Rosalie Moller

SS Rosalie Moller, with a cargo of British coals, was sunk in exactly the same way as the Thistlegorm, but only 2 days later. She had done a similar voyage, rounding South Africa, to get to the Red Sea. In fact, the planes that spotted the Thistlegorm, reported more valuable targets when returning from their raid, one of them being the Rosalie Moller. There were 2 casualties.
Size: 108m x 15m
Built 1910 in Glasgow
Depth: 50m max (deck around 40m)

Her faith

In August 1941 the Rosalie Moller was assigned to deliver a cargo of coal to Alexandria via that long voyage around the tip of Africa. Steaming independently under the command of Captain James Byrne, the ship made her way south and arrived in Durban, South Africa in early September. Departing Durban on the 11th of September she headed north along the east coast of Africa, stopping at Aden en route to Suez.
The ship arrived at the lower end of the Gulf of Suez on 06 October and was directed to moor at Safe Anchorage “H” to await her turn to head north to transit the Suez Canal.The “Safe” Anchorages, up until this date, had been considered safe because enemy aircraft had not been able to venture this far south from airbases located in the northern Mediterranean. However, the Germans had just mastered the art of night flying and on 06 October a squadron on Heinkel 111 bombers from No. 2 Squadron 26th Kamp Geswader based out of Crete discovered these “Safe Anchorages” and conducted a bombing run which sank the Thistlegorm which was anchored at Safe Anchorage “F”.

The Rosalie Moller remained at Safe Anchorage “H” for two more days when, shortly after midnight, the Heinkels returned for another attack.

From Captain Byrne’s Report:
“Two bombs released, one striking No 3 Hold at 0045 hrs. Vessel sank 0140 hrs 8 October 1941, two Crew missing.”

As the ship was sinking, the captain and crew took to the ship’s lifeboats and were able to abandon the ship with 2 lives lost. The ship then settled to the bottom at postition 27.39.03N/33.46.17E located to the west of Gobal Sheghir. (source)

The dive

A dive for experienced divers. If you are on a liveaboard nearby and have inexperienced divers with you, then the dive guides will definitely not suggest the wreck. And if you ask about it, they will answer “No, because of weather…”.

During the dive you should keep an eye on your no-decompression time, otherwise there will be an unpleasant surprise when you surface. We had double tanks with us for the dive and a stage just for decompression.

The Rosalie Moller lies on an even keel on the seabed, her bow is about 40 meters deep. Both masts have now collapsed and lie over the port side. Much of the deck equipment is still there, as are handrails and ladders. The ship’s smokestack is broken and lying on one side, complete with the Moller Line emblem on it. The bridge is easy to penetrate, although the rudder and equipment have long since been removed.