I have been back from Egypt almost a week now and work has prevented me from uploading any new pictures, a situation I hope to change later today. We didn’t actually stay in Sharm but in a resort called Nabq a few miles North East of the Airport. The hotel was not beachside but from a few places within the complex you could see the sea and across the Straits Of Tiran and Gulf of Aqaba to Saudi Arabia which was clearly visible most days although this did depend upon sand being blown in from the desert which did obscure the view at times.
The Gulf is located to the East of the Egyptian Sinai Peninsular and Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan as well as Egypt all have coastlines at various points along its length. It also reaches a maximum depth of 1,850m making it much deeper than the Gulf of Suez. The Northern end of the Gulf seems to have been well occupied in ancient times by numerous civilizations particularly the Egyptians and Nabateans, the Romans also built a major road in this area connecting to the existing trade routes already in existence. Historically I imagine that the Gulf was well used by ancient seafarers and I’m sure that there are quite a number of ancient shipwrecks buried in the sands amongst the numerous reefs.
One of the most prominent visible modern wrecks is that of Louilla a 2479GT motor bulk carrier which began life as the Antonina. She was built at Öresundvarvet A/B (Yard No. 121), Landskrona, Sweden for Rederi A/B Poseidon, Stockholm, Sweden. She was launched in May 1952 and completed on July 1952 and had a length of 107 meters, beam of 14 meters, and draught of 8.49 meters Her diesel engines and single screw giving a reported top speed of 14.5 knots. In 1965 the ship was sold and renamed Zschopau, the ship was sold again in 1978 to the Blue Mediterranean Shipping Company but on 29 September 1981, while sailing in ballast from Aqaba, Jordan to Suez, the Loullia ran aground on the Northern edge of Gordon Reef in the Straits of Tiran. The crew remained onboard and unsuccessfully attempted to refloat the ship. The ship was abandoned on 2 October 1981 and declared a total constructive loss. I was hoping to get a picture of what was left of Louilla but she was too far away from the beach closest to my resort.
At low tide from the end of one of the numerous piers extending into the sea I counted three other wrecks although some were nothing more than a few jagged pieces of steel sticking up out of the sea.
Ships seen whilst I was away and added to my ship list were the bulk carrier Deniz M (IMO 9353216), Container Ships Ever Utile (IMO 9188154) and Maersk Kalmar (IMO 9153862), Vehicles Carrier Heroic Leader (IMO 9441570) and the small cruise ship Minerva (IMO 9144196) which was sailing South down the Gulf presumably after a visit to Petra.
At the end of my holiday FS Georges Leygues (D640) a French Type F70 Anti-Submarine Frigate – (not sure why the prefix is D and not F) escorted Mistral Class Amphibious Assault Ship FS Tonnerre (L9014) past me on the beach, I have pictures of these which I intend to add to my site when I can.
The only other ship of note was an apparently unnamed Vydra Class Utility Landing Craft operated by the Eqyptian Navy with the pennant number 340. This was seen at the tourist port at Sharm with a number of Coastguard Vessels (Pennants P405 to 407), at the moment however I cant find any details of these vessels.
The Gulf is located to the East of the Egyptian Sinai Peninsular and Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan as well as Egypt all have coastlines at various points along its length. It also reaches a maximum depth of 1,850m making it much deeper than the Gulf of Suez. The Northern end of the Gulf seems to have been well occupied in ancient times by numerous civilizations particularly the Egyptians and Nabateans, the Romans also built a major road in this area connecting to the existing trade routes already in existence. Historically I imagine that the Gulf was well used by ancient seafarers and I’m sure that there are quite a number of ancient shipwrecks buried in the sands amongst the numerous reefs.
One of the most prominent visible modern wrecks is that of Louilla a 2479GT motor bulk carrier which began life as the Antonina. She was built at Öresundvarvet A/B (Yard No. 121), Landskrona, Sweden for Rederi A/B Poseidon, Stockholm, Sweden. She was launched in May 1952 and completed on July 1952 and had a length of 107 meters, beam of 14 meters, and draught of 8.49 meters Her diesel engines and single screw giving a reported top speed of 14.5 knots. In 1965 the ship was sold and renamed Zschopau, the ship was sold again in 1978 to the Blue Mediterranean Shipping Company but on 29 September 1981, while sailing in ballast from Aqaba, Jordan to Suez, the Loullia ran aground on the Northern edge of Gordon Reef in the Straits of Tiran. The crew remained onboard and unsuccessfully attempted to refloat the ship. The ship was abandoned on 2 October 1981 and declared a total constructive loss. I was hoping to get a picture of what was left of Louilla but she was too far away from the beach closest to my resort.
At low tide from the end of one of the numerous piers extending into the sea I counted three other wrecks although some were nothing more than a few jagged pieces of steel sticking up out of the sea.
Ships seen whilst I was away and added to my ship list were the bulk carrier Deniz M (IMO 9353216), Container Ships Ever Utile (IMO 9188154) and Maersk Kalmar (IMO 9153862), Vehicles Carrier Heroic Leader (IMO 9441570) and the small cruise ship Minerva (IMO 9144196) which was sailing South down the Gulf presumably after a visit to Petra.
At the end of my holiday FS Georges Leygues (D640) a French Type F70 Anti-Submarine Frigate – (not sure why the prefix is D and not F) escorted Mistral Class Amphibious Assault Ship FS Tonnerre (L9014) past me on the beach, I have pictures of these which I intend to add to my site when I can.
The only other ship of note was an apparently unnamed Vydra Class Utility Landing Craft operated by the Eqyptian Navy with the pennant number 340. This was seen at the tourist port at Sharm with a number of Coastguard Vessels (Pennants P405 to 407), at the moment however I cant find any details of these vessels.
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