A tale of two halves

Stern section: Turbo Photo: Peter Collings Intact rails: Turbo Photo: Peter Collings Winch: Turbo Photo: Peter Collings Workshop: Turbo Photo: Peter Collings Telegraph: Turbo Photo: Peter Collings

The discovery of the wreck of a tanker four years ago by Akhmed the then skipper of the Lady M liveaboard was the start of an investigation that was to become one of the most interesting, if frustrating, wreck identification projects I have undertaken.

The wreck, which lies 15 miles north of Ras Banas, was called the 'half wreck' by the crew of the Lady M because it consisted of a stern and superstructure and one large hold. At first we thought it was the wreck of the Hadia, which had been described as a tanker in some records. However, this 'half-wreck' had a large, single, triple-expansion steam engine, not a diesel as with the Hadia. Inside the engine room, a plate with RC Craggs, Smith's Docks, Middlesbrough was located, but this later proved to be something of a red herring when it came to identifying the ship. We set about looking for the missing section, but after 12 fruitless dives we gave up.

Initially I thought the mystery ship had been built around the time of one of my favourite Red Sea wrecks, the Rosalie Moller. Although a different kind of vessel, there were many similarities in her build. My hunch proved to be correct when we found the various manufacturers' plates which eventually confirmed the ship's identity.
Initial research from the maker's plate suggested that this might be the Atlas, a tanker built by Craggs, albeit under another name. But it had been reported that the Atlas had been torpedoed off the Yemen. However, the specifications seemed to be right: a tanker with machinery aft and of the same style and build. The chances of there being another tanker in the area were minimal and although the Yemen sinking was inconsistent, we worked on the basis that wartime records are often unreliable.

Documents found through our research listed the Atlas as a British-built steam tanker built on the Tees in 1909 at Smith's Dock, Middlesbrough. The Atlas was torpedoed on 6 September 1940 by the Italian submarine Guglielmotti, off the Yemen. Even though this was a considerable distance from the location of the half-wreck, the fact that the Atlas was a tanker in the Red Sea at the correct time meant that in spite of the torpedo report we could not eliminate the ship as potentially being the half-wreck.

The torpedo explosion broke the Atlas's back and as she settled at the bow she broke in two. If the stern had remained afloat, was it possible it had drifted all that way? Unlikely. However, the ship was full of oil and would be a valuable prize if she could be repaired (tankers had been repaired before). Was it possible that the half-wreck was indeed the Atlas and had been taken under tow? The wreck showed that the rudder had been removed and the vent cowls turned aft, suggesting it might indeed have been towed. But could this have been done? One man might know.

Jim Devlyn was a salvage diver at the time of the Second World War and had masterminded the salvaging and subsequent re-sinking of another tanker, the Inverlane. When I contacted him he was in ill health, but he was able to tell me about a salvage operation he had conducted in the Red Sea. The operation involved salvaging half of a ship drifting off the Yemen coast and towing it 400 miles up the Red Sea to Suez.

Having made the stern section watertight, Jim and his team used two tugs to tow the ship and the long journey north to Alexandria began. According to Jim, the project went well until they reached Ras Banas. At this point the prevailing winds whipped up the sea from the north and the hull was caught in a wave, causing the towage to break. The stern section drifted off until it foundered and sank.

The ship in question was the Atlas, and it seemed from Jim's account and the RC Craggs plate, that we had at last identified the half-wreck. However, more evidence was to come to light. Firstly, after Jim Devlyn's death I was given access to his diary, which stated that the foundering took place 'as we neared Ras Banas' not as they 'reached it' as Jim had initially told me. Subsequent dives on the wreck discovered another manufacturer's plate, this one with a yard number and the inscription 'John Dickinson Ltd 1912'. This new evidence led to more research at the Tyne & Wear archives and the Guildhall library, and finally we were able to identify the half wreck as being that of the SS Turbo.

