The supply ship Sao Paulo went down in Vatlestraumen outside Bergen during the German invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940.

The 110-metre-long ship hit two mines laid by the Norwegian minelayer KNM Tyr the same morning, and disappeared into the depths in a few minutes around 8:30 pm.





Sao Paulo was loaded with war material and supplies for the German troops, including 21 motorcycles and 57 other vehicles.

– Sao Paulo is the cold water version of the Thistlegorm in the Red Sea, but it is almost untouched because it lies at a depth of 90 metres, Emil V. Hansen writes on YouTube.

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Sao Paulo is Norway's Thistlegorm

– I have pestered Emil several times about the video material. In the end I was allowed to edit the raw video from Sao Paulo, Rene B. Andersen writes on Facebook.

In the summer of 2019, a Danish dive team did eight dives on the wreck in two weeks. The result is this spectacular video:





Emil V. Hansen had eight hours of raw video from the dives, and Rene B. Andersen contributed still images he had shot of the wreck.

– It was a huge task, but also very enjoyable since the video material was of such high quality, writes Andersen.



He says the work took many hours, and points out how difficult it is to cut away scenes to ensure the final video is not too long.

In the end, there was nothing more to cut, and the 23 minutes you can see above was all that remained. Enjoy it on a big screen!