In the official history of the Albyn Line, a Mr. Harry Bansall recalls his own experiences on the ship. Being well connected within the Company, he had asked to go to sea and was soon offered a berth as fifth engineer in the brand new ship at the age of just 18. Unfortunately, however, apart from the official photograph of her launching, there appears to be no pictures of the Thistlegorm from her days afloat.

Despite her designation as an "Armed Freighter" with an additional armoured Gun Deck built over the aft section, an overall shortage of weapons, meant that only an old 4·7" gun and a heavy caliber machine gun - both of WW1 vintage, were all that could be spared for the Thistlegorm. Her maiden voyage was to the USA to collect steel rails and aircraft, her second voyage was to South America for grain and her third was to the West Indies from where she returned with sugar and rum.

It was during the second trip that the Captain decided on some mid-ocean gunnery practice. The traversing mechanism of the 4·7" gun was badly worn and had been replaced with a manual mechanism which meant that a second person had to push the barrel around by hand as it was being fired! After the first shot, the second round jammed in the breech. Such misfires are always dangerous - because an attempt to fire the round has been made and it can, therefore, now explode at any time. A long rope was, therefore tied to the firing mechanism and this led away to a shelter behind the aft mast house. The resultant flash engulfed the entire stern of the ship - with the projectile managing a whole 50m before dropping into the sea. Thus, ended all gunnery practice.

The Thistlegorm now returned to the Clyde where she was laid up for two months for repairs to her boilers before being assigned her final cargo.

In May 1941, the Thistlegorm was in her home port of Glasgow loading supplies essential for the 8 th Army and the relief of Tobruk. Though described on the manifest as "MT" (Motor Transport), this - probably deliberate, non-description hid a wide array of Land Mines, Shells, Ammunition, Weapons, Bedford Trucks, Armoured Cars, Bren-Carriers, BSA Motorcycles, Trailers, Vehicle spares, Aircraft and Aircraft parts, Radios, Rubber thigh-boots - and a great deal more besides.

To save cargo space, the Motorcycles were placed onto the back of the Bedford trucks - three at a time before loading. Finally, being a commercial company, the Albyn Line also took the opportunity to deliver two sets of rolling stock to Egyptian Railways - each comprising an 0-6-0 Railway Engine, one Tender and one Water Carrier - all six items being carried as deck cargo.

Because of her classification as an "Armed Freighter" the Skipper - Captain William Ellis, had an additional team of nine Royal Navy personnel on board to man these guns. Thus it was that on 2nd June 1941 Captain Ellis ordered the mooring lines slipped before easing his ship out of Glasgow. Sailing independently down the west coast of the British Mainland, the Thistlegorm made good time to her secret rendezvous off the south coast of England. Here she joined a large convoy and, being Armed, was assigned a prominent position by the Convoy Commodore.

With Axis Forces occupying almost the entire northern Mediterranean coastline, the safest route to Alexandria was via South Africa - a lengthy detour. After re-fuelling in Cape town, they were joined by HMS Carlisle - a Light Cruiser of 4,190 tons. The Convoy then proceeded up the east coast of Africa before finally entering the Red Sea.

By the time they arrived at the entrance to the Gulf of Suez it was the third week in September and the Thistlegorm was immediately assigned "Safe Anchorage F" to await further instructions. The Master let out the starboard anchor and some 250m of chain and was satisfied that all was well. This was "good holding ground" and, at long last, the main engines were closed down. All they could do now was "wait for clearance" to proceed through to Alexandria.

Getting through the Canal was dependent on several factors - enemy aircraft activity over the Canal, cargo priority and how long other vessels had been waiting. At this time, however, two vessels had collided further up the Gulf of Suez and were virtually blocking the entire entrance to the Canal. This led to the "Thistlegorm" - with her valuable cargo, remaining at anchor for a full two weeks.

Up until now these "Safe Anchorages" - each with its own letter of the alphabet, were regarded as exactly that, Safe! There were no enemy ships and enemy aircraft rarely ventured this far south. This was, however, all about to change when German Intelligence received information that a large troopship (possibly the Queen Mary) was due to travel through the Suez Canal with 1200 British Troops destined for North Africa.

Having mastered the relatively new skill of night flying, Heinkel He 111’s from II/Kg26 (No 2 Squadron 26 th Kamp Geswader) based in Crete were alerted to the possible presence of such a large vessel. Their task was to seek and destroy. At 2250 hours on 5th October 1941 two twin-engine Heinkels crossed the north Egyptian coast heading southeast in search of this prize.

Aided by a clear moonlit night, they searched in vain for the big ship until fuel levels became critical. Then, just as they were on the point of returning home empty handed, one of the pilots spotted a ship at anchor. Turning away in order to put his aircraft in the best possible attacking position, the pilot turned again as he continued to lose altitude. He came in low over the sea and, as he approached the bows of the Thistlegorm, he released two bombs right over her bridge.

Both bombs penetrated No 5 hold - aft of the bridge, detonating a great deal of ammunition. The resultant explosion sent the two locomotives spiraling into the air as the ship was ripped open like a huge tin can. Even to this day, the rear decks are peeled back towards the Bridge leaving many a Diver wondering what exactly he is looking at. Some accounts have even described this as "Armour Plating!"

The vessel began to sink and the crew quickly abandoned ship - with hardly any time to launch the lifeboats, most of them leapt straight into the sea. One injured man, however, was trapped on the blazing deck and desperately needed help. Crewman Angus McLeay wrapped some rags around his bare feet and ran across the hot steel plates to rescue him - an action for which McLeay was awarded the George Medal and Lloyd’s War Medal for Bravery at Sea.