SS THISTLEGORM
One of the greatest wreck dives in the World
CLICK ON AN AREA OF THE SHIP TO VIEW IMAGES
SS Thistlegorm was an armed British cargo steamship that was built in Sunderland in 1940, and sunk by German bomber aircraft in the Red Sea in 1941. Her wreck near the Ras Muhammad National Park was dicovered by Captain Jacques-Yves Couteau in 1955, and is now a world-renowned diving site.
History and sinking of SS Thistlegorm
Thistlegorm History
J.L. Thompson and Sons built Thistlegorm in Sunderland, and was launched on 9 April 1940 and completed on 24 June. Her registered length was 126.5m, beam 17.7m and a depth of 7.6m. Tonnages 4,898 with a North Eastern Marine Engineering engine, which was a three-cylinder triple-expansion steam engine – 1,850 Horsepower, speed 10.5 knots.
Thistlegorm being launched at sunderland 9 April 1940
Thistlegorm was built for Albyn Line, and The Ministry of War Transport partly funded Thistlegorm. She was a defensively equipped with a 4.7 inch anti-aircraft gun mounted on her stern and a heavy-calibre machine gun.
She left Glasgow on her final voyage on 2 June 1941, destined for Alexandria, Egypt. The ship’s cargo included: Bedford trucks, Universal Carrier armoured vehicles, Norton 16H and BSA motorcycles, Bren guns, cases of ammunition, and 0.303 rifles as well as radio equipment, Wellington boots, aircraft parts, railway wagons and two LMS Stanier Class 8F steam locomotives. These steam locomotives and their associated coal and water tenders were carried as deck cargo intended for Egyptian National Railways. The rest of the cargo was for the Allied forces in Egypt. The crew of the ship, under Captain William Ellis, were supplemented by nine naval personnel to man the machine gun and the anti-aircraft gun.
The attack and sinking
After a brief stop at Cape Town in South Africa and at Aden in Southern Yemen, the Thistlegorm, one of a convoy of 16 ships and escorted by HMS Carlisle, was sailing up through the Red Sea, received orders to anchor at the Strait of Gubal and await her turn to pass through the Suez Canel. thistlegorm anchored in the great reef of Sha’b Ali. code-named Safe Anchorage F.
During the evening of the 5th of October 1941, two German Heinkel He 111 bombers stationed from Crete, returning from an unsuccessful search for the Queen Mary, (which was carrying Australian troops), happen to sight the ships moored in Safe Anchorage F. Targeting the largest ship, they dropped two 2.5 tonne high explosive bombs on Thistlegorm.
Both bombs struck hold 4 near the stern of the ship at 0130 on 6 October. The explosion was all the more violent as the bombs blew most of the ammunition stored in hold 4, as well as the ship’s boiler. Two steam locomotives (weighing 126 tons each) on deck near hold 4 were blown either side, landing 30 metres away from the hull. Sadly four sailors and five gunners lost their lives in the attack. Captain William Ellis and the remaining crew were picked up by HMS Carlisle.
Captain Ellis was awarded the OBE for his actions following the explosion and a crewman, Angus McLeay, was awarded the George Medal and the Lloyd’s War Medal for Bravery at Sea for saving another crew member. Most of the cargo remained within the ship, with the exception being the steam locomotives.
Heinkel He 111 bomber
The Discovery and re-discovery
Discovery by Cousteau
In March 1955, Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau abroad the famous Calypso, discovered the Thistlegorm, with information from local fishermen and the main masts close to the surface, which helped to identify the location. Albert Falco and Frédéric Dumas dove down to the wreck several times along with cameraman Philippe Agostini using one of the first underwater cameras. These historic scenes were included in the documentry 'Le monde du silence', 1955. The first photographs were also published in The National Geographic magazine in February 1956.
Falco, Dumas and Cousteau, aboard the 'Calypso'
The forgotten wreck
In 1957 the wreck was forgotten, with rumours that the British Government ‘asked’ Cousteau to lose the GPS coordinates, because of possible secret military devices on board. It’s also rumoured that the main masts were cut to further the difficulties in re-discovering the wreck.
Rediscovery and recreational dive site
In 1974, after nearly twenty years had passed, Thistlegorm was re-discovered by diver Shimshon Machiah, who was taken to the site by Bedouin fishermen. The wreck remained known to only a closed circle of divers for nearly another 20 years. In 1992 Sharm el-Sheikh began to develop as a diving resort and recreational diving on Thistlegorm started.
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The massive explosion that sank her had blown much of her midships superstructure away and makes the wreck very accessible to divers. With tidal currents from aft to bow, a line is needed to descend and ascend the wreck, visibility is around 20 to 30 metres. The wreck attracts many divers for the amount of the cargo that can be seen and explored. Thistlegorm soon becomes one of the most popular and famous dived wrecks in the World.
Descent on a guideline to SS Thistlegorm