The History

Launched in 1940 in Sunderland the HMS Thistlegorm was owned by the Albyn Line and was one of a number of “Thistle” ships. She was designated as an armed freighter although her guns were actually misfiring leftovers from WW1 due to a general weapons shortage at the time. She made three voyages to the USA, South America and the West Indies before returning to Glasgow for repairs to her boilers. Then on 2 June 1941 under the command of Captain William Ellis the Thistlegorm set sail for Alexandria to resupply the 8th Army. Supplies on board included land mines, shells, ammunition,  weapons, Bedford trucks each with three BSA motorcycles parked on the back, armoured cars, vehicle spares,  radios and much more. She was also loaded with rolling stock intended for the Egyptian railway which was nothing to do with the army supplies but a commercial consignment of the Albyn Line. This rolling stock included two locomotives, tenders and water carriers.

The Thistlegorm first sailed down the west coast of Britain before rendezvousing with a large convoy off the south coast of England. The safest route to Alexandria was via South Africa due to the heavy presence of enemy military forces along the northern Mediterranean coastline. The light cruiser HMS Carlisle joined the convoy in Capetown and they sailed up the east coast of Africa before finally entering the Red Sea at the Gulf of Suez in September. The Thistlegorm then had to wait at the entrance to the Gulf of Suez for two weeks while a blockage was being cleared further up. This should not have been a problem in what was supposedly a safe anchorage because enemy ships and aircraft were rarely seen in this area. However, German Intelligence had received information that a large troopship was due to travel through the Suez Canal with 1200 British troops destined for North Africa and tasked their twin engined Heinkel 111’s based in Crete to seek and destroy.

On a clear night, shortly after midnight on 6th October 1941 two Heinkels had been searching without success for the troopship. Just as they were about to return home, as their fuel ran low, one of the pilots spotted a ship at anchor. He came in low over the sea and, as he approached the bows of the Thistlegorm, he released two bombs right over her bridge.
Both bombs penetrated the holds aft of the bridge, ripping open the rear decks and sending the locomotives that were loaded there flying over the rails. The Thistlegorm had been caught unawares and had no defense. She began to sink quickly and the crew abandoned ship. With hardly any time to launch the lifeboats, most of the crew jumped overboard straight into the sea. Captain Ellis and the other survivors were rescued by HMS Carlisle and then taken to Suez where the captain reported that 4 members of his 39 crew and 5 of the 9 Royal Navy ratings had lost their lives. Captain Ellis was subsequently awarded the OBE for War Services by King George VI. A crew member, Angus McLeay was awarded the George Medal and Lloyd’s War Medal for Bravery at Sea for his rescue of a trapped crewman on the burning deck.

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