Norton was the primary motorcycle supplier to the British Military during WWII, almost 100,000 of the Norton 16H Model were built for service. Due to the relatively high ground clearance and solid reliability the Norton, it was favored for despatch work, it was also used for training, reconnaissance, convoy control and escort duties.
The Norton 16H simply means “Home”, the Nortons that were built for service overseas with the Australian, New Zealand, Indian and the Canadian Armies were denoted with a “C” for “colonies”.
The SS Thistlegorm was part of a convoy of 16 ships heading to Alexandria resupplying the British 8th Army at Tobruk. The convoy was halted at Sha’ab Ali (Safe Anchorage F) because a tanker had run into a German mine at the entrance to the Suez canal, and the convoy had to wait until the wreckage was cleared. The Thistlegorm was sunk during a surprise attack by a pair of Heinkel He-111 bombers dispatched from Crete. The German bombers were originally ordered to search for, and sink, the RMS Queen Mary.
Most of the cargo remained on board following a long period of disinterest. Until Dr. Adel Taher, the founder of Sharm’s Hyperbaric Medical Centre, ‘rediscovered’ the wreck in the early 1990s with three friends and dived it in secret for a few years.
Today the ship is one of the most famous wreck dives in the world, a virtual museum showcasing motorcycles, jeeps, weaponry, locomotives, and more.
Then growth of sport diving took off in the Red Sea and Sharm El Sheikh became a popular scuba diving destination. The depth of the wreck is around 100 feet and makes it ideal for diving without the need for specialized equipment and training, but dive operators didn’t practice social distancing and word spread as the location became the most popular scuba diving and tourist destination in Egypt and the Red Sea. Now there are severe issues with preserving artifacts and the history of the ship wreck.
Then growth of sport diving took off in the Red Sea and Sharm El Sheikh became a popular scuba diving destination. The depth of the wreck is around 100 feet and makes it ideal for diving without the need for specialized equipment and training, but dive operators didn’t practice social distancing and word spread as the location became the most popular scuba diving and tourist destination in Egypt and the Red Sea. Now there are severe issues with preserving artifacts and the history of the ship wreck.
No doubt the aquarium display was inspired by the Norton M16s that found their watery grave, when the ship they were in was sunk by German bombers early in WW2. (https://nwhog.wordpress.com/2020/03/29/1940-era-norton-and-bsa-motorcycles-79-years-later/)
ReplyDeleteCheck the great images here: https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/motorcycles-of-thistlegorm-shipwreck
the source states that this is a Norton 16, so, I'll just bet it's one from that wreck. No doubt in my mind. Thanks for the link! I'll add info from that article to this post! Much appreciated!
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