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| Edgar Bonnet:
The Edgar Bonnet was a tugboat of 841 tons built at Smit & Zoon Scheepswerven, Kinderdijk, Holland, Yard No. co253, for the Suez Canal Authority, Port Said. Launched 18 June 1953, she was 46.2 meters in length, 12 meters in beam, with 2 diesels and 2 propellers with provided 15 knots maximum speed.
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In 1956, the Edgar Bonnet was sunk as a block-ship in the Suez Canal at kilometer 74.2 prior to the commencement of hostilities during the Suez Crisis. The tugboat, which was supposedly laden with explosives, was one of approximately 40 ships which were scuttled in the canal in order to effectively close the canal.
Upon cessation of hostilites, a United Nations salvage team, under the command of Lieut. General Raymond A. Wheeler, began clearing the canal of the sunken ships. While the U.N. team were in charge of clearing the majority of the wrecks, responsibility for clearing the wreck of the Edgar Bonnet was given to the Egyptians, who indicated that the ship was rigged with explosives. It has been said that the Egyptian salvage team was dragging their feet in the removal of the explosives onboard and the wreck soon became known as the "Political Wreck" as it was one of the last wrecks to finally be removed from the canal. And this, only after the Egyptians finally acknowledged that there actually were no explosives onboard the wreck. The wreck was finally raised and removed on 27 March 1957. The tugboat Edgar Bonnet was repaired and renamed Antar in 1958. The ship's history after that is unknown..... |
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