Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters

Take your next trip with Atlas Obscura!

Our small-group adventures are inspired by our Atlas of the world's most fascinating places, the stories behind them, and the people who bring them to life.

Visit Adventures
Trips Highlight
Central Asia yurt night stars
Uzbekistan • 15 days, 14 nights
Central Asia Road Trip: Backroads & Bazaars
from
A view of Brașov’s Old Town.
Romania • 12 days, 11 nights
Legends of Romania: Castles, Ruins & Culinary Delights
from
View all trips
Top Destinations
Latest Places
Most Popular Places Random Place Lists Itineraries
Add a Place
Download the App
Top Destinations
View All Destinations »

Countries

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • China
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Italy
  • Japan

Cities

  • Amsterdam
  • Barcelona
  • Beijing
  • Berlin
  • Boston
  • Budapest
  • Chicago
  • London
  • Los Angeles
  • Mexico City
  • Montreal
  • Moscow
  • New Orleans
  • New York City
  • Paris
  • Philadelphia
  • Rome
  • San Francisco
  • Seattle
  • Stockholm
  • Tokyo
  • Toronto
  • Vienna
  • Washington, D.C.
Latest Places
View All Places »
The Eye of God at Newchurch in Pendle
St. Govor’s Well.
St. Govor’s Well
Shivsrushti
Pierced domes of Hammam Seffarine.
Hammam Seffarine
Latest Places to Eat & Drink
View All Places to Eat »
Cacio e pepe lasagna combines two classics.
C'è pasta... E pasta!
Spaghetto taratatà is named for the sound of rattling sabers.
Giano Restaurant
The gnocchi here get blanketed in a sugo with braised oxtail.
Cesare al Pellegrino
Romans insist you should feel the cracked peppercorns and cheese grains on your tongue.
Flavio al Velavevodetto
Tripe is fried to a crisp.
L’Osteria della Trippa
Recent Stories
All Stories Video Podcast
Most Recent Stories
View All Stories »
Grasshopper Chapel and grounds.
How the Rocky Mountain Locust Plague Spawned Federal Disaster Relief
4 days ago
The Guy Bradley Visitor Center at Flamingo in Everglades National Park.
America’s First Game Warden Died Fighting for the Birds
4 days ago
Echo Park Time Travel Mart.
Atlas Obscura Presents: Traveling Back in Time for Coconut Cake With The Sporkful
5 days ago
One of the PATH’s many entrances.
A Supposedly Boring Mall I Might Actually Visit Again
6 days ago

No search results found for
“”

Make sure words are spelled correctly.

Try searching for a travel destination.

Places near me Random place

Popular Destinations

  • Paris
  • London
  • New York
  • Berlin
  • Rome
  • Los Angeles
Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Sign In Join
Places near me Random place
All Egypt SS Thistlegorm

SS Thistlegorm

The wreck of a World War II cargo ship has become an unintentional time capsule at the bottom of the Red Sea.

Egypt

Added By
Will
Email
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list
A diver drifts above the Thistlegorms bow winch   Hagainativ, CC BY-SA 3.0
A diver drifts above the Thistlegorms bow winch   Hagainativ, CC BY-SA 3.0
A truck quietly sits in one of the ships holds   Wikicomman, CC BY-SA 4.0
A ladder rusts away on the deck, in the background, divers swim to the forward deck   Wikicomman, CC BY-SA 4.0
The Thistlegorms anti-aircraft guns still sit on the deck   Albert Kok2, CC BY-SA 3.0
The exploded stern of the Thistle gorm, laying on it’s port side   Kevin C. Charpentier
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

About

World War II caused chaos globally, not only on land but at sea too. Ships were sunk in their thousands, but the bombing of one ship just off the coast of Egypt was merely the start of this ship's fame.

Built in England in 1940, the SS Thistlegorm was constructed as a cargo vessel for wartime. Funded partially by the U.K. Ministry of War Transport and armed to fight back against the enemy, the Thistlegorm was set to sea and completed three voyages before one fateful night in October 1941.

Loaded with cargo for the Allies and bound for Alexandria, Egypt, the ship was forced to wait at anchor (just outside what is now known as Raz Muhammed Nature Reserve) while the Suez Canal was temporarily closed following a collision. 

However, Egypt was brimming with Allied forces in late 1941, and the Germans received word that an Allied troop carrier, the RMS Queen Mary, was going to be sailing through the area. Desperate to sink this icon of the seas, two Heinkel HE 111 planes were dispatched to sink the Queen Mary. Despite extensively searching the area, the bombers found no trace of their target. But they did happen to stumble upon the SS Thistlegorm.

At 1:30 a.m. on October 6, 1941, the bombers dropped their explosives onto the stern of the Thistlegorm, which exploded almost instantly. The ship sank quickly, and nine crew members of 42 onboard died (likely killed by the explosion). The survivors were picked up by a nearby escort ship.

About a decade after its sinking, the Thistlegorm was rediscovered by world-renowned ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau. But it wasn't until the 90s that the Thistlegorm would find her second life. As the 90s came around, Egypt became an increasingly popular tourist destination and the warm waters of the Red Sea drew scuba divers from all over the world. Many of those divers found themselves exploring the wreckage of the Thistlegorm.

