Wreckage of Steamer Ship Identified 120 Years After It Went Missing

The remains of a 240-foot steamship have been identified 120 years after it missing with 32 crew members on board, the New South Wales (NSW) government announced in a press release.

The SS Nemesis disappeared during an intense storm in July 1904 as it was transporting coal from Newcastle to Melbourne, Australia. In the weeks after the accident, bodies of crew members and other detritus from the ship washed ashore; however, the ship itself wasn’t located until 2022.

Solving a 120-year-old maritime mystery. ?

Our team aboard #RVInvestigator has helped Heritage NSW solve a 120-year mystery with the discovery of the SS Nemesis, a 73-metre iron-hulled steamship that was lost at sea in 1904.

Unravel the mystery: https://t.co/VVtJ0cr0Di pic.twitter.com/BEdCoNylMT

— CSIRO (@CSIRO) February 26, 2024

The wreck was discovered by Subsea Professional Marine Services, who were conducting an unrelated search for cargo boxes lost off of Sydney’s coast. Heritage NSW experts, who had spent years exploring the ocean floor looking for the wreck, had a feeling it was the Nemesis. However, it took until last September to positively identify the wreckage because of the deep, rough waters where it lay, about 16 miles offshore and 525 feet below the surface.

The country’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) was able to capture high-quality underwater imagery of the wreck, proving that it was indeed the Nemesis. “Using RV Investigator’s advanced multibeam echosounders, we were able to create a high-resolution map of the entire wreck and measure key dimensions to aid in its identification,” CSIRO Voyage Manager Jason Fazey said in a statement.

The photos show the sunken ship resting on a large sand bar with damage to its bow and stern. It’s believed that high waves during the storm overwhelmed the ship’s engines, bringing the steamer underwater so quickly that there was no time to deploy its lifeboats.

The search for sunken shipping containers unexpectedly solved the mystery of the SS Nemesis, a steamship that sunk in 1904. pic.twitter.com/x4SASouNa5

— Newsweek (@Newsweek) February 26, 2024

“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,’” NSW Minister for Environment and Heritage Penny 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,” she commended. “I hope this discovery brings closure to families and friends connected to the ship who have never known its fate.”

You can watch CSIRO’s entire (three-hour) exploration of the SS Nemesis below.