Last voyage
She set sail on her fourth and final voyage from
Glasgow on 2 June 1941, destined for
Alexandria,
Egypt. The vessel’s cargo included:
Bedford trucks,
Universal Carrier armoured vehicles,
Norton 16H and
BSA motorcycles,
Bren guns, cases of ammunition, and
0.303 rifles as well as radio equipment,
Wellington boots, aircraft parts, railway wagons
[3] and two
LMS Stanier Class 8F steam locomotives.
[4] These steam locomotives and their associated coal and water tenders were carried as deck cargo and were for the Egyptian Railways. The rest of the cargo was for the Allied forces in Egypt. At the time the
Thistlegorm sailed from Glasgow in June, this was the
Western Desert Force, which in September 1941 became part of the newly formed
Eighth Army. The crew of the ship, under Captain William Ellis, were supplemented by 9 naval personnel to man the machine gun and the anti-aircraft gun.