Wreckage of the SS Thistlegorm in the Red Sea

© Alex Mustard/Minden Pictures

Wreckage of the SS Thistlegorm in the Red Sea

On its fourth voyage, ostensibly from Glasgow, Scotland, to Alexandria, Egypt, the SS Thistlegorm sank in the Red Sea when German fighter planes bombed the armed British merchant ship on October 6, 1941. The craft and most of its cargo—including the trucks seen here—rest off the coast of Egypt, not far from the Ras Muhammed National Park. Four sailors and five members of the Royal Navy gun crew died as a result of the attack. A decade later, renowned marine explorer Jacques Cousteau found the wreckage and eventually the site became a popular scuba diving spot.