The very nature of the Thistlegorm and how she came to rest on the seabed have played into her legacy as a world-class diving wreck. The ship sits in a relatively shallow, warm-water climate, where it attracts all forms of marine wildlife. The very explosion that blasted the ship apart also made multiple decks on the inside of the ship exposed to open water and accessible to divers. Its scale means there is plenty to explore over multiple dives.

Aside from the ship herself, the wartime cargo is one of the biggest draws to the wreck, as it acts as an underwater museum for wartime history. Some cargo even remains in situ inside the wreck itself, never to find its way to its intended destination. There had been two steam locomotives on the main deck of the vessel and when the ship exploded, the blast rocketed them clear off the deck of the ship and into the sea. Both still sit on the seabed, on opposite sides of the ship.

Since the 2000s, steps have been taken to try and preserve the wreck, but there's only so much that can be done to preserve the wreck before she rusts away.

Related Tags

World War Ii Diving Underwater Shipwrecks

Know Before You Go

There are plenty of diving operators that will take you out to the Thistlegorm in Egypt, most will be live-aboards, but some day-operators will take you out and back within the day.

The Thistlegorm has various depths which accommodate a wide range of divers, the bow sits at 16 meters (52 feet), while the deepest point of the wreck, the propellor, sits at 32 meters (105 feet)

The bow remains in a relatively intact state while the stern is fairly mangled. This wreck has a lot of protruding and twisted metal due to the nature of how it ended on the ocean floor, so be aware of that.Divers should always be aware of their limits, the lure of additional things to see inside the cargo holds may be tempting, but those who are not trained to go inside a shipwreck should never do so.

As always, divers should NEVER remove anything from this wreck or ANY wreck. Coral reefs are delicate and slow-growing, and the wartime nature of this wreck as well as the people who died during its sinking means it should be treated with the utmost respect.

Atlas Obscura Adventures

Egypt Family Adventure: Pyramids, Mummies & The Mighty Nile

Cross dream-like deserts and uncover the secrets of ancient pyramids.

Book Now

Community Contributors

Added By

willfaulkner

Published

December 22, 2023

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos
Sources
  • https://www.padi.com/dive-site/egypt/thistlegorm-wreck/
  • https://www.scubadiving.com/history-red-sea-thistlegorm-shipwreck
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Thistlegorm
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYtgFPlDygw&t=4s
SS Thistlegorm
Egypt
27.813688, 33.920813

Nearby Places

Desert Breath

Qesm Hurghada, Egypt

miles away

Blue Desert

Qesm Sharm Ash Sheikh, Egypt

miles away

St. Catherine's Monastery

Qesm Saint Katrin, Egypt

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Egypt

Egypt

Africa

Places 51
Stories 51

Nearby Places

Desert Breath

Qesm Hurghada, Egypt

miles away

Blue Desert

Qesm Sharm Ash Sheikh, Egypt

miles away

St. Catherine's Monastery

Qesm Saint Katrin, Egypt

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Egypt

Egypt

Africa

Places 51
Stories 51

Related Places

  • A diver at the SS President Coolidge

    Luganville, Vanuatu

    SS President Coolidge

    This cruise ship-turned-warship sank during World War II, and is now a world-renowned dive site.

  • Spiegel Grove in 2010

    Key Largo, Florida

    USS Spiegel Grove Shipwreck

    After a long career, a disastrous sinking, and a half-successful salvage, this Naval vessel-turned-artificial reef ended up exactly where she was supposed to—with a little help from nature.

  • USNS General Hoyt S. Vandenberg

    Key West, Florida

    USNS General Hoyt S. Vandenberg

    Six miles off the coast of Key West, a former military transport ship is now one of the largest artificial reefs in the world.

  • A diver swims along the side of the plane wreck

    Capernwray, England

    Capernwray Dive Centre

    Planes, helicopters, and a shipwreck are underwater in this former limestone quarry.

  • The propeller hub in El Medano

    El Médano, Spain

    SS American Star Propeller Hub

    This propeller hub is one of the last remnants of a ship that crashed off the coast of the Canary Islands.

  • Submarine piers at Dora I

    Trondheim, Norway

    Dora I

    At this concrete bunker on the Trondheim fjord, secrets lie above and below the water's surface.

  • Chloraka, Cyprus

    Shipwreck MV Demetrios II

    This abandoned ship has remained in place since it ran aground in 1998.

  • A floating Valentine tank, note the turret in the middle of the canvas

    Dorset, England

    Valentine Tank Wrecks

    The site of a dress rehearsal for D-Day that ended in disaster.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member


Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member

Get Our Email Newsletter

Follow Us

Facebook YouTube TikTok Instagram Pinterest RSS Feed

Get the app

Download the App
Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play
  • All Places
  • Latest Places
  • Most Popular
  • Places to Eat
  • Random
  • Nearby
  • Add a Place
  • Stories
  • Food & Drink
  • Itineraries
  • Lists
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Newsletters
  • All Trips
  • Family Trip
  • Food & Drink
  • History & Culture
  • Wildlife & Nature
  • FAQ
  • Membership
  • Feedback & Ideas
  • Community Guidelines
  • Product Blog
  • Unique Gifts
  • Work With Us
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Advertise With Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
Atlas Obscura

© 2025 Atlas Obscura. All Rights Reserved.