Dive site · wreck · The Var coast and the Îles d'Hyères
🇫🇷 Le Ramon Membru
Cavalaire-sur-Mer, Var, France
An 1873 steamer with four names in her lifetime, blown up just outside Cavalaire harbour in 1921 — all thirty-seven aboard were picked up.
- Dives here
- 1
- Deepest
- 21 m
- Water
- salt
- First · last
- 2019
- Position
- 43.1738, 6.5442
Revision 1 · changed 10 Oct 2026
History
- r1 10 Oct 2026 Imported from the personal log · Dennis Bakhuis
Site data © divelog-sites contributors (ODbL), descriptions and maps CC BY-SA 4.0 · 53edcaf
1 map
- Entry / exit
- Lighthouse / tower
- Shoreline
- Wall / drop-off
- Wreck footprint
- Depth
The steamer Ramon Membru (1873, 80 x 11 m) lies on her starboard side on sand and dead posidonia at 22 m, rising 3-4 m, about 400 m NE of the Cavalaire harbour entrance. Wreck position, the three white mooring buoys (Ouest, Milieu, Est) and the coast from OpenStreetMap; the hull is drawn along the buoy line (86 deg), which is an assumption, and bow and stern are not told apart because the salvaged wreck is a flattened field of frames and a near-vertical wooden deck (Joncheray and Brunner via nicoblon.free.fr, Port-Cros park sheet). Watch for boat traffic in and out of the harbour.
Map © divelog-sites contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0 · 53edcaf
The ship
A steam cargo ship, 80 m long and 11 m in the beam, built in 1873 by Gilbert and Cooper. She worked under four names: Elguezabal, then Ballesteros II, then Derwent, and finally Ramon Membru.
The sinking
In early June 1921, just outside Cavalaire harbour, an explosion aboard sank her. All thirty-seven of her crew were picked up by the steamer Cabo Vilano.
The dive
She lies on her starboard side in sand and mud at 12–22 m, a tangle of plating rather than a ship — but a well-populated one, with morays, groupers and lobsters in the wreckage. Visibility here is usually average at best, which is part of the character.
One dive, 5 July 2019, to 21 m.
Dived here with
Nearby sites
1 dive at Le Ramon Membru
- 5 Jul 2019 with Kim date5 Jul 2019 depth21 m time45 min water—
Sources
- First-hand observation (Dennis Bakhuis)