The Thistlegorm story starts at the Yards of J. L. Thompson and sons at Sunderland, for the Albyn Line. It was here that the 4898 ton, 415ft, cargo ship was built in 1940. She was driven by a triple expansion stream engine, built by North East Marine Engineering, which could deliver some 1850 hp driving her along at a speed of 10 knots.
She was one of a number of “Thistle” ships owned and operated by the Albyn Line. Each vessel carried the emblem of Scotland, the thistle, which formed the prefix of each vessels name followed by a Gaelic word; Thistledhu,Thistlegorm, Thistleglen and Thistlenuir.
Soon after completion she was quickly requisitioned by the navy for allied WW2 duties and armed with the guns which she still carries today – world war one vintage guns in fact. By September of 1941 she had completed three successful voyages (America, Argentina and the Dutch Antilles). Her next however, was to be her last.
Steve Coren
Underwater Photography
Gallery
Solomon Islands
South Pacific
Gallery
Egyptian Red Sea
About
Steve began scuba diving in 1970 and became a certified PADI-YMCA scuba instructor in Massachusetts in 1976. He then became a member of the PADI scuba instructor institute where he participated as a instructor in instruction certification institutes. Steve was a Board Member of the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources from 1985 – 1989, which held agency hearings on permitting archaeological and economic excavations of sunken ships in Massachusetts waters.
Steve was employed part-time by the New England Aquarium between 1972 and 1989. Steve dove in the Giant Ocean Tank, a 23 foot deep tank where he fed the fish, sharks, barracuda, turtles and eels, cleaned the tank, tended to wounded animals, gave tours and helped rescue stranded mammals and turtles.