The Wreck of Million Hope

 

 

 

The site:    GPS 28 03.020N 034 26.400E

                      Nabq (7 miles North of Sharm el Sheikh)

                           Only partially underwater, the depth at the bows is 19m

                      Huge vertical crack is opening in the hull near the third crane as the wreck slowly breaks in half

                      Another older wreck of the Hey Daroma is broken up around the site

 

Specification:    Built 1972 in Japan & originally named Ryusei Maru

                             Displacement 26,000 tonnes - 175m x 25m

                             Five cargo holds with four large cranes

                             Two engines provided a max speed 17 knots

 

History:            Bought by Cypriot shipping company for £1.36m and renamed Million Hope in May 1996

                            Insured for £4.1m and set sail six weeks later on her final voyage from Aqaba 19th June 1996 bound for Taiwan with a cargo of potash & phosphates

                            20th June 1996 caught fire approaching the Straits of Tiran and rammed the reef