According to officials, there are more than 200 shipwrecks off the coast of New South Wales, less than half of which have been discovered.
The New South Wales Ministry of Environment and Culture confirmed last week that the ship had been found in about 525 feet of water off the coast of Sydney
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| A British ship that disappeared 120 years ago has been found |
A British-built steamship that disappeared 120 years ago with 32 passengers aboard has finally been found off the coast of Australia .
The British ship SS Nemesis was carrying coal to Melbourne,
Australia in 1904 when it ran aground in a storm and was never seen again.
Over the following weeks, the bodies of the ship's crew were washed ashore with the wreckage, but the location of the sunken vessel was not known.
The New South Wales Ministry of Environment and Culture confirmed last week that the ship was found in about 525 feet of water off the coast of Sydney.
Authorities in New South Wales say they will now look for family members of the Australian, British and Canadian crew who sank with the 1,393-tonne vessel.
About half of the crew aboard the British-built ship were British nationals, including Captain Alex Luscher, Chief Mate TA Renaut and Second Mate WD Stein.
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| The 120-year-old mystery of the disappearance of the SS Nemesis and 32 crew members at sea has been solved, government officials said in a press release |
A remote-sensing company called Subsea Professional Marine first discovered a shipwreck in the area in 2022 while searching for cargo boxes missing from the coast, officials said.
But the ship was not identified as the SS Nemesis until September 2023, when Australia's national science agency CSIRO was able to capture underwater images that definitively identified the wreck's distinctive features. It showed.
The agency's research vessel RV Investigator used underwater cameras to capture high-resolution images of the wreck and advanced multibeam echo sounders to map the wreckage.
They showed the wrecked ship lying upright on the ocean floor.
Using these photographs, they hypothesized that the steamship sank in July 1904 after being hit by a large wave off the coast of Wollongong, 50 miles south of Sydney. The collision stopped the ship's engine and 'the ship sank before the lifeboats could be lowered.'
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| A remote sensing company called Subsea Professional Marine first discovered a shipwreck in the area in 2022 |
CSIRO hydrographic surveyor Phil Vandenbusche said: 'Our visual inspection of the wreckage using a drop camera revealed that some of the main structures of the sunken ship are still intact and identifiable, including the sea. The ship's two anchors lying on its side are also included.'
More video imagery will be stitched together to create a 3D model of the wreckage for further research, he added.
New South Wales Environment and Culture Minister Penny Sharp said: 'Around 40 children lost their parents in the crash and I hope this discovery will bring closure to the families and friends of the ship. were unaware of this ship.'
He said: 'What happened to the Nemesis has been described as one of Sydney's longest-standing maritime mysteries and even described by researchers as the 'Holy Grail'.
"Thanks to the collaborative efforts of CSIRO and SAB using modern technology and historical records, we have been able to write the final chapter in the story of SS Nemesis," he added.
According to officials, there are more than 200 shipwrecks off the coast of New South Wales, less than half of which have been discovered.
The wreckage of another cargo ship, the MV Blythe Star, which sank off the coast of Australia half a century ago, was discovered last year.
A Spanish sailing ship whose wreck has been described as the 'Holy Grail' is currently in the process of being recovered from the seabed.
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