Abu Nuhas & Gubal Strait · Egypt · Wreck
Rosalie Moller
The Thistlegorm's sister ship, upright and intact below 30 m
Photo: RoyalAce · CC BY-SA 4.0
A 108 m coal steamer and a sister ship of the Thistlegorm, bombed by the Luftwaffe in the Gubal Strait on 7 October 1941 and sitting virtually intact and upright on the sand. Her masts reach up to 18 m, but the ship herself runs from 30 m down to a seabed at 50 m or more, which makes this a deep, dim dive with 10 to 20 m of visibility.
Also known as SS Rosalie Moller.
Where it is and how deep
27.6508° N, 33.7714° EPublished position for this site.
Site maps published elsewhere
The dive
The wreck stands upright on a sandy seabed with her masts reaching up to 18 m, and that is where the dive starts: down the line to the mast tops, then along the rigging and onto the ship. From there everything is deep. The structure sits at around 30 m and the hull runs down to 50 m, with the sand at 55 m by some accounts, so bottom time is short and the plan matters more than the route.
Visibility runs between 10 and 20 m and drops further once silt is stirred, so the ship arrives in sections rather than all at once. The current is normally gentle, which is what makes a wreck at this depth divable at all, though the strait does not always cooperate. She is virtually intact, and at 108 m end to end a single dive covers one part of the ship rather than the whole of her.
For a site this deep she holds a lot of fish. Barracuda, tuna, jacks and trevally hold in the water around the structure, reef sharks pass through, and glassfish, lionfish and groupers occupy the shadowed parts of the hull. Ascents run back up the shot or the masts, which gives a fixed reference for a long stop, and the mast tops at 18 m are the shallowest structure and the natural place to spend it.
The wreck
- Vessel
- SS Rosalie Moller
- Type
- Cargo steamer
- Length
- 108 m (354 ft)
- Built
- 1910
- Sunk
- 1941
- Cause
- Bombed by Luftwaffe aircraft, struck on the starboard side
- Lies
- Upright and virtually intact on the sand, masts reaching to 18 m
The Rosalie Moller was built in 1910 by Barclay Curle & Co. in Glasgow, a 108 m cargo steamer transporting coal and a sister ship of the Thistlegorm. She was in the Gubal Strait when Luftwaffe bombers found her on 7 October 1941; the bombs struck her starboard side and she sank with the loss of two crew members. She has lain virtually intact and upright on the seabed ever since, between 30 m and 50 m.
Marine life and season
- Barracuda
- Tuna
- Trevally & jacks
- Reef sharks
- Groupers
- Reef fish swarms
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair |
Season follows Abu Nuhas & Gubal Strait: Diving is year-round; Apr–Jun and Sep–Nov give the calmest seas, and winter northerlies can make the exposed north reef unworkable.
Know before you go
- The seabed lies at 50 m or more and the ship sits below 30 m, so this is a decompression dive; gas, stops and turn pressures are settled before you splash, not on the wreck.
- Silt around and inside the hull cuts the usual 10 to 20 m of visibility to almost nothing; stay off the structure and keep the shot line or a mast in sight.
- The current is normally gentle but the Gubal Strait can run hard; check the surface conditions before committing to a dive this deep and this long.
Dive videos
Rosalie Moller · Balkysub Diving Operations | Cursos de Buceo PADI on YouTube
Rosalie Moller engine room diving · bulek shots on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How deep is the Rosalie Moller?+
The masts reach up to 18 m, but the ship herself lies between 30 m and 50 m, and one source puts the sand at 55 m. Everything except the mast tops is below recreational depth.
Do you need technical training for the Rosalie Moller?+
Deep training and a decompression plan, yes. The wreck starts below 30 m and continues to 50 m or more, so it is dived by experienced divers with staged gas rather than on a standard recreational profile.
Sources
- Rosalie Moller Wreck Dive Site — Divezone
- Rosalie Moller — Wrecks at Risk
Photo credits
- Coral-encrusted propeller and stern of the Rosalie Moller wreck in deep blue water. by RoyalAce, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Labeled hand-drawn diagram of the SS Rosalie Moller wreck showing holds, engine room, bridge and seabed depth. by RoyalAce, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
In The Logbook
- Deep wreck diving: where recreational stopsWrecks · 8 min read
- How a dive computer calculates no-stop timeBody & health · 10 min read
- Air, nitrox or trimix: which gas, and when?Gear & kit · 15 min read
- WWII wrecks you can dive, by theatreWrecks · 7 min read
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Wreck
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