CNN
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The 19th century ship, which sank nearly 140 years ago, is “freezing over time” off the coast of the British coast.
When SS Nantes sank off Cornwall in November 1888, 23 crew members were killed, but the location of the wreck has remained a mystery until now.
The surprising discovery comes after deep-sea diver Dom Robinson found a piece of dish in a watery ruin.
Back on the land, 53-year-old Robinson saw a stamp called “Cunard Steamship Company” on the broken plate.
It turns out he and a team of fellow divers were exploring SS Nantes, according to Harry Bennett, a history professor and maritime expert at the University of Plymouth.
“Nantes is one of the known but long lost ships,” he told CNN on Friday.
The fateful day when the steamship was attacked by the German sailing ship Theodor Ruger was poor.
“It thrusts the side of Nantes and tears a huge hole in that side,” Bennett said. “For several hours, the crew tried to save the ship to fill the hole, including the mattress, using all sorts of materials.
The two boats were “temporarily locked” before sinking, Bennett said. The collision damaged Nantes’ lifeboat. This meant that the crew could not escape. Only three survived, including one man found at sea and two who jumped off the ship.
“Theodore Ruger will also go down, but her lifeboat is in better condition, so even if she loses a few crew members, most will be saved by running away on the lifeboat.
Sharing the story on his YouTube channel, Robinson told CNN that the shipwreck was found at a depth of 75 meters (246 feet) last fall on the English Channel 30 miles southeast of Plymouth.
“When you descend to the wreck, you look for what you might identify them,” Robinson said. “It was at the end of my dive and I was a little disappointed because I didn’t find anything.”
But then he saw the broken plate. It proved to be a “big clue to identifying the container,” he said. When Robinson jumped out of the site again earlier this year, the brand’s second plate was found in the logo.
Along with other details of the shipwreck, including builds and dimensions, the plates helped to verify the ship’s identity.
“Every wreck is a time capsule,” Bennett said.
“When that wreck falls, things are frozen in time, in the mud and in the surrounding area. The idea that we are seeing plates that our crew may have been eating last is very heartbreaking.
“We suddenly revisit the tragedy from 1888, recalling it coincides with such fears that tell us stories about life in the maritime world of the late 19th century.”
Part of the motivation for deep diving on a shipwreck is the detective work and the opportunity to explore the final frontier, Robinson said.
“For ordinary people like me, there is no place to explore. There is no more mountain left, and they have not been discovered.
“I’ve gotten a lot of buzz from it because in the UK, there are probably more shipwrecks around our coast than anywhere else in the world.