Advanced Search

Share Coverage



Category: Navy / Sea Transport

USS Conestoga shipwreck discovered after 95 years

Thursday, 24 Mar 2016 15:07:16

The gun inside the shipwreck after its support platform had fallen through the main deck. (NOAA ONMS: Teledyne SeaBotix)

A US Navy tug missing since 1921 has been discovered sunk off San Francisco, solving one of the biggest mysteries in US naval history.

The wreck of the USS Conestoga was found near one of the Farallones Islands about 50 kilometres west of San Francisco, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Navy said in a statement.

"After nearly a century of ambiguity and a profound sense of loss, the Conestoga's disappearance no longer is a mystery," NOAA Deputy Administrator Manson Brown said.

The ocean-going tug left San Francisco on March 25, 1921, with 56 officers and sailors on board.

The sunken ship's steam engine, covered with marine growth. Photo: The 1000-horsepower triple-expansion steam engine inside the hull of USS Conestoga. (NOAA ONMS/Teledyne SeaBotix)

It was bound for American Samoa via Hawaii, but did not arrive as scheduled in Pearl Harbour.

The disappearance triggered an air and sea search and gripped newspapers across the US.

Two months later, a ship found a lifeboat with the letter 'C' on its bow off the Mexican coast.

In June 1921, the Navy declared Conestoga and its crew lost — it was the last Navy ship to be lost without a trace in peacetime, authorities said.

Unravelling the mystery began in 2009, when NOAA found an uncharted likely shipwreck in 57.6 metres of water about five kilometres off Southeast Farallon Island.

Infographic: USS Conestoga gunnery department posing with the tugboat's main battery in 1921, and the current position of the gun inside the shipwreck. (Historic photograph: US Naval History and Heritage Command NH 71510.
Underwater photograph: NOAA ONMS/Teledyne SeaBotix)

The agency began an investigation in September 2014 and the ship was identified in October 2015.

Weather logs show that around the time of the USS Conestoga's departure, the wind in San Francisco's Golden Gate area rose to 64 kmph and the seas were rough with high waves.

A garbled radio transmission from Conestoga relayed by a ship said the tug was "battling a storm and that the barge she was towing had been torn adrift by heavy seas."

Experts believe the ship sank as its crew tried to reach a protected cove amid stormy weather.

Last known photograph of Conestoga before it disappeared Photo: The last known broadside photograph taken likely during WWI. (US Naval History and Heritage Command NH )

Largely intact wreck, no human remains

Authorities said the wreck is on the seabed and largely intact, although the wooden deck and other features have collapsed due to corrosion and age.

The hull is draped with anemones and various species of marine life are present at the site.

Video collected by remote-controlled vehicles used to explore the wreckage revealed details consistent with the Conestoga, including the four-bladed propeller, steam engine and boilers, porthole locations, large towing winch with twisted wire on the drum and a 50-calibre gun mounted on the main deck.

No human remains were found but the wreckage is protected by a law prohibiting unauthorised disturbance of sunken military vessels and planes.

The sunken ship's stern is covered with white sea anemones. Photo: Stern view of the shipwreck USS Conestoga colonised with white plumose sea anemones contrasting the water column. (NOAA ONMS/Teledyne SeaBotix)

AFP/ Reuters

AustraliaPlus


 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend