Rosalie Moller

Two nights after the Thistlegorm was bombed, the same air campaign found the Rosalie Moller waiting at anchor near Gubal Island with a cargo of Welsh coal, and put her on the bottom on 8 October 1941; two of her crew died. She sits upright in darker, greener water than her famous contemporary, deck around 35 meters, masts reaching up toward 20, and the depth has protected her: railings, winches, ladders, and lamps survive in a completeness the shallower wrecks lost long ago. Glassfish stream through the accommodation, big trevally and the odd tuna hunt the edges of visibility, and the atmosphere - quiet, dim, heavy with intact detail - stays with people. This is a serious dive with a short bottom time; nitrox or trimix turns it from a glimpse into a visit.

Il momento che aspettavi: Intact deck furniture and fittings; the atmospheric gloom of a deep upright freighter; hunting trevally along the hull.

Topografia: Upright coal freighter on mud and sand at about 50 meters, deck in the mid-30s

Corrente: Tide runs along the hull and the descent is a committed one - hand-over-hand on the line is normal.

Entrata: In the lee of Gubal Island; dived from liveaboards and long-range day boats on fixed lines, usually as the first dive of the day.

Pericoli: Depth and short no-deco windows; current on the lines; low ambient light; penetration is for trained teams only.

Conservazione: Her completeness is the point - a wartime loss with lives taken, protected by depth. Leave every fitting in place.

Nitrox: Vale la pena qui: i profili rientrano nell'intervallo in cui l'aria arricchita (nitrox) prolunga in modo significativo il tempo di non-decompressione (con la formazione necessaria per utilizzarla).