A clue of one of most mysterious stories surrounding the Bermuda Triangle has emerged as the wreckage of a coal ship that vanished in the triangle sea area almost 100 years ago with 32 passengers onboard has been found by underwater explorers.
The steam-powered bulk carrier, SS Cotopaxi, set off on a standard trip from Charleston, South Carolina to Havana, Cuba and disappeared near Bermuda in 1925. As usual, no one knew what happened to the ship or its crew as they were never found.
Now, almost 100 years later, a team of marine biologists and underwater explorers have identified the SS Cotopaxi off the coast of St. Augustine, Florida.
‘The Cotopaxi was on a routine voyage,’ marine biologist and underwater explorer Michael Barnette told the US news outlet.
The ship was employed in the coal trade and so this was just another trip at the end of November of 1925 towards Bermuda Triangle. We know that on that voyage something happened because she delivered a mayday message early December saying she’s in distress.
‘And then that was it. They never found any wreckage. They never found any lifeboats, bodies or anything. The vessel just disappeared after that point. So we’ve been trying to determine what happened.’
How it was found
The ship had sent out wireless distress signals on December 1, 1925, two days after it left Charleston. The signals were picked up in Jacksonville, Florida, placing the ship in the area of a shipwreck found nearly 35 years ago.
Armed with this new information, Barnette headed to Florida with his dive partner, Joe Citelli, to dive the wreck.
However, their dive as well as the use of an underwater drone to survey the ship, did not produce any corroborating evidence.
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From there, Barnette met with Al Perkins, an avid diver who has been diving the area since the 1980’s. On these dives, Perkins had collected souvenirs – one of which might helped solve the mystery.
To gather more evidence, Barnette enlists the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum, a non-profit organization dedicated to researching and preserving the 500-year long maritime history of the region.
Two of their leading maritime archaeologists Chuck Meide and Brendan Burke are experts in discovering, exploring and identifying wrecks in the area. Together they headed to the wreck – and what they found was truly astonishing.
