Divers off England’s southern coast have finally identified the SS Nantes, a passenger steamship lost for 140 years, offering closure to a haunting maritime tragedy.
At a Glance
- The SS Nantes sank in 1888 after colliding with a German vessel near Plymouth
- Only three of its crew survived; wreckage later washed ashore in Cornwall
- A dive team confirmed the ship’s identity in 2024 using Cunard-marked crockery
- The wreck lay 246 feet deep in the English Channel, long presumed lost
- Maritime historians call it one of Britain’s most significant underwater finds
A Tragedy in the Channel
Built in Glasgow in 1874, the SS Nantes had a brief service life before it met its end in 1888, when it collided with the German sailing vessel Theodor Ruger. The impact crippled the ship and destroyed its lifeboats, forcing desperate efforts to keep the vessel afloat, including stuffing the hull breach with mattresses. Despite those efforts, the Nantes drifted for hours before sinking with most of its crew still aboard.
According to maritime historian Dr. Harry Bennett, the challenge of finding the wreck stemmed from the lack of modern navigation in that era. With no exact coordinates, the vessel’s final resting place remained a mystery—until now.
How the Ship Was Found
Local diver Dominic Robinson led the team that uncovered the wreck 246 feet beneath the English Channel. Years of research paid off in 2024 when sonar scans and UK Hydrographic Office data pointed them to a site roughly matching the Nantes’ reported size—about 78 to 79 meters in length. The critical clue? A Cunard-marked dinner plate discovered among the debris.
“It was then bingo, we’ve found it,” Robinson recalled. The discovery of crockery bearing the Cunard Steamship Company logo clinched the ship’s identity, confirming what years of maritime lore had only guessed at.
History Resurfaces
The vessel’s identification has brought a wave of emotion and recognition to what was once a forgotten tragedy. Only three people survived the SS Nantes disaster: two crew members who jumped aboard the Ruger and one who remained with the stricken ship. Bodies and splintered timber later washed ashore in Talland Bay and Looe, Cornwall, but the ship itself had vanished without a trace.
Dr. Bennett declared the find “the underwater archaeological equivalent of a needle in a haystack,” praising the dive team for solving a puzzle that had haunted historians for generations.
For Robinson, the achievement is not just a technical victory but a solemn tribute to the lost crew. “It’s quite a sad story,” he said, emphasizing that the discovery should help honor and preserve the memory of those who perished.
