost impossible to see through, especially when disoriented or starting to panic when low on air…..

It would be easy to drop in and look around Zenobia, I sat and waited at the Bridge whilst Jock and Charlie had a root about the area, but they clearly thought, as I did, that going inside was not part of the plan and we all made our way along the Starboard deck rails, past the bridge to see the bow area ahead of us. Zenobia being such a big and intact wreck, it was clear we did not have sufficient air reserve to push down to the bow, we had had such a good look around the lorries, and stern, that our safety stops would leave us at 50bar, the standard BSAC reserve for any dive. It was enough to see the bow reaching out in front of us, as we steadily made our way back up the shot-line, looking back below as Zenobia retreated into the Blue of Larnaca Bay

I am intrigued again, to find imagery on the web which shows Zenobia as she sits on the bay floor at Larnaca, I can, once again, clearly see the route we took on that December dive in 1993 and pick out where I was at each point I remember, it adds some clarity and acts as a valuable reminder. If you imagine Ian’s skiff moored to the bridge at its foremost, highest point you can see the distances we traveled to the stern and back again, along the hull, gradually moving from mid depth and mid-deck level, to join the promenade rails along Zenobia’s upper Starboard wing and back to the shot-line to ascend. I know I would love to return to dive her more extensively, and if I hadn’t been going back to the UK a day later, then I would gladly have dived her again at the time….some things just have to wait for another day…………