Descending as soon as we are clear of the boat, I can see some scraps of wreckage on the reef at 15 metres. Other than damage from the wreck, the reef is in fantastic condition, terrace upon terrace of pristine table corals follow the gentle slope into the distance. If it weren't for the attraction of the wreck I would be happy just admiring the reef.
As it is we follow the wreckage uphill and the stern of the wreck soon comes into view, twisted towards us on its starboard side. Looking up, the port railing almost breaks the surface.
My buddy and I duck round the back of the stern. The propeller and rudder are still in place. Rudder amidships.
Only a little further forward the wreck breaks up leaving a canted diesel engine exposed above a field of flattened plates and girders, sparsely peppered with winches, masts and bollards. Sprigs of table coral have become established on the wreckage, some now a respectable size.
The port side of the wreck is closest to the reef. As we work our way forwards I can see how the Kormoran cut a angled blow into the reef. The damage to the reef is only a metre or so deep at the stern, but at the bows it is a good 3 metres deep, leaving the top of the reef level with the tip of the bows.
On the outside of the bow the name “Kormoran” is easily visible, a label that has caused some confusion as the ship was renamed Zingara in 1976. I have even seen a report that confuses this small freighter with a multi-thousand tonne bulk carrier of the same name that also went down in the Red Sea. Nevertheless, the wreck was introduced to me as the Kormoran, local divers refer to it as the Kormoran, and that is how I will continue.
The Kormoran was built in the then East Germany in 1963. A small 1580 ton freighter with 2 holds forward of an engine and bridge at the stern. Designed to operate in the Baltic winter, the Kormoran had ice breaking bows.
The strength and angle of the bows no doubt explains why they are still intact and have cut so far into the reef. Meanwhile damage from the wrecking has been exploited by the waves to flatten everything between the bows and the stern.
The wrecking of the Kormoran remains unexplained. The Straits of Tiran are a busy shipping channel, there are charted shipping lanes with a separation zone about the Tiran reefs. The south going lane is to the west of the reefs and the north going lane to the east of the reefs.
In August 1984 the Kormoran drove into the reef at full speed, heading southward from Aquaba with a cargo of phosphate. In order to hit Laguna Reef it must have crossed the opposing lane.
The ship wasn’t that old and it is hard to imagine an insurance job being this far off course, there are many opportunities to drive into a reef much closer to the correct shipping lane.
I guess it was just a navigational error. Maybe the helmsman was asleep, or maybe the navigator got his conversions from grid to magnetic mixed up.
Coral reefs are not actually a solid structure. As the living coral grows out from the reef it leaves behind a honeycomb structure that slowly fills with sand and debris, compacting over time to form solid rock.
The Kormoran cut into the reef at a slight angle, crushing a trench into the loosely packed table corals. Maybe the helmsman saw the reef at the last minute and was turning hard to starboard. Although the rudder is amidships, it could have just fallen to that line as the wreck settled to its starboard side.
The damage to the reef is surprisingly localised, a nice clean cut into the reef. Maybe we are lucky that the Kormoran was an immediate total loss. If it had been salvageable I suspect there would have been considerable additional damage to the reef from attempts to drag it clear.