SS Thistlegorm Past & Present

Mark Webster · Issue 64, Jan/Feb 2012 · pp. 67–71

Products mentioned: Nikon D300, Subal ND2 housing, 10-17mm Tokina FE zoom, Inon Z240 flash guns, Nikon 801, Subal housing, 16mm FE lens, Subatec S100 strobe

The SS Thistlegorm is one of the best known and most popular wrecks in the Red Sea and is inevitably on the must do list for both live aboard and day boat divers. If you visit her for the first time today you might come to the surface feeling you have seen an impressive wreck, but in fact she is now a shadow of her former glory and is slowly being destroyed by her own popularity. I was fortunate enough to have dived the Thistlegorm shortly after she was re-discovered at the end of 1992. The skipper of our tiny live aboard (the Sally) had heard a rumour that an Eilat based live aboard named the Sunboat had found a stunning new wreck in the gulf of Suez. His plan to find it was simple – wait for the Sunboat to come past Sharm el Sheikh and shadow her at a safe distance. Once the Sunboat was moored to the wreck he boldly rushed in and dropped us on the line and spent our dive being given a …