SS Thistlegorm.
A British cargo steamer bombed and sunk at anchor in the Strait of Gubal on 6 October 1941, while carrying war supplies for British forces in Egypt. Her holds still contain lorries, motorcycles, weapons, Wellington boots and aircraft parts, and two steam locomotives from her deck cargo lie on the seabed beside the wreck. From Sharm el-Sheikh the wreck is a full-day boat trip, normally with two dives on it.
What's down there.
- Bow and anchor winch
- Holds 1 and 2: lorries, motorcycles, Wellington boots, rifles and aircraft parts
- Two Stanier 8F locomotives, one on each side of the wreck
- Universal Carriers and other cargo scattered on the seabed
- Bomb damage around hold 4, with scattered ammunition
- Wrecked bridge and superstructure
- Stern with its guns and the propeller at about 32 m
- Batfish
- Barracuda
- Tuna
- Jacks and giant trevally
- Snappers
- Turtles
- Moray eels
- Lionfish and scorpionfish
- Crocodilefish
- Glassfish inside the holds
The seabed is at about 30–32 m, deepest by the propeller. Sources put the shallowest structure at 14–17 m, with 16 m the figure most often given. pro-taucher says the stern section lies on a slope of about 50 degrees.
The site is exposed to tidal currents and the prevailing wind. Current varies from none to very strong and can make the dive hard work, and conditions sometimes prevent boats from reaching the wreck. The usual plan is two dives: one around the outside of the wreck (bow, deck cargo, locomotives, stern and guns) and one into the open holds. Going into the holds needs suitable wreck training. The wreck is often crowded with day boats and liveaboards. From Sharm el-Sheikh the boat trip takes about 2½ to 4 hours each way, depending on the boat. Day boats leave between about 04:00 and 06:00 and return at about 17:00–18:00. Operators today ask for Advanced certification (liveaboard.com; Oonas Dive Club), and Oonas Dive Club also requires at least 20 logged dives and a check dive first. Visibility at the wreck averages about 20 m. Protected status: no protected-area designation for the wreck was found. In October 2025 the CDWS issued visiting instructions: no touching, no divers with fewer than 20 dives or poor buoyancy, and limits on where and how boats may tie on to the wreck.
How it got there.
Built by Joseph L. Thompson & Sons, Sunderland (yard no. 599) for the Albyn Line; launched 9 April 1940 and completed 24 June 1940; 4,898 GRT, 126.5 m by 17.7 m, with a triple-expansion steam engine. On her fourth voyage she left Glasgow on 2 June 1941 for Alexandria, sailing by way of Cape Town and the Red Sea. While moored at Safe Anchorage F near the Strait of Gubal, she was hit at 01:30 on 6 October 1941 by bombs from two Heinkel He 111 aircraft of Kampfgeschwader 26 flying from Crete. The bombs struck hold 4, which held ammunition, and she sank quickly. Nine men were killed (four crew and five naval gunners); HMS Carlisle picked up the survivors. The cargo included Bedford, Leyland, Albion and Morris Commercial lorries, Universal Carriers, Norton 16H and BSA M20 motorcycles, Bren guns, Lee-Enfield rifles, ammunition, radio equipment, Wellington boots, aircraft parts (among them Lysander wings, Blenheim tailplanes and Bristol Mercury engines), railway wagons and two LMS Stanier Class 8F locomotives carried as deck cargo. Jacques Cousteau's team located and dived the wreck in the early 1950s and recovered items including a motorcycle, the captain's safe and the ship's bell; the wreck featured in National Geographic in February 1956. Recreational diving on the wreck restarted in the early 1990s, after a visit by the dive boat Poolster, as Sharm el-Sheikh was developing as a dive resort.
6 dives.
From the log — the dates follow the pattern I dived, so read them as representative rather than exact.