Mystery of UK shipwreck is solved 140 years after bodies of crew who used mattresses to plug holes in vessel washed up
'NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK' Mystery of UK shipwreck is solved 140 years after bodies of crew who used mattresses to plug holes in vessel washed up
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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 mattresses when it sunk in 1888.
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The ship sank in 1888
Credit: Jam Press/Rick Ayrton
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Divers at the wreck of the SS Nantes
Credit: Jam Press/Rick Ayrton
The wreckage of the SS Nantes, has been discovered, having sunk 137 years ago - killing almost everyone onboard.
The boat tragically collided with a German 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 Plymouth, in the early hours of the morning.
Diver Dominic Robinson discovered the wreckage of the SS Nantes last week, 246 feet below sea level.
The 50-year-old former Army Officer found a plate with the Cunard Steamship Company logo, belonging to the forgotten vessel.
This enabled him to work out that the wreck he had found was that of the SS Nantes.
Dominic and his crew then carefully examined the site of the wreck, and discovered old crockery 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 sunk,' said Dominic.
'It was on a passage from Liverpool to La Havre, when it was sunk in France carrying cargo of coal.
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'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 satellite navigation.
"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 crewmen 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 plate 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 sunk.
'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 identify 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 broken plate 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 clue.'
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A plate with the Cunard Steamship Company logo that was discovered on the wreck
Credit: Jam Press/Rick Ayrton
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Dominic Robinson is an experienced diver
Credit: Jam Press/Rick Ayrton
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The moment a plate with the Cunard Steamship Company logo was discovered on the wreck
Credit: Jam Press/Rick Ayrton
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Dominic went with a full boat crew and dive team
Credit: Jam Press/Rick Ayrton
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That is because this bomb falls in a valley, and the sides contain some of its spread. Just outside the vaporisation zone, British prisoner of war Geoffrey Sherring is trying to light a cigarette when 'a very, very brilliant and powerful light' fills the sky, 'completely eclipsing the sun'. He will later recall: 'It was the colour of a welding flash, a blue, mostly ultraviolet flash.' Geoffrey then feels the 'thundering, rolling, shaking' of the bomb's shockwave. This brings down a wall in the camp, which crushes fellow prisoner Corporal Ronald Shaw. The 25-year-old, from Edmonton, North London, is the first British person to be killed in an atomic bombing. 11.06am: Bockscar's crew decides to head to the US air base at Okinawa because they do not have enough fuel to reach Tinian. 11.30am: Japan's Supreme War Council is in the middle of a meeting in Tokyo to discuss a possible conditional surrender when a messenger arrives with news of the Nagasaki blast. 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He says his 'sacred decision' is to surrender, on the condition that he is allowed to remain as head of state. The news is cabled to the US, which rejects the terms and demands unconditional surrender. WEDS, AUGUST 15 Noon (Japan time): Japanese radio broadcasts a pre-recorded speech by Emperor Hirohito, announcing unconditional surrender — the first broadcast by any Japanese emperor. In the UK, this will for ever be known as VJ — Victory over Japan — Day. SUNDAY, SEPT 2 9.04am (Japan time): World War Two formally ends when Japanese officials sign the surrender treaty aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Additional reporting: Eleanor Sprawson 9 US President Harry Truman approved the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 Credit: Getty
