Carnatic
Also known as: Carnatic Wreck, The Wine Wreck, Abu Nuhas, Abu Nahas
The oldest and most beautiful of the Abu Nuhas wrecks — a P&O steam-and-sail ship wrecked in 1869. More than 150 years of coral has turned her elegant skeleton into a living reef draped in soft corals and glassfish.
- Max depth
- 27 m
- Visibility
- 25 m
- Current
- moderate
- Difficulty
- advanced
- Boat time
- 110 min
- Suitable for
- advanced
A Victorian shipwreck reborn as reef
The Carnatic was a P&O passenger and cargo steamer — an elegant iron-framed ship that also carried sail — bound for Bombay when she ran onto Abu Nuhas reef in September 1869. She held together for over a day before breaking and sinking, and legend says she went down carrying gold, copper and a cargo of wine, earning her the nickname the "Wine Wreck". More than 150 years underwater have transformed her. The wooden decking is long gone, leaving a graceful skeleton of iron ribs now thickly upholstered in soft corals. Swimming through the open framework, lit by shafts of sunlight and filled with glassfish, is one of the most atmospheric dives in the northern Red Sea.
Site highlights
- A genuine 19th-century shipwreck (sunk 1869)
- Graceful wooden-era hull ribs encrusted in soft coral
- Open, airy structure that's beautiful to swim through
- Dense clouds of glassfish inside the framework
- Known as the 'Wine Wreck' for its lost cargo of bottles
- •Sits at 18–27 m — Advanced certification required
- •Fragile historic structure — careful buoyancy essential
- •Moderate current on the exposed reef
- •Penetration of the delicate framework only with a guide
Gallery
Trips that visit Carnatic
Day-trips and packages where this site is on the itinerary.
Abu Nuhas Wreck Trip
A full day on the Red Sea's 'ship graveyard'. Two dives on the wrecks of Abu Nuhas reef — typically the photogenic Giannis D and the 1869 Carnatic 'Wine Wreck'. A wreck-lover's day out for certified divers, an hour and a half north of Hurghada.
SS Thistlegorm Overnight Safari
The Thistlegorm done properly. Two days and one night on the boat, combining the Abu Nuhas wrecks with three or four dives on the SS Thistlegorm — including the quiet early-morning dives before the day boats arrive. The premium wreck experience for certified divers.
Nearby dive sites
El Mina Wreck
A 70 m Egyptian minesweeper sunk during the 1967 war, lying on her port side at 32 m. The most dramatic and accessible wreck in the Hurghada area — and a highlight of any Advanced Open Water course.
Giannis D
The most photogenic of the four Abu Nuhas wrecks — a Greek cargo ship that struck the reef in 1983 and broke into three. Her dramatically tilted stern, with engine room and mast, is one of the Red Sea's best wreck dives.
SS Thistlegorm
The most famous wreck in the Red Sea — a British WWII armed merchant ship sunk in 1941, her holds still packed with motorcycles, trucks, rifles and railway locomotives. A bucket-list dive in the Strait of Gubal.