A SHIPWRECK mystery has been solved after divers uncovered a vessel which sunk nearly 140 years ago.
Crew on board the SS Nantes made desperate attempts to plug the ship’s holes with when it sunk in 1888.
The wreckage of the SS Nantes, has been discovered, having sunk 137 years ago - killing almost everyone onboard.
The boat tragically collided with a sailing vessel, the Theodor Ruger, in November 1888, as reported by NeedToKnow.
Only two people survived, with two people jumping to safety on the Ruger, and one person who stayed on the Nantes trying to keep it afloat.
The Nantes sank approximately ten hours after the collision, this took place off the coast of , in the early hours of the morning.
Diver Dominic Robinson discovered the of the SS Nantes last week, 246 feet below sea level.
The 50-year-old former Officer found a plate with the Company logo, belonging to the forgotten vessel.
This enabled him to work out that the he had found was that of the SS .
Dominic and his then carefully examined the site of the , and discovered old which was key in identifying the wreck.
He said: “The Nantes was built in 1874, in Glasgow, and very sadly lasted a mere 14 years before it was ,”; said Dominic.
“It was on a passage from to , when it was sunk in carrying cargo of coal.
“It’s quite a sad story.”;
After the ship went down, it became lost until Dominic and his team discovered it.
Dominic, who has been an underwater explorer for around 35 years, first caught wind of the unidentified shipwreck from the UK Hydrographic Office .
Maritime Historian Dr Harry Bennett, who works at the institute, explained why the wreck has taken well over a century to find: “Obviously you’re dealing in a period with no .
“While the crew tried to save the ship it drifted for several hours, before it finally made its way to the bottom, sadly with many of its on board”;.
Dominic added: “The wreck was lost until a local dive team identified it in 2024.
“We got the size of the wreck from the information on the UK Hydrographic Office.
“We knew the boat is about 78 or 79 metres long.
“We also knew that there was a Cunard from it - which was basically what we’re looking for.
“So what you do is you try to find a list of all the Cunard ships that were .
“You then try and narrow them down to, to a relatively small one, and an old one.
“We obviously know where it sank, so if you can find information about the sinking and the wreck that aligns all those things up, then it’s fairly straightforward to it.”;
The Cunard plate which Dominic found was crucial in the ship’s identification.
He said: “Even though the wreck had been dived before, it was never identified and this small piece of allowed us to do exactly that.
“The more eagle eyed amongst you may already have noticed the logo from the famous Cunard shipping line.
“And not surprisingly, this is what gave us the most significant .”;
