{"id":1476,"date":"2025-03-19T18:32:40","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T18:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghosts-of-war.com\/?p=1476"},"modified":"2025-03-19T18:55:00","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T18:55:00","slug":"diving-the-wreck-of-the-dague-montenegro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ghosts-of-war.com\/?p=1476","title":{"rendered":"Diving the Wreck of the Dague, Montenegro"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"French
Dague<\/em>. Photo sourced from Dive Montenegro<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Inside the sea cave it was pitch black. Our torches cut narrow beams through the water, illuminating shrimp darting in the shadows. As we got deeper inside, we reached a point where fresh water from above, which ran through cracks in the soft limestone, met the sea. Entering this zone, the water took on a shimmering appearance, like looking through a bottle of undiluted lime cordial. It was a disconcerting feeling, as I could no longer focus, and was in effect swimming blind. But once through the mix and into the pure fresh water, the visibility became crystal clear, and we surfaced inside a large cave. Removing our regulators, our torches lit up intricate limestone formations. Mindful of the effect of our breathing on the cave environment, we only stayed a few minutes before submerging once again to return to the open sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On dive trips, I\u2019m often the odd one out. Most people turn up with their partner or their mates, or sometimes their parents. Although I’ve found the dive community to be overwhelmingly friendly, I usually end up spending large parts of the day by myself. I also tend to be buddied up with the dive leader, which is actually a positive I reckon. On board the Down Under<\/em>, motoring from the sea cave dive site back towards Bar, Montenegro, I found myself at a loose end, so drifted in to the cabin to chat to Jake, the skipper and owner of the dive business. He had spent a couple of years in Australia when he was a young bloke and loved it (hence the Down Under<\/em>), so we had plenty to talk about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Bar Harbour came into sight, the conversation turned to the second dive of the day, the wreck of the French destroyer Dague <\/em>(\u2018Dagger\u2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"French
Dague<\/em>, 1914. Photo sourced from Gallica<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Dague<\/em>, launched in 1911, was one of twelve 800 ton Bouclier Class destroyers built for the French Navy.1 <\/sup> In February 1915, she and fellow Bouclier Class destroyer Faulx were escorting a British cargo ship to the port of Antivari (now Bar), Montenegro.2<\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"French
Dague and the destroyer Chasseur in Toulon Harbour, France, 1912. Photo sourced from Gallica<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Dague <\/em>was under the command of Lieutenant Bousquet. At a subsequent inquiry into the loss of the ship, Lt Bousquet described the events of the morning of February 24th, 1915:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘I had taken up my monitoring post in Antivari Harbour, 12 metres deep, and three cables (approximately 550 metres) from land. The gunners at their battle stations, ready to go into action, the engines under pressure, finally all ‘ready’ to sail at the first alert. I was in my room, when around 9 o’clock, a dull detonation was heard. My ship gave a violent jolt, broke apart, broke, and the stern sank rapidly, giving a 70-degree inclination<\/em>.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘I estimate that I must have anchored on a bottom mine, that the Austrian’s had laid a few days earlier, for the benefit of the transports. The low tonnage of of the Dague would not have had to fear this dangerous proximity; but it is probable that the catastrophe occurred as a result of the swell which made the torpedo boat pitch on this device and caused its explosion<\/em>.’3<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Lt Bousquet had described, the ship was at the ready, which would have meant a proportion of the crew were below decks at their stations when the mine exploded. When she sank to the sandy bottom of the harbour, the Dague <\/em>took 38 souls with her.2<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We tracked alongside the harbour breakwater, before Jake eased the throttle a few hundred metres from the harbour entrance. He explained that when the new Bar Harbour was constructed in the early 1970s, the wreck of the Dague <\/em>had to be moved a short distance from where it sank in 1915.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jake briefed us about the dive ahead, after which we pulled on our damp wetsuits and climbed into our gear. With our dive leader Vuk, three of us descended beside the anchor line into the gloomy water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The detonation that sunk the Dague<\/em>, and the later movement of the wreck, broke the ship into massive chunks. Consequently, the structure of the ship was hard to identify. Wreck diving with a dive operator usually involves swimming a lap outside the vessel, before exploring inside if practical. However considering the condition of the Dague<\/em>, we instead followed Vuk as he criss-crossed the wreck, giving us a general tour to points of interest in each of the remaining sections of the ship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amongst the tangle of steel, we could make out mechanical components including pipes and valves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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