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The
Thistlegorm, the name means 'blue thistle', was a British transport ship
belonging to the Albyn Line shipping company, was 126.5 meters long, a capacity
of 4,898 tons (9,009 displacement tons), and had a three cylinder steam engine
developing 1,860 HP that gave the vessel a speed of around 10 knots.The
Thistlegorm was built to transport refurbished wartime materials for the
British troops. In May 1941 with a crew of 39 men it had left the port of
Glasgow, Scotland, with a cargo of munitions, bombs of different kinds,
anti-tank mines, Lee Enfield MK III rifles, hundreds of BSA motorcycles, BSA
W-M20, Matchless G3L and Norton 16 H, Bedford , Morris and Ford trucks, two
light Bren Carrier A/IK // tanks, two steam Stanier 8 F locomotives complete
with two coal tenders and water tankers necessary for travel in desert zones,
transport trucks, ' portable field
generators, spare parts for airplanes and automobiles, medicines, tyres and
rubber boots. The cargo was destined for the British 8th Army stationed in Egypt and North Africa; yet the German forces
controlled the Mediterranean so circumnavi¬gating Africa and passing through
the Suez Canal to reach the port
of Alexandria was
considered the safer route. The Thistlegorm was already on its way up the Red
Sea when it received the order to anchor in the Strait
of Gubal and wait as the Suez Canal was temporarily obstructed by a vessel that
had hit a German mine. On the night of the 5-6th October two German Heinkel He
I 11 bombers, coming from the German base in Crete,
sighted and attacked the ship. It was hit by two bombs on hold no. 4 where the
munitions deposit -among other things - was situated. The explosion was very
violent and tore the ship in two whilst the locomotives, despite their weight
of 126 tons each and the fact that they were tied to the deck, were catapulted
into the air, sinking to the seabed about 30 meters away.The Thistlegorm sank
abruptly in an upright position on a flat, sandy seabed 30 meters deep at
1:30am on the 6th of October 1941 The crew and the captain were saved by the
nearby vessel HMS Carlisle, but nine men died during the attack It was Jacques
Cousteau with his legendary oceanographic ship Calypso, who discovered the
wreck in 1955 and who mentioned it in an article published in February 1956 in
the monthly National Geographic Magazine. Cousteau, however, did not reveal the
position of the wreck, thus it went forgotten for almost 40 years until 1992
when it was rediscovered by an Israeli skipper In a short time the Thistlegorm
has become a great favourite with scuba divers from all over the world and is
now the most visited wreck in the whole Red Sea.
Exploration
of the wreck
The
Thistlegorm lies 19.2 miles from Ras Mohammed and 3 I miles from Sharm
el-Sheikh. Locating the exact site is sometimes difficult because its framework
is not visible from the surface and it is wise to use GPS. As an alternative -
based on an empiric system and certainly less accurate - you can use a compass
and visible landmarks. Once the position of the wreck is found the diving boat needs
to be moored to the wreck's framework with two ropes along the bow and stern
parallel to the wreck itself. This operation can be delicate; it should be done
by dive guides and normally takes at least 15 minutes. In the course of the
years incompetent or ignorant guides tied the ropes of their boats on fragile
points (like small staircases, winch arms or handrails), and not on solid
structures adequate to sustain strong tractions (such as bollards, bomber winches
or propeller axis), thus causing massive damage to the ship. Exploration of the ship is usually done in two
phases:The first dive is a general tour of the wreck resting in its NW-SE
position; the second dive includes penetration of the holds. Descents and
ascents are done along the ropes with which the diving boat is moored to the
wreck, Visibility is not always good (it rarely goes beyond 20 to 30 meters)
and tidal currents from bow to stern can be present and sometimes very strong.
