Alfred
Holt was a trained railway engineer who brought his boiler and steam
engine expertise to the sea when he and his brother Philip founded
the Ocean Steamship Company. Alfred designed and built
ships that were equally as fast and capacious as other vessels afloat,
but fitted them with his own design of engine that was far more economical
on fuel. Ultimately Holt ships would earn the nickname of the
China Boats as they were able to make the trip from Britain to China
without coaling.
In 1887 the Ulysses was under the command of Captain Bremner, experienced
and capable skipper though remarkably he had never been through the
Red Sea. She loaded a mixed cargo in London in the late summer
and Captain Bremner took her on an uneventful passage through the Mediterranean
and the Suez Canal, then out into the open Red Sea..
In the early hours of 16th August 1887 Ulysses struck Gubal Seghir,
a large island well above sea-level and not very far at all from the
Ashrafi lighthouse they must have seen when they steamed past minutes
before.
An initial inspection of the ship was hopeful. Little real damage
seemed to have been done and the pumps were more than keeping pace
with the water entering the hull. Knowing this was a busy sea-route
Captain Bremner decided to wait for assistance from a passing steamer. Before
dawn the British registered steamer Kerbela duly appeared and her master
was asked to make speed to Suez and send help.
For three days the crew of the Ulysses worked to keep their ship afloat
and were confident she could simply be towed off once the cargo had
been offloaded and her hull lightened.
On 20th August HMS Falcon appeared, along with a pair of salvage barges. The
weather had already changed, the wind was rising and the swell was
getting bigger, so work immediately began to transfer cargo from Ulysses
to the barges. The crews of both ships and barges worked together to
speed the process, until the swell became so big it threatened the
ability of the barges to ride them and they had to be moved into the
shelter of Bluff Point for safety.
The work of transferring the cargo didn’t stop, though now it
needed to be manhandled across the reef top and out to the waiting
barges.
After nearly a fortnight of relentless grinding on the edge of the
reef Ulysses’ back broke. As the stern of the Ulysses went
down she began to slide off the reef and was abandoned to sink, though
her bowsprit remained out of the water for some time. Despite
the arduous working conditions both barges had been crammed with cargo
and space had to be found on the deck of the Navy vessel for more.
Ulysses is less often dived than she deserves, in part because of the
current which can run strongly down the reef. This can be dealt
with simply by entering the water on the correct side of the wreck
to allow you to drift with it as you descend, and once on the wreck
you’ll be sheltered.
The deepest part of the wreck is the stern in 28m. Her rudder
is hard over, as though the helmsman had spun the wheel hard to avoid
a collision with the reef, and her single prop is clearly visible.
Swim around her stern and the open lattice-work of iron from which
she was built comes immediately into view, sloping up the reef, along
with an enamelled bathtub sitting on the seabed Her propshaft is clearly
visible in the hull near the stern and the iron frames from which she
was built are very clear.
The aftermost half of Ulysses remains intact, running up the
reef slope toward the surface and canted over to lie on her port side
until you reach her engine. Everything forward of there is broken
and flattened.
You don’t need to penetrate the hull to see the wreck, but be
careful if you do, she’s totally encrusted in life. When
you’re forced out of the wreck just behind the engine block continue
up until you’re effectively on the reef and turn to finish your
dive drifting with the current. The RIB will be waiting to pick
you up when you surface.
If you dive Ulysses in July she turns purple where the Sergeant Majors
lay their eggs, at other time of year you’ll simply see the wreck
through a shifting cloud of these stripy little fish.
