Thistlegorm
- Friendly Fins
- Dec 24, 2024
- 6 min read
Updated: Mar 7
The Wreck That Made Me Fall in Love with Wrecks
The wreck of the Thistegorm needs no introduction, you will find thousands of details about its history online, what I would like to convey is the feeling you get when you get on top of this 131-meter-long cargo ship for the first time and then the second, the third, until you start to get to know it, creating a new amazement in every dive.
Just to frame the historical period, the Thistlegorm was an English ship sunk during the Second World War by the German army.
Its name, already particular and difficult to pronounce, means "blue thistle" in Gaelic, which is the name of a flower.
The thing that fascinated me most about this ship was its mystery in its discovery: the great underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau had already found it in 1956 without ever revealing its position to anyone,
"I wonder how this wreck would have looked when it just sank and without anyone plundering it as unfortunately happened in the decades to come."
The real discovery that made it famous for divers, happened thanks to an Israeli fishing boat in the 90s, from there the Thistlegorm became one of the most visited wrecks in the world and with good reason!
And among all these divers here we are!
The Visit to the Thistlegorm
This wreck par excellence was visited during our diving cruise dedicated to the wrecks of the Suez Canal, leaving it towards the end of the week as the highlight of the holiday, after visiting the Abu Nuhas reef.
One dive is not enough to visit it, so we dedicated ourselves to it for four dives: morning - afternoon - night - dawn dive!
The dives
Being a wreck completely in the middle of the sea on a sandy bottom of 30 m, there could be conditions that are not always favorable such as waves and currents.
Nothing impossible Friendly Fins but with the sea you can never be too careful so we did not spare ourselves in doing an ultra detailed briefing on the procedures for entering and exiting the water.
"Full of adrenaline and excitement, it's time to dive in!"
External dive
As we descend along the top, the large wreck begins to take shape in front of us: at 16 m we will find ourselves on the main deck to begin visiting the deepest area where the strong explosion that caused it to sink occurred. We will immediately encounter the two MK II Bren Carrier tanks, one positioned on its side and the other upside down.
Friendly Fins... Don't expect two easily recognizable tanks, it takes a bit of imagination the first time to recognize them! Follow the guide who will show them to you!
Not far from them, to our right, looking at the stern of the ship there is also a locomotive 30 m away and literally resting on the sandy bottom. Continuing in the stern area we will find boxes of ammunition, bombs and the imposing heavy machine gun followed by the anti-aircraft gun. Turning to the back of the ship, we will clearly see the large propeller on the bottom and the wonderful stern from below.
"I like to step away from the ship for a bit to look at it in its entirety, truly powerful and superb in its sailing position."
Finning along the left side, we go up to the upper deck where we find in front of us the openings of the two large holds that introduce even more mystery about what is hidden inside. We continue on the deck finding two large wagons (right side and left side) that transported coal and beyond them, two crumpled cans that transported water.
"We finally arrive at the bow of the boat, in my opinion the point with the greatest richness of charm and colors."
We can make a small penetration at the bow and then emerge right in front of the large anchor winch with countless anthias all around. The port anchor is still visible while the starboard chain descends vertically to the bottom at -31 meters of depth and then unwinds in a northerly direction to the anchor about sixty meters away.
"This entire splendid wreck is surrounded by the exceptional marine biodiversity that has grown on it. Schools of small sardines and jacks crown this spectacle during the respectful stop.
Going back up to the top, the spectacle is far from over, indeed: the beauty of these schools of fish dancing in front of us is breathtaking, and the inevitable batfish under the boat! I have now visited this wreck about ten times but it never ceases to intrigue and fascinate me in all its grandeur..."
But if you liked the outside, dive with us to explore the inside!
Internal Dive
After lunch it is finally time to enter the Thistlegorm.
The first hold located at the bow is the most interesting: in its deepest part it contains boxes of medicines, Lee Enfield MK III rifles, rubber boots (the ones that remain) and tyres, while on the upper level there are BSA motorcycles and some models of Morris cars.
The second hold located in the middle, whose entrance is flanked by two railway carriages, is divided like the previous one into two levels: in the lower one there are Bedford trucks while on the upper one there are other BSA motorcycles and Morris cars. We will explore the internal part following two loops, one for each deck; torch in hand Friendly Fins!
There are never any passages or places completely in the dark but the torch will help us to better see what is hidden among the motorcycles! Nudibranchs, moray eels, Rousseau sea urchins are the masters of the most hidden corners of this wreck.
Don't miss the guide, I recommend!
In any case, you always go around these two holds with nice and wide openings, so you can always go out. It's wonderful to find these motorcycles all still stacked in the vans and in order. The two loop tours end with the entrance to the kitchens and then go back up with a visit to the captain's cabin, where the bathtub and toilet are still located, to exit from the main door and find all the power of this warship.
"The passages are wide and the light always filters very well from the three large openings of the central holds, the wealth of fish hidden among the motorcycles will leave you breathless Friendly Fins"
Night dive at Thistlegorm
I spent the whole working season imagining this night dive, as a great fan of night dives as I am, the expectations were really high and fulfilled.
The wreck of the Thistlegorm comes to life even more at night and dozens of animals that sleep during the day peep out from the most disparate places: moray eels and scorpion fish dance on the upper deck of the ship intrigued by our torches.
Many predators wait patiently on the deck for their next prey: scorpion fish, stone fish, sea urchins and crustaceans of all kinds.
The dive was done only on the upper deck but expect to find anything by going very slowly and concentrating above all on what "you can't see"
Dawn Dive at Thistlegorm
If I thought the night was the best on this wreck, I certainly had to believe it the next morning: at dawn the Thistlegorm takes on an unparalleled charm: no current, no divers except us and this timid light that lets us discover the wreck by illuminating it slowly.
And here in front of us is the entire ship to explore: we immediately throw ourselves to the bow to see the beautiful anchors resting on the sand for 80 years now, truly enormous!
We proceed towards one of the two locomotives that were catapulted outside the ship during the explosion. The locomotive is still home to scorpion fish, you can find groups of them taking refuge inside!
Returning to the wreck we took another nice tour of the outside, enjoying every single detail in tranquility: from the dates stamped on the bombs at the stern, to the crocodile fish that rest peacefully at the bow of the boat, like silent guardians of this wreck that made me fall in love with wrecks.
Not only wrecks Friendly Fins, one of the places
that I appreciated most in Sharm,
is a small town called Dahab, why?
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