The SS Thistlegorm Story

 

Construction

The SS Thistlegorm was built by Joseph Thompson & Sons shipyard in

Sunderland for the Albyn Line and launched in April 1940. She was

powered by a triple-expansion steam engine rated to 365 hp (272 KW).

The vessel was privately owned but had been partly financed by the

British government and was classified as an armed freighter. She was

armed with a 4.7-inch (120 mm) anti-aircraft gun and a heavy-calibre

machine gun attached after construction to the stern of the ship. She was

one of a number of "Thistle" ships owned and operated by the Albyn Line,

which was founded in 1901, based in Sunderland, and had four vessels at

the outbreak of World War II. The vessel carried out three successful voyages

after her launch. The first was to the US to collect steel rails and aircraft parts

, the second to Argentina for grain, and the third to the West Indies for rum.

Prior to her fourth and final voyage, she had undergone repairs in Glasgow.

Last voyage

She set sail on her fourth and final voyage from Glasgow on 2 June 1941,

destined for Alexandria, Egypt. The vessel’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 and were for the Egyptian

Railways. The rest of the cargo was for the Allied forces in Egypt. At the time

the Thistlegorm sailed from Glasgow in June, this was the Western Desert Force,

which in September 1941 became part of the newly formed Eighth Army. The

crew of the ship, under Captain William Ellis, were supplemented by 9 naval

personnel to man the machine gun and the anti-aircraft gun.

 

Due to German and Italian naval and air force activity in the Mediterranean,the

 Thistlegorm sailed as part of a convoy via Cape Town, South Africa, whereshe

refuelled, before heading north up the East coast of Africa and into the Red Sea.

On leaving Cape Town, the light cruiser HMS Carlisle joined the convoy. Due to a

collision in the Suez Canal, the convoy could not transit through the canal to reach

the port of Alexandria and instead moored at Safe Anchorage in September 1941

where she remained at anchor until her sinking on 6 October 1941. HMS Carlisle 

moored in the same anchorage.

 

There was a large build-up of Allied troops in Egypt during September 1941 and German intelligence (Abwehr) suspected that there was a troop carrier in the area bringing in additional troops. Two Heinkel He-111 aircraft were dispatched from Crete to find and destroy the troop carrier. This search failed but one of the bombers discovered the vessels moored in Safe Anchorage F. Targeting the largest ship, they dropped two bombs on the Thistlegorm, both of which struck hold 4 near the stern of the ship at 0130 on 6 October. The bomb and the explosion of some of the ammunition stored in hold 4 led to the sinking of the Thistlegorm with the loss of four sailors and five members of the Royal Navy gun crew. Mr. Rejda single-handedly saved most of the sailors by swimming into the wreck and towing them to safety. The survivors 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, the major exception being the steam locomotives from the deck cargo which were blown off to either side of the wreck.

Discovery by Cousteau

In the early fifties, Jacques-Yves Cousteau discovered her by using information from local fishermen. He raised several items from the wreck, including a motorcycle, the captain’s safe, and the ship’s bell. The February 1956 edition of National Geographic clearly shows the ship’s bell in place and Cousteau's divers in the ship’s Lantern Room. Cousteau documented diving on the wreck in part of his book The Living Sea.

 

Rediscovery

Following Cousteau’s visit, the site was forgotten about except by local fishermen. In the early 1990s, Sharm el-Sheikh began to develop as a diving resort. Recreational diving on the Thistlegorm restarted following the visit of the dive boatPoolster, using information from another Israeli fishing boat captain.

 

Click here to find out what happend now the SS Thistlegorm had been rediscovered and turned into arguabley the most famous wreck dive in the world.

 

Information sourced from wikipedia