DICTIONARY OF EGYPTIAN SHIPWRECKS- Q
DICTIONARY OF EGYPTIAN SHIPWRECKS- Q
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M.V. QTMOS 1, OCEAN GOING ANCHOR HANDLING TUG
MO number7218709 Name of the ship QTMOS 1
Type of ship OFFSHORE SUPPLY SHIP/OCEAN GOING ANCHOR HANDLING TUG
Gross tonnage 865 tons DWT1086 tons
Dimensions 52.76 m long, 12.5 beam,draught 3.6 mtrs
Year built ;1972
Builder;VAN DER GIESSEN DE NOORD – ALBLASSERDAM, NETHERLANDS
Flag GEORGIA Home port BATUMI
Manager & owner QUEEN TOWER MARINE & OIL SERVICES – ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT
Former names
OIL SUPPLIER until 1984
MANTARRAYA until 1990 Oct
TONY BAY until 1995 Jan
SEA FORCE until 2005 Dec
Twin screws directional props, in Kort nozzles, Jastrom 300hp bow thruster forward superstructure ,long work deck, two fire suppression cannons. Huge Norwich 3 TON anchor winches.
Circumstance of loss.
During a safari in June 2016 (26th) I stood on the bridge with the captain of SEAKING, discussing the next location after Ras Garhib. We both noticed a tug, at anchor beginning to list over, at first thinking she was just swaying in the surge as the wind increased. We watched in amazement as she continued to list over to starboard and then slowly sink beneath the waves. We approached her slowly not wanting to alert our guests ans while we drifted over her took her position on GPS.I opted not to dive her in case she was unstable, and would be returning with a good group of divers in a couple of weeks. We could only grasp the last letters MOS 1 , and captain offered COSMOS as her name. I had witnessed yet another sinking in Egyptian waters The interim period would allow me to get the right research in place before I returned with the group. I couldn’t wait!
From the initial dive it would seem that the vessel was at anchor for some time (marine growth on hull) and there are several repair patches on a the very porous hull
She sank at her moorings 26 th june 2016
Discovery
Peter Collings took Coventry BSAC back to the wreck site October 12th and made the initial dive to check its stability
The wreck today
The wreck lies in 17 mtrs of water on her starboard side of Ras Gharib in the Gulf of Suez.
The hull below the water line is a living reef covered in an huge array of soft corals. Her propellers are covered too, suggesting the havn’t been used in a long while. The hull is porous and had many temporary patches along its length. Twin rudders sit aft of the directional props (Kort nozzles).The vivid colours make for a great photo subject.
The long work deck has lost much of its wooden planking, and two fire suppression cannons stand guard aft of her forward superstructure. The bridge was found to be totally intact, down to telephones, chairs and paper work! Her comms mast and navigation lamps are still in situ, the DF antenea and compass binnacle(made by Henry Browne & Sons, Barking) stand firm on the navigation deck. A unique and stunning site. All evidence that once again the author was the first to dive her.The intactness is remarkable, and while she was a young wreck when these images were taken, she is not on the tourist route, so hopefully they will remain in situ.
Forward of the bridge a short fo’c’le houses her own anchor winch. The aft superstructure houses a huge powerful Norwich winch.
The marine life is quite remarkable, most notable are the huge and numerous Arabian Angel Fish,Arabian. Angel fish patrol the long work deck
Fire suppression cannons sit aft of the superstructure, the red paint still evident
The bridge is totally intact! On the initial dive every item of working life was evident-right down to the radar, comms, paperwork .The upper hull is very shallow given the vessels beam of 12.5 mtrs,so within 5 mrs of the surface. No deco problems a great 3rd dive with the bonus of calm water and superb marine life. The one puzzling thing though is her name, QTM seem an odd configuration and don’t have any Arabic connection.
S.S. QUARINGTON COURT
A 6900 TON STEAMSHIP built by the Northumberland Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. For the United British Steamship Co. ,The Court Line of London. She was 420 ft long, 57 ft beam and fitted with a triple expansion engine built by Wallsend Slipway engineering Co. She had a speed of 12 knots and a compliment of 34 crew
Her final voyage was from Calcutta, departing on the 16th November 1937 with a 10,000cargo of jute gunnies and manganese ore, bound for Baltimore.On the morning of December 7th,about 12 miles south east of Shadwan Island the main injection inlet pipe was b found to be leaking. The engineers et about repairing the leak which was developing into a large crack. The main inlet valve itself had jammed open and could not be closed. By now a heavy flow of water was leading into the engine room and both watertight doors, either side of the engine room were sealed. In response to an SOS sent at 09.27, a mailer the President Doumer took the Quarrington Court in tow, but after an hour the bits and fairlead of the mailer broke and the captain refused to remake the tow. The water was now flooding the holds and the machinery space was completely flooded. At 5pm (1700hrs) an Italian vessel the Grangepark arrived, and with rising sea and wind the crew abandoned the Quarrington Court which then began to founder by the stern, finally sinking at 11pm (2300hrs)
H.M.S QUEEN ELIZABETH
A Queen Elizabeth class battleship, sister ship to Valiant and Barham. Built at the Portsmouth dockyard launched in 1913. 463 ft long, 32700 tons displacement and a compliment of 1124. She had a range of 4400 miles and her turbines could deliver 80,000 hp through 4 shafts giving her a speed of 24 knots. Her armament consisted of eight 15”, twenty 4.5 A.A guns numerous 40mm and 20mm A.A.guns
During WW1 she saw \action at the Battle of Jutland. She was modernised twice and operated with the home fleet at the outbreak of war, moving into the Mediterranean during 1941, based in Alexandria. During March 1941 she was involved in the Battle of Matapan
While based in Alexandria she was attacked and badly damaged by Italian charioteers –midget submarines. The next day she was again attacked by the Italian submarine SCIRE, using 3 manned torpedoes attacking the HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH and the tanker SAGONE. The crews of the manned torpedoes were captured but the resulting explosions sank the battle ships , damaged the tanker and the destroyer HMS JARVIS, which was refuelling alongside.
Despite severe damage to her bottom plates she was able to sustain a substantial fire power and engaged in attacks of German aircraft as Rommel advanced towards El Alamien. She was later taken to America where she was repaired.
