THE THISTLEGORM WAS BOMBED AND SUNK IN THE EARLY HOURS OF 6 OCTOBER 1941
 
Found in the '50s then forgotten again, the Thistlegorm first re-appeared in Diver early in 1993, when John Bantin wrote about it. "In late October 1992 Simshon, an Israeli skipper who did diving as well as fishing charters, was told about a good site for fishing by Bedouin fishermen," he told me. "He was the person who rediscovered the Thistlegorm, and told all the other Israeli skippers. The foreign boat-operators wanted to keep the position secret from the Egyptians, for just an elite few!". Bantin's article referred to "a unique opportunity to dive a wreck that has been virtually undisturbed for 50 years... this has to be the best shipwreck in the world".  He ended, however, with an ominous comment about "the depressing noise of the wreck being vandalized" by a group that arrived as his boat was departing. On his return a few months later, he commented: "I was shocked to witness the results of the diver activity which had already taken place. The souvenir-hunters had already started their vandalism".
 Mark Hobday visited the wreck later that year. "It was my first live aboard trip in coral waters. I had read John Bantin's article and was astounded at how she was a real 'time capsule', just as he described her. The Thistlegorm will remain the best wreck dive ever, because it was so pristine and complete - upright and full of an army's shopping list. What sticks is being down first with no silt, floating into the hold with the collection of Bedford trucks.
For More Details, Go to Thistlegorm
 
 
Curiously, the Dunraven is not marked on any of the Admiralty charts for the area, so her discovery was never one of "let’s go and check this out!"
 
One published account of the Dunraven states that, in 1977, a German Geologist came across the wreck whilst undertaking survey work for an oil company and, although he passed on what little information he had collected to the owner of a local Diving facility, his co-ordinates were so vague that the vessel remained unexplored for at least another 2 years. Another account, however, states that the Geologist in question was an Israeli - but that man turned out to be a local diver who never found the wreck. Yet another version suggests that this whole "geologist" story was deliberately created to lessen the achievement of those who claimed to have discovered the wreck.
For More Details, Go to Dunraven
 
 
 
 
 
 

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