Dunraven (ship)
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The Dunraven was a British cargo ship that ran aground on a coral reef in the northern Red Sea near the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula on April 22, 1876 , caught fire, later sank and is now a popular diving destination .
History of the ship
The 85 m long and 10 m wide freighter Dunraven was launched in 1873 in Newcastle, England at the Mitchell Iron Shipbuilders shipyard . The ship with a steel hull and wooden decks had a steam engine and auxiliary sails with two masts and schooner rigging . The Dunraven has changed hands thirteen times in three years. On her last trip she was on her way from Bombay ( India ) to Newcastle with a load of cotton , wood and spices , when she hit the reef Sha'ab Mahmoud at full speed on April 22, 1876. A navigational error by the master was later blamed for the accident. The ship caught fire after the impact. The crew was able to save some of the cargo and equipment before the Dunraven was abandoned. About twelve hours after she ran aground, she sank stern first. The crew managed to save themselves.
The wreck
The wreck of the Dunraven was discovered in 1977 during a geological expedition and from 1978 onwards it was approached by diving boats from Sharm El-Sheikh . The identity of the wreck remained uncertain for a long time. a. there was speculation that it was a ship carrying gold for T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia). The first clues about the age of the ship, from which its identification ultimately resulted, were found in the wreck of mineral water bottles that could be assigned to a manufacturer that existed until 1880.
The Dunraven lies with the keel up on the reef, the deepest point at about 29 m is the stern, while the tip of the keel rises to 18 m. The bow has broken off, but is still in association with the rest of the ship. The most striking point of the wreck is the rudder with the propeller, which has a dense vegetation of corals (stone and leather corals). From the stern on the left side are the two bent masts and other remains of the superstructure. Numerous holes and cracks allow you to penetrate the interior of the fuselage largely without risk, in which u. a. the remains of the steam engine can be found. The blue light falling through these holes from the outside gives very nice impressions. Due to its long time on the seabed, the Dunraven has a strong vegetation of stone, leather and soft corals and is a biotope with a great diversity of species. The animals that can be found inside the hull include glassfish , lionfish and groupers .
Due to the moderate depth, the wreck is also suitable for beginners. Possible risks arise from the sometimes strong currents in this area. In addition, there is a rather narrow passage inside the ship next to the steam boiler through protruding parts, which is easy to bump into.
The coordinates are 27 ° 42 '15 " N , 34 ° 7' 30" O .
literature
- Claus-Peter Stoll, Udo Kefrig, Christian Mietz: Wreck diving. The most beautiful wrecks in the Red Sea. Augsburg 1999, pp. 22-27.
- Andrea Ghisotti, Vincenzo Paolillo, Roberto Rinaldi, Kurt Amsler, Massimo Bicciato: Wrecks in the Red Sea. Diving guide, Luxor 1996, pp. 28-45.