Ralph Bagnold was a world-renowned Sahara explorer and geologist. 1939 - Major Bagnold's ship carrying him from England to Kenya collides with another ship near Alexandria, Egypt. While stuck there, Bagnold arranges to meet with General Wavell in Cairo and the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) is essentially formed. The LRDG pioneered desert recon and navigation and provided invaluable intelligence information during the War in North Africa. They also provided considerable transportation, navigation, and rescue support for the SAS in it's earliest days. The LRDG saved the SAS's bacon several times on their first very shaky missions.
No ships colliding in the night.... Maybe no LRDG or SAS