| The RMS Rhone Ships, like some people, are sometimes better known after their death. It is the way they died that makes them different from others. RMS Rhone is one of those ships. She was launched in 1865 in England, a proud ship of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. With a steel-clad hull and powered by both steam engine and sails. Just two years later in 1867 she died a violent death in a ferocious hurricane and then, for many years, she lay in a shallow grave off Salt Island in the British Virgin Islands. Violently in the hurricane, and then more slowly in the depths, the grace and strength she had shown when she entered the West Indian trade route corroded and crumbled. But that is not all that happened. As "Mother Nature" took her back, Rhone assumed a new beauty. In over one hundred years under water she has grown to become a brilliant display of marine life. The RMS Rhone has been named one of the most beautiful shipwrecks in the world. Its remains are extensive and have become a part of the national park system. It is a popular dive site and she is visited daily by divers anxious to experience and photograph her beauty. The stern, with it's large propeller lies in about 40� and the bow in about 80� and is usually done in two dives. This wreck was also used in the making of the movie �THE DEEP�, more memorable for Jacqueline Bissett in a wet T-shirt and a young Nick Nolte looking macho fighting off man eating moray eels, escaping from collapsing wrecks and dodging harpoons and knives. Oh! Did I mention Jacqueline Bissett in a wet tee shirt. |
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| Come dive the wreck of the "Rhone" with us. On the following page I have some still captures from videos I took on our family's 1987 Christmas vacation. Click on the porthole to "Dive the Rhone" >>> |
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