Dennis Bakhuis

Dive site · wreck · Istria and the Kvarner

🇭🇷 SS Lina

Cres, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Croatia

An 1879 Newcastle-built timber freighter that ran onto Cres in thick fog in January 1914, seven months before the war — she sits upright with her bow at twenty-eight metres and her stern at fifty-three.

Dives here
2
Deepest
40.7 m
Water
salt
First · last
2015
Also known as
Lina

Revision 1 · changed 10 Oct 2026

History
  1. 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

SS Lina, 70 x 9 mDown the starboard side, back up the port side · 121 mBuoy and line to the bowBow↓25 mBow mast, still standing↓30 mForward holds, remains of the timber cargo↓33 mBridge and cabins↓40 mFunnel with a big 6, chains↓38 mEngine room↓42 mAft hold↓47 mStern and rudder↓55 mN20 m
  • Buoy
  • Wreck
  • Machinery
  • Other object
  • Shoreline
  • Dive path
  • Wreck footprint
  • Depth
Site map · 8 objects · 1 path · max 55 m

The iron steamer Lina (70 x 9 m, 1879) upright on the slope off Cape Pecenj, Cres, bow up the slope at 25 m towards the shore and stern at 55 m. Position from pro-taucher.com (taken as the bow buoy), shoreline from OpenStreetMap, dimensions, bow buoy, standing bow mast, timber cargo in the holds, bridge at 40 m and the usual route from krnicadive.com; the funnel with its '6' and its chains from first-hand observation. The heading is not published: the hull is drawn straight down the slope (bow NE, perpendicular to the coast), and positions along the hull are approximate. EMODnet bathymetry places the coast west-facing here.

Map © divelog-sites contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0 · 53edcaf

The ship

An iron steamer built at Newcastle upon Tyne in 1879, around 70 m long, 1 049 gross tons. She passed into Italian ownership in 1901 and spent the next decade as a Mediterranean tramp.

The sinking

On the night of 14 January 1914 she was running timber from Rijeka to Italy when thick fog took her off course and she struck the rocky coast of Cres, near Cape Pečanj. She sank quickly. It was a peacetime accident: the Adriatic's war was still seven months away.

The dive

She stands upright and close inshore, bow at about 28 m and stern down the slope at 53 m — so the depth you dive her at is a choice. The lower hull is holed where the reef went through her, and you can still see remains of the timber cargo in the holds. The decaying cabins are swimmable. She is regularly called the most photogenic wreck in Croatia.

Two dives on the same day, 22 May 2015, to 40.5 m.

Position corrected September 2026. The workbook had her at Krk, 23 km east. The Lina is on the west coast of Cres, facing Istria, at 45°06′09.5″N 14°16′44.4″E, dived from Sv. Marina.

Dived here with

Kim

2 dives at SS Lina

  1. 22 May 2015 with Kim wreckdecoboatstage date22 May 2015 depth40.7 m time60 min water—
  2. 22 May 2015 with Kim wreckdecoboatstage date22 May 2015 depth40.5 m time59 min water—

Sources