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Thistlegorm poppy replaced
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RAF sports divers have placed a new commemorative giant poppy on the Red Sea's Thistlegorm wreck, to replace one that has been removed.
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Exercise Engineers Down was organised by RAF Cranwell SAC, with guest divers including members of RAF London Sub-Aqua Federation.
The 11-strong team dived the wreck at the beginning of March, during a trip to conduct dive training, general leisure diving and, professionally, improve team skills.
They attached the large model poppy, provided by the Royal British Legion, to a substantial steel girder.
The 126m-long Thistlegorm, an armed merchantman, was bombed and sunk in 1941 while anchored in the Straits of Gubal, in sight of Mount Sinai, while waiting to enter the Suez Canal. Nine of the 49 crew died.
The one-year-old Thistlegorm went down in 30m of water with a full cargo intended for the Eighth Army in North Africa, including munitions, trains, plane parts, and trucks laden with motorbikes.
The wreck lay untouched until location and brief exploration by Jacques Cousteau in the 1950s. Then, amazingly, it was forgotten again until rediscovery in the early '90s.
Diver magazine contributor John Bantin was among the first divers to visit the wreck, describing it as a '1941 time capsule, a unique testimony to both the industry and waste of war'. His detailed article about the wreck was published in May 1993. |
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