Rosalie Moller

A zodiac drop and a stern-tied line into water that is unmistakably greener and dimmer than the rest of the Red Sea. The wreck appears below first as shadow, then as a 108-metre hull resolving in the gloom. Deck plates meet you at 30-35m. Most teams work the stern first, past the steering gear at 35m where the rudder is locked hard to starboard and the lifeboat davits remain swung out.

Forward of the stern, the crew galley still has its pots and pans concreted to the walls above the stove. Every surface swarms with glassfish, and lionfish drift through the schools hunting them. The route slips between holds three and four into the engineer's accommodation, then exits on the port side in front of the toppled funnel. The bridge beyond is stripped bare; bell, telegraphs, compass, binnacle gone. The captain's safe sits forced open on the floor.

The forward holds are open. Inside, 4,680 tons of Welsh coal sit in place, the cargo that never reached Alexandria. Plan twenty to twenty-five minutes at 30-35m on Nitrox 28 and start the ascent with more than 80 bar. The forward mast is the climb home, from 17m to a 5m safety stop.

The Rosalie Moller fills a specific niche: a deep, intact, history-rich wreck without the Thistlegorm's liveaboard congestion. The Welsh coal cargo is still in place, a tangible link to the war supply chain she was killed running. The structure is uncommonly preserved, with galley fittings concreted to walls, all portholes intact, and the engineer's accommodation still navigable. The marine life is, in Ned Middleton's word, prolific: jacks and tuna feed at first light, lionfish hunt the glassfish curtains all day, and larger groupers come out in the evening.

She is also the moodier of the pair. Lower visibility than the rest of the Red Sea and the depth combine to give the dive a distinctive, somber tone that experienced wreck divers single out. Most of the original artefacts have long since been removed, but the structure itself is the artefact now, encrusted in living coral and dense with fish life. This is the wreck divers come back for after they have done Thistlegorm.

Built in 1910 by Barclay Curle in Glasgow as the Francis for the Booth Line, she was sold in 1931 to the Lancashire-based Moller Line and renamed Rosalie Moller. War service requisitioned her as a collier under Captain James Byrne, an Australian master mariner. In July 1941 she loaded 4,680 tons of Best Welsh coal for Alexandria, ordered to sail independently via South Africa. She was assigned to Safe Anchorage H in the Gulf of Suez to await canal clearance.

German intelligence had reported a large troopship transiting the canal. Heinkel He 111s of II/KG26 from Crete sank the Thistlegorm at Safe Anchorage F at 0130 on 6 October. Forty-eight hours later two more Heinkels reached the Rosalie Moller. Captain Byrne, woken by the engines, stepped onto the bridge and shook his fist at them. One of the bombs struck No 3 hold at 0045 on 8 October. She sank an hour later. Two crew were lost.

The funnel stood for nearly sixty years until early 2001, when looters tied a rope to the copper steam whistle and pulled it over. Ned Middleton and Captain Mohammed Hassan documented the modern rediscovery in December 1998.

Bottom time is the constraint. The deck sits at 30-39m and NDL shrinks fast even on Nitrox 28. EAN28's 40m MOD is marginal for the deeper stern. Plan gas conservatively. Buoyancy management is critical: the 2020 fatality on this wreck involved a diver who lost a weight pocket at 20m and could not arrest her descent to the seabed. Run a proper weight check before every deep wreck dive.

Visibility runs 10-20m and silt inside the wreck reduces it further. Bring a torch even on the open structure. The Strait of Gubal can throw anything from negligible current to strong, so check conditions and use the lines that the operator sets. Deploy your SMB during the safety stop because the RIBs are picking up multiple teams across the wreck.

Engine room penetration is the dive's hardest layer. Confined, silty, and at 40m+, it has killed improperly trained divers. The holds and bridge are accessible to wreck-trained divers. The engine room belongs to wreck specialists with redundant gas, primary and backup torches, and a line reel.