Wreck Discovery Report

Following an intensive search for new wrecks in the Phuket area over the past few weeks, an expedition team from Deep Blue Divers, Joerg Zebisch, Barry Manners und Sven Roesler, located and dived today, the 24.10.06, on an approximately 130 metre long freighter lying at a depth of 90 metres.
The initial impressions gained from the dive suggest that it is probably a cargo freighter equipped with two loading cranes dating from the 1970’s. The condition of the ship is extraordinarily good and there is no evidence of coral or vegetation growth. The freighter lies on its starboard side with the bow pointing in a south-easterly direction.
During today’s dive we had generally very good visibility varying from 30 to 40 metres. Below the thermocline at 50 metres we encountered a very strong southerly current. The water temperature was 19°C. Above the thermocline we had perfect conditions for the decompression with no current and 28°C water temperature.

LATEST NEWS
Cargo ship wreck identified off the coast of Phuket

March 19th 2008

Identity of “Sun Shine 1″confirmed.
In today’s answer to our request to Lloyds of London we got further information regarding the “Sun Shine 1”.
It is confirmed that the ship sank approximately 18 miles west of Phuket on 25/7/95 in heavy weather.

The transmitted documents showed, that the ship was actually built in the Neptune Shipyard, Rostock, eastern Germany in March 1966. Here first name was Bukhtarma The engine builder was “VEB Dieselmotorenwerke, Rostock”. We have already contacted the shipyard and asked for further information, pictures and construction documents.

Many thanks to Lloyds of London for the provided information

Andreas and Joerg, Deep Blue Divers

March 15th 2008

After several unsuccessful attempts, Jörg and Sepp U. finally succeeded in identifying the cargo ship during their tec-dive on 6th March as “Sun Shine 1”. The first research discovered that it was built in 1966 in the German Democratic Republic. The length of about 110m and the width of about 15m go along with our estimations during the last dives there. With a size of 4500 tonnes it is the biggest wreck so far discovered in the seas off Phuket.

We still don’t know any detailed circumstances of the sinking, as we only founded little information in the web. Therefore we are grateful for any advices and further information concerning the ship. We hope to discover the secrets in the very near future and we will let you know, what we find out.

Joerg and Andreas, Deep Blue Divers Phuket

It is the seventh wreck discovered by Deep Blue in the past 5 years, and it probably won’t be the last!