By Ellie Duncombe
Eerie footage shows the remains of an armed British cargo ship that was sunk by the Nazis in World War Two.
The Merchant Navy ship SS Thistlegorm now lies in a ‘ship graveyard’ off the coast of Ras Mohammed, Egypt, approximately 50 miles from the popular tourist destination of Sharm El-Sheik.
She was built in Sunderland and launched in April 1940.
A little over a year later, she set sail for Alexandria, Egypt, carrying Bedford trucks, Universal Carrier armoured vehicles, Norton 16H and BSA motorcycles, Bren guns and cases of ammunition to support Britain’s fight against General Rommel’s forces in Africa.
However, once she reached Egypt, she was located alongside other cargo ships by Luftwaffe bombers.
They struck the rear of the ship, where ammunition was stored, causing the ship to explode and sink.
However, the footage shows that many of the vehicles remained intact and lie undisturbed at the bottom of the Gulf of Suez.
As the diver approaches the ship, surrounded by schools of fish, looms out of the water.
Its rusted hull is covered in sea life and algae, with other parts of the wreck buried in the sand.
In one eerie shot, an almost completely intact jeep is spotted resting on the seabed with its tire tread still visible.
Other vehicles long-lost under the seas include barnacle encrusted motorcycles.
The scale of the wreck appears huge, spreading far underneath and beyond the divers as they descend towards it and pick their way through.
The video was shot by Russian scuba diver Vital Bazarov on May 24.