 

SS Turbo
Built in Sunderland on the Wear in 1912 by JD Laing for the Anglo Saxon Petroleum Co, this 4,900 ton, 122m (374ft) long ship was fitted for carrying liquid fuel. Records reveal that her three-cylinder triple expansion engine was built by Dickinsons, with fittings by RC Craggs of Hartlepool.

On 20 August 1941 she was attacked by German aircraft while en route from Haifa to Alexandria with a cargo of 7,500 tons of fuel. She arrived at Port Said on 21 August with her 42 crew and ten gunners. After discharging her cargo and making the damage good, her armament was removed from the aft shelter deck and she left Suez on 1 April 1942 bound for Aden. Towed by the Gladys Moller (sister ship of the Rosalie Moller) she headed south she was going to be used as a fuel-storage hulk.

On 4 April, as they neared Ras Banas (their reported position puts them approximately 15 miles to the north of the Ras Banas headland), the ship broke in to two presumably from the damage she had sustained in the bombing and was cast adrift due to heavy weather. The forepart of the ship was deliberately sunk as it was deemed a danger to shipping, and the afterpart, 'presumed to have foundered', drifted towards shore.

Today the hull lies at 28m on a sandy bed, close to the reef face on its port side. The starboard side lies at 18m, while the port side almost touches the sand. A raised walkway runs aft to the engine room and the crew's accommodation. The cross members are covered in corals and are home to a multitude of fish. The propeller can still be seen partially buried in the sand.

Judging from the intact fittings, handrails and portholes, few divers have been here before. The engine room is huge, easy to explore and in remarkable good condition. It is possible to explore three floors down into the heart of the ship gauges, valves, dials, gratings and handrails are all preserved. There are many rooms and a workshop, galley, weather deck and companionways to explore there are even oil cans and watering cans. Lifeboat davits, handrails and stairwells all provide great backdrops for underwater photographs.

The wide range of marine life includes large numbers of the rare pixie hawkfish. Although the visibility is less than stunning, the macro fish life and the wreck's intact shape are a great incentive to dive this ship more than once. Sadly, the aft mast, which used to reach up close to the surface, has been snapped in two.

 

 

Encrusted winch: Atlas Photo: Peter Collings

The Atlas
Having eliminated the Atlas from being the 'half-wreck', we set about locating the wreck of the Atlas itself. Referring back to Jim Devlyn's diaries, his notes stated that, 'The hulk was cast adrift as it began to founder as we neared Ras Banas', which he described as a 'sandy headland surrounded by coral reefs'. The diary continues, 'Our attempt to make Port Berenice to make repairs failed and the hulk was cast adrift until it grounded in a sandy bay, her engine house still above water.'

There is a further reference in Jim's diaries that the superstructure was subsequently removed to the waterline after the fuel oil was removed and that, 'the hull left totally flooded and deemed lost'.

A rough sketch in Jim's diary showed us the rough area in which the hull sank in 12m of water in a sandy bay within the restricted area of the Port Berinice.

The initial brief dives we have made have shown that the hull is complete with a central walkway, and pipes running the length of the hull to the break. Valves and other deck fittings still in place. The superstructure has gone and what was not salvaged seems to have fallen into the engine room. There is evidence of debris buried in the sand and the visibility seems very reduced, due mainly to the lack of coral and presence of sand.

The shallow sections of the walkway, with its vertical supports and cross beams are covered in sponges and sea squirts as opposed to corals, again presumably due the amount of sand and are home to a vast number of shoaling fish and many rays were seen on the surrounding sea bed.

It seems an incredible story two very similar vessels built on nearby British rivers 30 miles and three years apart, destined to become casualties of war and for their stern sections to end up only five miles apart in the Egyptian Red Sea strange things do indeed happen at sea!

I intend to return to the wreck of the Atlas to place a memorial to a remarkable man Jim Devlyn, salvage diver extraordinaire!