The Hirondelle was a wheel paddle passenger transport vessel. She measured 52.30m, 5.33m at the beam and a draught of 1.33m. She was powered by a low pressure steam engine of two cylinders made by Escher Wyss, developing 65hp propelling her to a maximum of 12 knots. She could take 800 persons on board which made of her the biggest boat at her time.

The Hirondelle lies straight on her hull deeply sunk into the silt along a steep slope. After an often very low visibility descent, the bow appears beautifully decorated and in a perfect state of conservation du to the cold and fresh water. Here is the most interesting part of the wreck. As we move down towards the stern, the depth increases. By the wheelhouse the depth is already 54m and we finally hit the end of the visible part near the funnel at 58m.

Their are many difficulties. The visibility is often very low, the water temperature does not exceed 4° celcius and their can also be strong currents. An other difficulty is due to the presence of large trunks lying there crosswise to avoid the Hirondelle of sliding down even deeper that can easily disorientate a diver when the visibility is down to zero. All precaution are to be taken for this dive over 40m. The gas of choice would be a light Trimix dealing with narcosis. Beware of the temperature of the water if you are planning long deco stops.