n the case of the ATLAS I was not looking for her. She was not listed as being in the Egyptian Red Sea, and therefore not on my list of "Most Wanted" and although I had records of her, she had Oficially sank of the Yemen after being hit by a torpedo from the Gujlielmotti an Italian submarine operating out of Massawa in September 1940.
The crew of Lady M had stumbled across the aft section of a centre island tanker near Ras Banas but had failed to find her fore section, even after extensive searches. I spent many hours on the wreck and a great deal of evidence was found. This was a large vessel around 4000 tons. I estimated that she had either been torpedoed or mined as I had seen many similar vessels like this literally cut in two .

As I had no direct access to my research contacts while on location I was at first puzzled by the wreck. The only other vessel that could match the wreck was the SCALARIA, but she was some hundreds of miles to the north. We had located and identified her some time ago.

So not for the first time did I have a mystery wreck to keep me guessing. Subsequent dives, deep into her heart revealed her DNA, her fingerprints, the undeniable facts as to her identity, although I could not confirm it at the time. A manufacturers plate, with works number and yard details inscribed "R. Craggs & Sons 1909" was located deep down in her engine room. Other serial numbers too would be cross-referenced.
I had once been fooled by some boiler serial numbers with a wreck off the north east coast; these numbers lead back to a ship, which had been scrapped! It turned out the boilers had been re fitted into another vessel!
The name of Graggs seemed to be familiar; I had a niggling feeling that they were a shipyard "local" to me i.e. in the north east of England. A great asset in cases like this. Many more clues were recorded to be further cross referenced upon my return to England.
Two Plus Two = Seven!
Being in such an enviable position does attract criticism. When details of the Atlas were published in a British publication a self-proclaimed "expert" stated that this could not be correct. He had read about it in a book! and relying only on "Official" reports barked up the wrong tree. He further went on to state incorrectly that the wreck I had found was only 556 tons and wrongly identified it as the Adamantia K all this without even diving the wreck! Sadly in an example of very poor journalism the magazine printed his Major errors.
He was not the only one to get it totally wrong. In a German publication the wreck was wrongly identified at the Hadia. It is obvious again that the writer had not done his homework. It is very clear that the Atlas is a steamship, while the Hadia is a diesel vessel!
So how does a vessel, reported to have sunk off the Yemen end up in Egyptian waters, hundreds of miles away? The answer is really quite simple and not uncommon. As in the case of wrecks such as the Nyon off St Abbs Head and Yorkshire, Pedenalis in Aruba and the Inverlane of Sunderland and Scapa Flow, the Atlas was partly salvaged.
Masawa although rendered inoperable when the Italians surrendered, was due to the stalwart efforts of Commander Edward Ellsberg, returned back to a working port and dock. With war materials and vessels at a premium, any vessel salvable was saved. He even raised such vessels as the Gera, Frauenfels and Intent and restored them to working order.
The salving or the aft section of the Altas was facilitated by the usual damage caused when a tanker breaks her back at one of the main bulkheads. In this case just aft of the centre island. The aft section was then towed north towards Alexandria where she was to have a new fore section fitted- a cheap way to build a ship as her engines, stern accommodation and prop where salvable.
The headland of Ras Banas is an unkind body of water. Strong northerly winds produce big seas and strong swells. The aft section of the Altas broke her tow and was swept away, foundering where she lies now, and wrecked for the second time again without loss of life. Fortunately for divers she is in a far more accessible position than her "Official" one.
This is of course only one example of how easy it is to make the wrong assumptions about the identity of a wreck.
It must have been very easy to assume the Tile Wreck at Abu Nuhas in the straits of Gobul, Red Sea, was one and the same with a set of bows sitting on top of the reef with the name "Chrisoula K" painted on her hull. Hundred of visitors failed to notice the bows were still on the tile wreck! She had sunk some years earlier, has a totally different funnel and engines, and even opposite anchors are down (and up) on both bows. Only catamarans have two bows Ned! More fodder for our armchair experts to make more MAJOR blunders!
Dis-information is further perpetuated when practical jokes fool writers who do not follow up on their research. For many years the Sara H was listed, as a wreck. I had no evidence that such a wreck existed until I met Sara H in the flesh a full blooded dive master who’s husband had played a practical joke on a writer back in the eighties. At last the wreck of the Kingston was identified but the name SARA H is still wrongly quoted to this day.
But it’s all in a days work for a wreck detective. The truth is always out there it’s just a matter of being in the right place at the right time and knowing where and what to look for. That cannot be done from an armchair!

Peter Collings