Current:Home > StocksShipwreck found over a century after bodies of crewmembers washed ashore: "120-year-old mystery" solved-LoTradeCoin
Shipwreck found over a century after bodies of crewmembers washed ashore: "120-year-old mystery" solved
View Date:2024-12-23 22:56:05
In July 1904, the steamship SS Nemesis was transporting coal to Melbourne, Australia, when it ran into a powerful storm and vanished. All 32 people on board were considered lost, and in the weeks that followed, the bodies of crewmembers and debris from the iron-hulled ship washed ashore, but the location of the 240-foot vessel remained a mystery.
Until now.
The ship has finally been identified more than a century later. It was initially spotted when a company searching for sunken shipping containers came across the wreck by accident, the New South Wales Ministry of Environment and Heritage announced this weekend.
"The 120-year-old mystery of SS Nemesis and the 32 crew members lost at sea has been solved," government officials declared in a news release.
In 2022, a remote sensing company called Subsea Professional Marine was trying to find cargo boxes lost off the coast of Sydney when it came across the shipwreck by chance, officials said. The vessel, which could not be officially identified at the time, was about 16 miles offshore and 525 feet underwater.
Government officials suspected the wreck might be the doomed SS Nemesis but it wasn't officially confirmed until September 2023 when CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, was able to capture underwater imagery that definitively showed the distinctive features of the steamship.
The CSIRO research vessel, RV Investigator, used advanced multibeam echosounders to map the wreck site and underwater cameras to obtain high-resolution images of the vessel. They showed the severely damaged vessel resting upright on a sand plain.
"Our visual inspection of the wreck using the drop camera showed some key structures were still intact and identifiable, including two of the ship's anchors lying on the seafloor," Phil Vandenbossche, a CSIRO hydrographic surveyor on board the voyage, said in a statement.
After an up-close survey of the shipwreck, officials also pinpointed what likely happened to the vessel. They determined that when the SS Nemesis was hit by large wave off the coast of Wollongong, the engine was overwhelmed and the ship "sank too quickly for life boats to be deployed."
Government officials say they are now committed to finding family members of the Australian, British and Canadian crewmembers who went down with the 1,393-ton ship. About half of the crew on the British-built ship were from the U.K., including the captain, Alex Lusher, chief mate, T.A. Renaut, and second mate, W.D. Stein, officials said.
"Around 40 children lost their parents in this wreck and I hope this discovery brings closure to families and friends connected to the ship who have never known its fate," said NSW Minister for Environment and Heritage Penny Sharpe.
The video imagery collected by CSIRO will now be "stitched together" to create a 3D model of the wreck for further investigation, officials said.
"The loss of Nemesis has been described as one of Sydney's most enduring maritime mysteries and has even been described by shipwreck researchers as the 'holy grail,'" Sharpe said. "Thanks to collaborative work with CSIRO and Subsea, using modern technology and historical records, Heritage NSW has been able to write the final chapter of SS Nemesis' story."
The announcement of the wreck's discovery comes just month after researchers found the wreck of the MV Blythe Star, a coastal freighter that sank half a century ago off the coast of Australia. The 10 crewmembers on board escaped from the ship before it sank, but three died before rescuers found the crew two weeks after the sinking.
Only about half of the more than 200 shipwrecks off the New South Wales coast have been located, officials said.
- In:
- Shipwreck
- Australia
Stephen Smith is a senior editor for CBSNews.com.
veryGood! (954)
Related
- Fire crews on both US coasts battle wildfires, 1 dead; Veterans Day ceremony postponed
- Industrial robot crushes worker to death as he checks whether it was working properly
- Mavericks to play tournament game on regular floor. Production issues delayed the new court
- Judge in Trump documents case declines to delay trial for now
- Nicole Scherzinger receives support from 'The View' hosts after election post controversy
- How Rachel Bilson Deals With the Criticism About Her NSFW Confessions
- Thousands of veterans face foreclosure and it's not their fault. The VA could help
- Colorado star Shedeur Sanders is nation's most-sacked QB. Painkillers may be his best blockers.
- Wendi McLendon-Covey talks NBC sitcom 'St. Denis Medical' and hospital humor
- Somber bugles and bells mark Armistice Day around the globe as wars drown out peace messages
Ranking
- Cleveland Browns’ Hakeem Adeniji Shares Stillbirth of Baby Boy Days Before Due Date
- Why Spain’s acting leader is offering a politically explosive amnesty for Catalan separatists
- Walmart's Early Black Friday Deals Almost Seem Too Good To Be True
- Tensions running high at New England campuses over protests around Israel-Hamas war
- Jamie Lee Curtis and Don Lemon quit X, formerly Twitter: 'Time for me to leave'
- How researchers, farmers and brewers want to safeguard beer against climate change
- What the Melting of Antarctic Ice Shelves Means for the Planet
- Matt Ulrich, former Super Bowl champ, dead at age 41
Recommendation
-
Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Good Try (Freestyle)
-
North Carolina Democrat says he won’t seek reelection, cites frustrations with GOP legislature
-
What Britney Spears' book taught me about resilience and self love
-
Remains of infant found at Massachusetts recycling center for second time this year
-
The Office's Kate Flannery Defends John Krasinski's Sexiest Man Alive Win
-
Kansas City to hire 2 overdose investigators in face of rising fentanyl deaths
-
LeBron James scores 32 points, Lakers rally to beat Suns 122-119 to snap 3-game skid
-
SpaceX launches its 29th cargo flight to the International Space Station