The sunken hull was subsequently renamed "La Marseillaise", raised and towed to Toulon and subsequently back to the yard at La Ciotat in 1946, where she was refitted as a cruise ship for Messageries Maritimes of Marseille. Completed in July 1949, her first maiden Voyage was Marseilles to Yokohama and her original capacity was 736 passengers, broken down to 344 1st class, 74 2nd class & 318 3rd class. In 1957 she was sold to AROSA LINE
Inc of Panama, who renamed her "Arosa Sky " had her refitted to accommodate 202 1st class & 1030 2nd class passengers; the first voyage being Bremerhaven- New York. Within two years the Arosa Line hit financial straits and their flag ship was sold in 1959 to G.COSTA du GENOA, an italian family firm who were known as the "Linea C", Where she was renamed the "Bianca C" after a daughter. The Linea C had -her refurbished and registered an increase of tonnage from 17,321 GT to 18,427 GT. She then began the Naples- Guaira (Venezuela) run, a voyage including stops in the Caribbean; Grenada being the last such on the return leg.
On October 12th 1961 the Bianca C left Italy on her final voyage, ten days later she caught fire after an explosion in her boiler room; while anchored off the Capital of Grenada , St George's. The flames spread rapidly throughout the rear portion of the ship, fortunately 672 of the 673 people on board were saved by the prompt action of the crew and the additional help of numerous small boats launched from St. George's harbour, including several yachts. Unfortunately there was insufficient marine fire fighting equipment available to stem the blaze or rescue the body of the only person lost on board. However twelve badly burnt crew were taken to the local hospital for treatment, only one whom died (Rodizza Napale)
The British Frigate
" Londonderry" sailed from Purto Rico on hearing the news to lend what assistance they could, arriving on the 24th of October they found a still burning ship and succeeded in severing the anchor chain and securing a towing line, in an attempt to beach it in the shallows on the other side of Point Saline , or to at least remove it from the local shipping lanes. As they were towing it, with considerable difficulty, and watched by a large percentage of the Grenadian population, the tow rope snapped because the rudders had jammed in the extreme heat caused by the fire and shortly thereafter she sank in 167 feet of water where she sits to this day.Her propellers where salvaged in the early seventies by a Trinidadian firm , the brass being sold on for scra-p, otherwise they left her intact sitting upright on a nearly level sand bed. When she sank it appears that there was a major shift to starboard with all the upper decks and the bridge leaning to starboard giving divers the feeling that they were diving on a leaning ship. However drop down off the bow or the stern and it became apparent the hull itself was upright. The upper decks had compacted down onto the lower decks pushed down into the hull. The majority of this reduction being behind the bridge where the decks had sunk down some thirty feet. - Over the Christmas period of 1992, the rear third of the ship was torn off and fell to starboard, seriously increasing her rate of deterioration. Of the two top deck swimming pools one is the other side of the crack and unrecognisable as it has been twisted out of shape. The other is still visible and we normally begin our dives in the swimming pool just forward of the crack, which is always good fun. Dive Grenada offers Wreck Speciality courses which allows the diver to explore the Bianca C in all its glory and to enjoy our own 'Titanic' of the Caribbean. For the more adventurous and advanced divers we can offer 'Technical' penetration using Nitrox and Rebreathers in conjunction with Mad Dog Expeditions of New York.
There are tales that the Bianca C used to be much shallower and in the old days people were able to skin dive on her; this was supported by the supposition that the Bianca C had "Fallen down" the near by reef (Whibble Reef) which is only 50-60 feet deep. The legend seems unlikely, though, as an 18 thousand ton ship is unlikely to move a great deal. However in the last five years the interior of the ship has sunk some 20-30 feet in places and judging by the photographic evidence it is very likely that the smoke stack may have been fairly close to the surface when the Bianca C first sank. It would have been an ideal spot for skin diving , as visitors would have been able to make out some of the infrastructure from the surface. Nowadays nothing is visible until you are at least 30-40 ft below the surface save for the remaining mast, which appears as a large white patch from fairly close to the surface. Even this is beginning to lean to starboard and will undoubtedly not last much longer.