A coal transport ship that disappeared without a trace in 1904 with its 32 crew members, including a Canadian, was found accidentally by underwater explorers, the Australian government reported on Monday.
“The vessel remained intact in place, approximately 26 km offshore and approximately 160 meters underwater,” the New South Wales government said in a statement reported by The Independent.
Descendants of the 32 crew members of the SS Nemesis from England, Australia and Canada will finally be able to get answers 120 years after the ship disappeared in a storm off the coast of Australia, we can read in the press release.
The ship carrying coal had left Newcastle harbor on 9 July 1904 and was en route to Melbourne when it was reportedly seen by another ship in distress off the coast of Wollongong.
The tragedy attracted widespread media attention at the time, but the 73 meter long ship was never found after some bodies and wreckage confirmed its fate by washing up on Cronulla beach.
In 2022, a team of divers from Subsea Professional Marine Services encountered the wreckage at the bottom of the water while trying to find the remains of a container ship.
“It was challenging to identify it because it was so far offshore, in deep, fast-moving water. Additional underwater images […] “provided the necessary evidence to confirm the special characteristics of the ship,” continued the Australian state, which now hopes to locate the victims’ relatives.