Zingara was a general cargo vessel that was shipwrecked in the Straits of Tiran

Straits of Tiran

The Straits of Tiran , are the narrow sea passages, about wide, between the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas which separate the Gulf of Aqaba from the Red Sea...

 in the Red Sea

Red Sea

The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...

 in 1984 and is now a recreational diving

Recreational diving

Recreational diving or sport diving is a type of diving that uses SCUBA equipment for the purpose of leisure and enjoyment. In some diving circles, the term "recreational diving" is used in contradistinction to "technical diving", a more demanding aspect of the sport which requires greater levels...

 site.

History

Kormoran was a general cargo vessel built in the Rostock

Rostock

Rostock -Early history:In the 11th century Polabian Slavs founded a settlement at the Warnow river called Roztoc ; the name Rostock is derived from that designation. The Danish king Valdemar I set the town aflame in 1161.Afterwards the place was settled by German traders...

 shipyards in 1963 in the former East Germany. She was 82.4 meters (270 feet) length and 12.7 meters (42 feet) width. In 1976 her name was changed to Adamastos, and in 1980, her new owner renamed her Zingara. She was powered by a 6-cylinder diesel engine

Diesel engine

A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...

 capable of giving her a top speed of 12 knots. The Zingara was owned and operated by Montemare di Navigazione S.P.A. and registered in Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

 at the time of her loss.

Loss

The Zingara sailed from the Jordanian port of Aqaba

Aqaba

Aqaba is a coastal city in the far south of Jordan, the capital of Aqaba Governorate at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba. Aqaba is strategically important to Jordan as it is the country's only seaport. Aqaba is best known today as a diving and beach resort, but industrial activity remains important...

 on August 21, 1984 with a cargo of phosphate

Phosphate

A phosphate, an inorganic chemical, is a salt of phosphoric acid. In organic chemistry, a phosphate, or organophosphate, is an ester of phosphoric acid. Organic phosphates are important in biochemistry and biogeochemistry or ecology. Inorganic phosphates are mined to obtain phosphorus for use in...

. The following day she hit the northern side of the Laguna Reef bordering Tiran Island

Tiran Island

Tiran is an Egyptian-administered island that belongs to Egypt and is being claimed by Saudi Arabia. It is located at the entrance of the Straits of Tiran, which separates the Red Sea from the Gulf of Aqaba. It has an area of about 80 km2...

. Either the captain decided to save time and wrongly sought to head south down the eastern channel against any oncoming traffic, and was piling on the speed in order to get through as quickly as possible, or he simply made an error in navigation. The impact was tremendous that she lost almost all of her bow.

Dive

A very small part of the top of the stern breaks the surface, thus acting as an ideal marker for the start of the dive. In every direction the diver is treated to a magnificent underwater terrain of hard corals at their finest and many of these are now firmly attached to various features of the wreck. The stern rests over on its port side at an angle of about 45 degrees. Large steel plates lie across the seabed and one pair of deck winches lies upside down with hard coral

Scleractinia

Scleractinia, also called stony corals, are exclusively marine animals; they are very similar to sea anemones but generate a hard skeleton. They first appeared in the Middle Triassic and replaced tabulate and rugose corals that went extinct at the end of the Permian...

having already become very firmly established.