The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) of Australia has solved a century-old mystery, locating the wreckage of the steamship SS Nemesis. In July 1904, the SS Nemesis was transporting coal from Newcastle to Melbourne when it went missing in a violent storm somewhere off the New South Wales coast. Over the next few weeks, debris from the ship and several bodies of crewmembers washed up on Cronulla Beach.
The last sighting of the ship was just off the coast of Wollongong, by the crew of another ship caught in the storm. But the oceans are big, and for over a century, the location of the 73-meter-long (240-foot) ship was not found.
Then, in 2022, remote sensor company Subsea Professional Marine Services was searching for cargo containers lost off the coast of Sydney and spotted the wreckage 26 kilometers (16 miles) from the shore.
Since then, Heritage New South Wales petitioned CSIRO to take a closer look at the wreck. First, the team mapped the seafloor using advanced multibeam echosounders, before inspecting it closer by dropping cameras down to the wreckage.
The team has now confirmed that the wreck is the SS Nemesis.
“The wreck is located towards the edge of the continental shelf and is sitting upright on the seafloor but is showing significant damage and deterioration at both the bow and stern,” CSIRO hydrographic surveyor Phil Vandenbossche explained in a press release. “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.”
Videos taken of the wreck will now be stitched together to create a 3D model of the SS Nemesis in its current condition, helping to investigate it further. Those with potential family connections to the 32 crewmembers who died during the shipwreck have been urged to contact Heritage New South Wales (NSW).
“The wreck is one of many thousands of shipwrecks that lie along the Australian coastline, with many still to be found,” Senior Maritime Archaeologist with Heritage NSW, Dr Brad Duncan, added. “This discovery and confirmation of the wreck’s identity not only provides significant archaeological information about the ship and wrecking event but, more importantly, may offer some solace to the families and friends of those who perished onboard as it provides a location at which they can mourn their loved ones.”
Source Link: SS Nemesis: Ship Lost Over A Century Ago Found On Edge Of Continental Shelf
