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A search crew has discovered the wreckage of one of the deadliest disasters that happened off the Pacific Northwest coast, according to FOX 13.
On November 4, 1875, the S.S. Pacific crashed into another ship and sunk off the coast of land that would become part of Washington state. This catastrophic moment left over 300 people dead and only two survivors, who clung to a piece of wreckage for over 24 hours before they were rescued. Nearly 150 years later, Jeff Hummel and 24 more people managed to find the doomed ship in Washington state waters.
Hummel is part of Rockfish Inc., a local team that crafted most of the technology used to discover the S.S. Pacific's remains. They deployed two remotely-operated vehicles (ROVs) to dive into the water and take side-sonar scans and optical cameras to identify the ship, according to reporters.
"It looks so different than anyone ever expected," Hummel explained. "Initially, it looks like the wrong size, shape, and everything. You slowly work through using the robots, imaging things and looking at it that eventually, we realized: ‘Oh wait, that is the ship.’ It took a while."
While the exact location hasn't been publicized, a federal court order revealed that the site is roughly 40 miles south of Cape Flattery and 23 miles offshore. The order is meant to keep any salvagers from targeting Rockfish's, as Hummel described, "world-class" find.
Now that they've found the ship, the team will be focused on recovering the ship itself and items onboard, including unopened bottles of wine, corks, clothing, and more. This work won't start until 2023 or 2024, per the news station.
You can read more about this team's amazing efforts on FOX 13's website.