It was quite a small vessel, but a tug that sank in northern Patagonia’s Nahuel Huapi lake in the early 20th century had taken on semi-mythical status by the time film-makers teamed up with geologists to solve the mystery of the wreck’s whereabouts.
Nahuel Huapi is an elongated Andean lake between Rio Negro and Neuquen provinces in Argentina, and is described as having a complex geography with its various branches, peninsulas and islands.
Local production company Acuanauta Films was making a feature-length documentary entitled The Search For Helvecia, based on the story of the long-lost lake tug Helvecia II. It was experiencing great difficulty in locating the wreck, however, until it requested help from Argentina’s National Scientific & Technical Research Council (CONICET).
The tug had towed barges carrying manufactured goods between Argentina and Chile and was known to have sunk in Nahuel Huapi in 1906, somewhere near the port city of San Carlos de Bariloche, where the film company was based. Over the years speculation on the reasons for the sinking had ranged from an explosion and a giant wave to sabotage.
Film director and scuba diver Nicolas Mazzola had heard many stories about Helvecia II from his late father. In the years since 2020 he had been trying to find the wreck using an echo-sounder while at the same time reconstructing its history, and eventually concluded that an underwater landslide must have shifted it from its original location.
Tsunami wave
Mazzola learnt that a CONICET team had been studying the “Great Earthquake” of 1960 in the region, during which seismic movement had triggered a landslide near Bariloche, causing a pier to collapse along with moored boats and generating a large tsunami wave.
The director wondered if the wreck of Helvecia II might have been shifted in this way at some point, perhaps becoming buried in sediment, and whether its relocation could be scientifically calculated.
CONICET lake systems specialists belonging to the Environmental Studies Group of the Andean Patagonian Institute of Biological & Geoenvironmental Technologies took up the challenge.
Its team analysed all data already collected from the area but found nothing significant. They then turned to high-resolution bathymetric records of both the original wreck-search area and surrounding areas, applying their expertise in “limnogeology”.
“We investigate events that affect and have affected the region’s lakes in the present and in the past, such as seismic events, landslides, flooding or coastal instability, lake tsunamis and volcanic eruptions, among others,” said CONICET researcher Gustavo Villarosa, who led the Helvecia II team. The studies are used to help understand risks to coastal populations and tourist, commercial and recreational activities.
“We expanded the search to an adjacent area and there we saw a silhouette of a shape and dimensions consistent with the steamboat, so we recommended searching at this point,” said Villarosa.
“We searched the area several times using various methods of sweeping, until the people responsible for providing the underwater robotics equipment, from Bariloche company Pancora Robotica Submarina, informed us of the detection of the ship,” said Mazzola.
Having seen footage of part of the starboard side and stern of the wreck, the film-makers then carried out their own scuba dives. “When I saw the ship, my soul was filled with happiness,” said Mazzola.
‘A lot of feelings’
“Seeing a real shipwreck, which had been a tragedy, being the first to see it in such a long time generated a lot of feelings,” said fellow film-maker Lucas Bonfanti.
“Under water we looked at each other, we started to celebrate, we went around a few times and Nicolas grabbed the camera and pointed it at the shipwreck so that it could be seen at the surface. We took photos and filmed. Afterwards there was a lot of emotion.”
The National Parks Administration (APN) has now incorporated the wreck into its National Registry of Cultural Heritage. An extended trailer for the 85-minute The Search For Helvecia (in Spanish) can be seen at the Acuanata Films site.
Also on Divernet: Ghost Ships Of The Great Lakes – Part 1, Ghost Ships Of The Great Lakes Part-2, Lake wreck discovery can’t explain captain’s odd behaviour, 130-year-old lake steamer found 200m deep