External
exploration
The stern
lists to port at a 46° angle and, at its deepest point of 30 meters, the
four-bladed propeller and the rudder can be seen. Ascending a few meters to a
depth of 25 meters, on the upper deck there is a 4.7 inch - machine-gun and
directly towards the bow the 10.3 inch anti-aircraft gun surrounded by schools
of glassfish (Pigmy sweepers, Parapriacanthus ransonneti). You continue and
examine the wide gash caused by the German bombs at hold No. 4 which contained
ammunition, bombs, two ßren Carrier MK II tanks (which now lie on the seabed, overturned
but in good condition), and trailers to transport ammunition.The ammunition,
much of which survived intact, can still be seen in situ, as can the two stumps
of the propeller's axle. One of the two Startler 8 F locomotives, that were
part of the cargo of the Thistlegorm, lies on the seabed about 30 meters away
from the hull towards the south-west in line with hold no. 4.The main axis of
the locomotive, of which only the front portion of the boiler and the first two
pairs of wheels have survived, is resting almost parallel to the ship. Moving
along the hull towards the bow you come across an open funnel vent amidst the
torn wreckage of the deck. Also located here is the opening to hold no. 3,
which mainly held coal. Coming to the central and highest section of the ship,
we find the bridge, from which all the contents have been removed, including
the beautiful on-board telegraph used to transmit orders to the engine room.
Next is the captain's cabin and further forward is the wide opening to hold no.
2, flanked by the locomotives' two coal tenders. Away from the opening of hold
no. 2, approximately 20 meters to starboard, resting on the sea¬bed at a depth
of 30 meters is the second Stonier 8 F locomotive: different from the first in
that the front boiler hatch is open, Continuing the ascent along the main deck
of the ship towards the bow, one notes the two large capstans of the loading
derricks serving hold no. 2, and the tilted main mast, partially supported by
the port side tender Next comes the quarterdeck, where we find the openings
that provided ventilation for the holds. There are also two further winches
before the entrance to hold no. I, which is flanked by the two water tankers
used to transport the water supply necessary for the locomotives. On the deck,
next to the starboard quarterdeck, a torpedo-shaped paravane is still visible
along with the davit for lifting and lowering it into the water These were
devices ön board many British vessels during the Second World War; fitted with
direction-indicator fins they were paid out to stern and served to cut the
cables fastening any potential deep-sea mines to the seabed. Moving on toward
the bow, at a depth of I 6 meters, on the port side there is one of the two
small stairways to the forecastle whereas the starboard one was torn away in
2001 and rests on the bridge not far away. At the center of the forecastle is
the perfectly preserved large anchor winch, surrounded by dense shoals of
anthias. One may also observe the port side anchor still in its original
position, and its counterpart on the starboard side, which lies on the seabed
over a hundred meters from the hull.
The Holds
Examining
the holds and their cargo is usually the objective of the second dive on the
wreck. Hold no. 3 is of minimal interest since it contained mainly coal for the
engine boiler If the current is strong, going through this hold is the easiest
way to reach hold no. 2, which is far more interesting. Hold no. 2 is divided
into two - an upper and a lower level. On the upper level you find on both
sites numerous WOT 2 Ford trucks, Bedford OY and MW trucks, as well as several
Morris commercial CS 8 jeeps.There are also some BSA W-M20 and Norton 16H
motorcycles, some of them with sidecars. On the port side of the lower level
there are many trailers (almost all of which are empty) and spare airplane
wings; on the starboard side there are Bedford trucks containing some Norton
H16 motorcycles with sidecars and a supply of rubber medicines, Lee Enfield MK
III rifles, and several portable electric generators.
Conservation
the wreck
Unfortunately,
nowadays the number of scuba divers visiting the Thistlegorm every day has
reached unsupportable levels. Their presence is jeopardizing the fine
state of preservation of the wreck's framework; the air bubbles accumulating
against the metal walls are causing rapid corrosion that is endangering their
very survival. Furthermore, many scuba divers cannot resist the temptation to
take away objects,
parts of the jeeps or even ammunition.The Thistlegorm is not only one of the
most famous wrecks in the world and one of the major tourist attractions in
Egypt (it generates more money than one of the Pyramids at Giza), yet it is
above all an extraordinary historic relic of WW2 the conservation of which today
becomes more and more urgent and should incite the Egyptian Authorities to
introduce severe measures controlling scuba diving - or maybe even closure of
the site.
THISTLEGORM
Type of
ship: steam freighter
Nationality:
British
Construction
date: 1940
Propulsion:
steam
Max. speed:
10.5 knots
Length:
126.5 m
Width: 17.5
m
Tonnage:
displacement of 9,0091
Date of
shipwreck:5-6 October 1941
Depth:
15-30 m
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