Two missing ships from the 19th century discovered while searching for MH370
Experts have discovered the wreckage of two mysteriously missing 19th-century cargo ships while searching for flight MH370 in southwestern Australia.
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The wreck was found at a depth of more than 3,000 m below the ocean floor. Photo:AFP. |
In 2015, while searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, search equipment discovered the wreckage of two coal ships that sank in the 19th century..Maritime historians on May 3 released a list of possible names for the two wrecks.
They were discovered 2,300 km southwest of Australia. Ship wreckage and coal lay at a depth of 3,700 m below the ocean floor.Investigators used underwater vehicles to photograph two shipwreck sites and retrieved coal samples from one ship to get a closer look. Analysis showed the coal was likely shipped from England, the Western Australian Museum reported.
After examining images of scattered traces of a ship discovered on 19 May 2015 and based on incomplete records of ships lost at that time, they discovered it was likely the W Gordon or Magdala. The W Gordon disappeared in 1877 with 10 crew while on a voyage from Scotland to Australia, while the Magdala disappeared in 1882 while sailing from Wales to Indonesia.
According to the report, traces from the wreckage suggest that the ships likely sank due to an explosion. They believe that the coal below deck accumulated methane gas, leading to the explosion, or that the fire was caused by the coal overheating.
Another wreck found on December 19, 2015, is likely to be the West Ridge, which disappeared while sailing from England to India with 28 crew in 1883. Coal samples from the ship indicate it was of British origin. There is no evidence of the cause of the disaster, but the location of the wreckage east of the trade route from Europe to Asia suggests it may have been heading for the nearest port in Australia to seek relief.
The museum’s curator of maritime archaeology, Ross Anderson, said the new data on the two 19th-century sunken ships was a significant sideline to the search for MH370. However, he predicted no one would fund a salvage operation to determine their origins because of their remote location and the depths of the ocean floor.
"They are wrecks deep at the bottom of the Indian Ocean and are two of the deepest shipwrecks in the world," he said. HSeveral shipwrecks sunk in the late 20th century were also discovered during the search for MH370.
In January, the Malaysian government pledged to pay $70 million to Ocean Infinity, a Texas-based US technology company, if it could find debris or the black boxes from MH370 within 90 days. This week, Ocean Infinity said it had scanned an area of 80,000 square kilometers since January but found no sign of the plane.
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, carrying 239 people, disappeared on March 8, 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, China. The plane is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean. Australia, China, and Malaysia have coordinated a search but have found no results. The disappearance is considered one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries.