A team of researchers has successfully identified the wreck of HMS Stephen Furness, a WWI armed steamer, off the coast of the Isle of Man. Sunk by a German U-boat in 1917, the vessel has remained an enduring mystery, with the wreck recently pinpointed as part of Bangor University's “Towards a National Collection” project.
The USS Stewart was deliberately sunk during a US Navy exercise in May 1946, with its final resting place now located in the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary off northern California. This information comes from a statement by the Air Sea Heritage Foundation and Search Inc., both of which participated in the investigation. The search was led by Ocean Infinity in collaboration with NOAA and the US Navy.
Le Lyonnais was built in 1855, at a time when ships were making the transition from sail to steam. Equipped with sails and a horizontal steam engine, it is an early example of a passenger liner with two mid-19th century innovations: a screw propeller and an iron hull.
It was in service carrying cabin-class passengers and cargo between New York and Le Havre, France, when on 2 November 1856, on its first return voyage from the Americas, it collided with the Maine-built barque Adriatic, which was sailing from Belfast, Maine, to Savannah, Georgia.
Update 14 Oct:
The long-standing rent dispute that hindered a Florida county’s efforts to convert the historic ship into the world’s largest artificial reef has now been resolved. The agreement to settle this dispute was announced on Friday. On Saturday, conservancy and county officials gathered at the Philadelphia pier, where the ship is docked, for a brief title transfer ceremony.
-- --
In 1625, Sweden’s King Gustav II Adolf ordered four ships—large regal ships—to crown the fleet. The four ships were Vasa, Äpplet, Scepter and Svärdet.
The Earl of Abergavenny was launched in 1796 in Northfleet, Kent and is rare as one of only 36 ships of 1460 tons that formed a special class of the Company’s merchant fleet. It was an early example of the changing technologies in ship building of the time, incorporating the use of iron in its construction.
The mosaics, featuring intricate geometric patterns and vibrant colours, are remarkably well-preserved. The find is considered part of a larger Roman villa or public building that was lost to the sea between the third and fifth centuries as underground magma chambers caused the surrounding terrain to fall.
The Arcadian, built initially as the RMS Ortona in 1899 and later converted into a troopship during World War I, was en route from Salonika to Alexandria, transporting soldiers and medical personnel, when it was attacked on 15 April, 1917 and sunk by the German U-boat SM UC-74, resulting in the tragic loss of 279 lives.
The Arcadian had just completed a boat drill when a single torpedo hit it between the bridge and the foremast and sank within six minutes. 1,058 people were rescued
The Margaret A. Muir was built in 1872 in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Constructed for Captain David Muir by the Hanson & Scove shipyard, the 130ft, three-masted schooner was designed primarily for the Great Lakes grain trade, although it carried various other cargoes throughout its 21-year career.
In the waters of Malta, an island nation in the Mediterranean Sea, there are several deep wrecks accessible to technical divers. One is the Second World War British destroyer HMS Southwold. Kurt Storms tells us about his dive on the wreck.
