SS Cotopaxi
Science ChannelMarine biologist and underwater archaeologist Michael Barnette inspects the Cotopaxi to confirm its measurements.
The Bermuda Triangle has confounded generations of sailors and conspirators as countless planes and ships have gone missing in its mysterious stretch between Puerto Rico, Bermuda, and Miami. And according to Fox News, the merchant ship SS Cotopaxi was no different, having disappeared in 1925.
Departing Charleston, South Carolina for Havana, Cuba on Nov. 29, 1925, the vessel was never seen intact again. The 32 people aboard vanished just as ominously. While the corpses have certainly naturally composed since then, the ship’s remains were oddly missing — until January 2020.
Discovered 35 nautical miles off the coast of St. Augustine, Florida, the process of discovery was anything but simple — and has since been chronicled by the Science Channel.
FacebookThe SS Cotopaxi’s disappearance is so famous that the ship appeared in the Gobi Desert in Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, presumably transported there by extraterrestrials.
Marine biologist and underwater explorer Michael Barnette’s contacted British Historian Guy Walters to help him find the sunken ship.
“Walters combed through ship records at the archives of Lloyd’s of London, who were the insurance brokers for the SS Cotopaxi,” a Science Channel statement explained. “There he discovered something previously unknown about the Cotopaxi’s voyage.”
“The ship had sent out wireless distress signals with a position on Dec. 1, 1925, two days after it left Charleston.”
Science ChannelBarnette contacted British historian Guy Walters to gather more information on the ship’s location and status before disappearing.
Oddly enough, the two researchers found that it had already been discovered 35 years ago. Experts had merely mistaken it for another missing ship. Thus, what had previously been known as the Bear Wreck was actually the seemingly long-lost SS Cotopaxi.
After diver Al Perkins descended into the ocean to film and photograph the vessel, the grandson of Cotopaxi’s captain, William J. Meyers, confirmed that it was indeed his grandfather’s ship. The reason for its sinking, however, remains a mystery.
Only in 2019 did new research posit that a “rogue wave” was to blame for the ship’s sinking, but that truth lies with the Cotopaxi, concealed beneath the waves.
Enjoyed these sunken ships? Then, learn about the creepiest ghost ships ever found. Next up, read about the woman who survived the sinking of the Titanic and its two sister ships.
