A ship lost at sea 120 years ago has been accidentally discovered, putting an end to the age-old mystery.
The SS Nemesis left Newcastle in NSW on 8 July 1904 and was bound for Melbourne with 32 crew on board when it sank and disappeared in a storm.
The remains were found after Subsea Professional Marine Services, a company that searches for lost cargo containers, stumbled upon the wreckage in 2022.
It was located on the ocean floor, 26 km off the coast of Kembla, south of Sydney.
Due to its location in deep water with high currents, it took two years for experts from NSW Heritage to go through the evidence to confirm that the undisturbed wreck was the Nemesis.
The SS Nemesis has been missing for 120 years and had 32 crew members on board. The coal ship left Newcastle in 1905 (photo port side). A wreck found in 2022 was thought to be the Nemesis, but this has only been confirmed
The crew, from Australia, Great Britain and Canada, left behind about 40 children. The NSW Government has launched a global appeal so family members can finally know what happened to their ancestors (starboard photo of SS Nemesis)
CSIRO was a crucial part of the process, capturing underwater images, allowing NSW Heritage to see the wreck’s distinctive features and compare them to photographs and sketches of the ship.
The footage also showed the iron ship upright with “significant damage to the bow and stern.”
It is now believed that the engine became ‘overwhelmed’ during the storm and that when struck by a large wave the boat sank too quickly for rescue boats to be used.
The 73-metre coal barge, which was carrying a hold full of coke and coal, was last sighted near Wollongong by another vessel and had entered a southerly gale.
Emergency missiles were deployed during the storm and were seen at Port Hacking in Sydney’s south.
There were searches when the ship went missing, but the ship was never found.
At the time, Nemesis’s disappearance was big news, and for several weeks the bodies of crew members washed up on Cronulla Beach, in Sydney’s south.
Parts of the boat also surfaced, such as fragments of the ship’s steering wheel and doors.
Wreckage (above) and bodies washed up on Cronulla Beach for several weeks and were a big news story in 1905
NSW Heritage was able to compare the CSIRO’s vision with old photographs and sketches of the SS Nemesis (pictured)
NSW Minister for Environment and Heritage Penny Sharpe said the loss of the Nemesis was an “enduring mystery”.
“(It) has even been described by shipwreck researchers as the ‘holy grail,’” she said.
“Thanks to collaboration with CSIRO and Subsea, using modern technology and historical data, Heritage NSW has been able to write the final chapter of the story of SS Nemesis.”
Heritage NSW said the crew, including Captain Lusher, were from Australia, the United Kingdom and one from Canada.
Unfortunately, they left behind about 40 children.
The NSW Government is now looking for relatives in a global appeal so they can finally find out what happened to their relatives.
Scientists now believe that the SS Nemesis’s engine was overwhelmed during a storm and suffered damage to the bow and stern (see photo of Nemesis’s stern hatch and engine)
The CSIRO assisted NSW Heritage by providing extensive and detailed underwater views of the wreck, which ultimately helped identify the ship as the SS Nemesis
Federal Minister of Industry and Science Ed Husic said he admired the determination of scientists to solve the age-old mystery.
“All involved should be immensely proud of this discovery and the comfort it will provide to the descendants of the 32 sailors who died aboard the SS Nemesis,” he said.
Ed Korber of Subsea Professional Marine Services said he was honored to discover SS Nemesis and hoped it would bring closure to families who had lost someone on board.
“Our marine and remotely operated vehicle team worked through difficult challenges to obtain the first incredible images that allowed Heritage NSW to confirm that this was indeed the Nemesis wreck,” he said.
Minister Paul Scully, Member for Wollongong, said the find was part of the port city’s “rich maritime history”.
“Given that only 105 of the more than 200 shipwrecks have been discovered off the coast of NSW, this is a significant find,” he said.