The bow and rope room.
The Thistlegorm survey documented the bow and its rope room below the forecastle, where coils of wire and ship equipment remain.
THE EVIDENCE · The survey created a dedicated 3D model of the rope room.
THE WRECK EXPLORER / IMMERSIVE WRECK INVESTIGATION / 003THE LAST
THE LAST
VOYAGE OF
THISTLEGORM.
A merchant ship loaded with motorcycles, trucks and railway locomotives. A sudden attack in the Red Sea. An extraordinary record of 1941 preserved beneath the waves.
RED SEA · EGYPT6 OCTOBER 19413D SURVEY / 2017 + 2022
03 / A REAL UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORDPHOTOGRAMMETRY · HISTORY · REMEMBRANCE
LAUNCHEDApril 1940
LOST AT SEA6 October 1941
CREW & NAVAL LOSSES9 lives
RECORDED BYUnderwater 3D surveys
00 / THE WRECK THAT BECAME A TIME CAPSULEA journey interrupted.
A journey interrupted.
A history preserved.
Built in Sunderland for the Albyn Line, SS Thistlegorm set out in June 1941 carrying supplies for Allied forces in Egypt. Today her wreck contains vehicles, military equipment and railway machinery. Explore authentic scans made by independent diving archaeologists — then follow the evidence of what happened. No dramatized model is presented as a survey.
01 / TWO GENUINE RECORDSThe wreck,
The wreck,
actually recorded.
Choose between two externally hosted, authentic photogrammetric models of SS Thistlegorm. Tap to load, drag to rotate, and pinch to zoom. The original models remain the property of their creators.
The Red Sea wreck, recorded in 3D.
The 2017 archaeological survey captured the wreck and its cargo using thousands of underwater photographs. Tap to load Simon Brown's original research model.
Authentic independent 3D models embedded from their original Sketchfab pages. We neither own nor distribute the models. Viewer requires an internet connection. Not for dive planning or navigation.
VIEW ORIGINAL AND CREATOR CREDIT ↗ORIGINAL CREATORSimon Brown · Deep3D
An archaeological field survey conducted in 2017 for The Thistlegorm Project with university partners.
UNDERSTANDING THE MODELResearch evidence, not a game world
The model represents photographed remains, not an imagined intact ship. It is not a map to use underwater.
02 / EXPLORE THE EVIDENCESix discoveries
Six discoveries
beneath the sea.
Select a numbered clue to understand what Thistlegorm carried and what survived. This artistic schematic is intentionally not a traced, surveyed wreck plan.
✧
RESEARCH-BASED, NEVER MISREPRESENTED
Feature descriptions are documented by The Thistlegorm Project. Numbered points and shapes are an illustrative teaching aid, not coordinates or the actual wreck’s geometry. For factual positions, explore the survey and the original research.
03 / A SHIP'S LAST VOYAGEFrom Sunderland
From Sunderland
to the Red Sea.
Follow the key chapters of Thistlegorm's story — from a new British merchant ship to an internationally researched maritime heritage site.
1940APRIL 1940
A new merchant ship.
Joseph Thompson & Sons launched Thistlegorm at Sunderland for the Albyn Line during the Second World War.
04 / GO DEEPERMore than one
More than one
way to explore.
The specialist research covers the internal cargo spaces as well as the outside of the wreck. These experiences are provided by their creators, not rebuilt or republished here.
See the wreck from a diver's perspective.
Visit The Thistlegorm Project's guided 360-degree underwater videos covering the wreck, forward holds and stern.
OPEN ORIGINAL 360° VIDEOS ↗Explore the motorcycle and lorry holds.
The team's separate scan documents Holds 1 and 2, Deck 2. Open the original 3D model hosted on Sketchfab.
OPEN ORIGINAL HOLD SCAN ↗Inspect the railway cargo.
Holger Buss also published a separate photogrammetric model of the remains of a Stanier 8F locomotive beside Thistlegorm.
VIEW ORIGINAL LOCOMOTIVE MODEL ↗05 / SOURCE MATERIAL & CREDITSFollow the
Follow the
original research.
This interactive interpretation references published archaeological material. All rights to the linked 3D models, images and videos remain with their original creators.
PRIMARY PROJECT / HISTORYThe Thistlegorm Project — vessel history and nine lives lost↗3D SURVEY / ORIGINALThe Thistlegorm Project — 2017 fieldwork↗3D PHOTOGRAMMETRYSimon Brown / Deep3D — Thistlegorm survey model↗3D PHOTOGRAMMETRYHolger Buss / Dive3D — 2022 wreck model↗PEER-REVIEWED RESEARCHRecording the SS Thistlegorm — Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (2024)↗
IN REMEMBRANCE
Nine lives were lost.
The ship was carrying people as well as cargo. We present this history with care, recognising the four merchant seamen and five naval personnel who died on 6 October 1941.
READ THE NAMES IN THE ORIGINAL HISTORICAL RECORD ↗