After 120 years a ship that had disappeared without a trace along with 32 crew members on board has finally been found.
Of course, the passengers who set sail are unfortunately no longer with us - but the discovery of the ship does provide experts with some answers.
The SS Nemesis, a 73-metre iron-hulled steamship, had been on a voyage to deliver coal from Newcastle to Melbourne, Australia, when it became lost at sea in 1904.
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In the weeks following a storm that had caused the ship to go off course, bodies of those on board and fragments of the ship’s wreckage washed ashore at Cronulla Beach about 18 miles south of Sydney.
However, the massive vessel was never found and its final resting place remained a mystery for many years.
However, that all changed in 2022 - thanks to Subsea Professional Marine Services.
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The remote sensing company were searching the ocean floor off the coast of Wollongong, New South Wales for lost cargo when they accidentally stumbled across the missing ship.
Remarkably, the wreck was found largely untouched - with 'significant damage and deterioration at both the bow and stern' - as it was discovered around 16 miles offshore under nearly 525 feet of water.
Officials believed the ship to be the SS Nemesis, so they used specialized underwater imagery to confirm that the wreckage’s distinctive features aligned with historical photographs.
CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, was then tasked with gathering further data on the wreck.
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This involved the use of their 'advanced multibeam echosounders to first map the wreck site and surrounding seafloor in high resolution'.
"They then conducted a systematic visual inspection of the entire wreck using a specialised underwater drop camera system," a press release adds.
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CSIRO voyage manager, Jason Fazey, also said: "Our voyage track took us right past the wreck and we were extremely lucky with the conditions for the survey, with our team onboard doing a superb job in capturing incredible imagery of the wreck.
"We surveyed the entire length of the wreck with our drop camera, revealing a lot of detail of the ship’s structures including some of the internal spaces."
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Senior Maritime Archaeologist with Heritage NSW, Dr Brad Duncan, went on to say the vessel was once strictly passenger-only before being converted into a coal carrier when it disappeared.
"The wreck is one of many thousands of shipwrecks that lie along the Australian coastline, with many still to be found," he said.
“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."
Callum Jones