Shipwrecks uphold to be a source of fascination for marine historian and the cosmopolitan public likewise . The look-alike of a once - powerful watercraft claimed by the ocean is a testament to human fallibility , perhaps , or a sign that nature can often trump ingenuity .
Now , another ship thought lost has been discovered . The Gallic rider steamshipLe Lyonnais , miss since 1856 , has been locate in the Atlantic Ocean .
Accordingto the Associated Press , the salvage firm Atlantic Wreck Salvage work with the dive vessel D / V Tenacious to locate the ship just about 200 miles off New Bedford , Massachusetts , in August . The piece of work followed age of investigation , let in asdic and historic inquiry , to nail its geographic location .
WhileLe Lyonnaisis not as recognizable as other renowned wrecks , its discovery is significant . The ship — which measured approximately 260 feet long — was among the French steamships to ferry rider between New York and France . It was a intercrossed ship , with sail as well as a steam locomotive , reflecting the phylogeny in sea travel in the 19th one C .
On November 2 , 1856,Le Lyonnaiswas en itinerary to Le Havre in France when it collide with the glide shipAdriatic . While the latter ship remained afloat , the accident leave a hole in the hull ofLe Lyonnaisthat leave in its slowly sink over three days . Of the 132 the great unwashed on base , 114 pass .
Historian Jennifer Sellittidubbedit a “ nautical hit - and - run , ” as the gang of theAdriaticinitially failed to bring out the accident when they arrived in embrasure in Massachusetts .
Atlantic Wreck Salvage will next oeuvre to chronicle the wreckage and determine what artifact can be recollect from the site .
“ Finding it in some ways is law of closure , in some ways is the end , ” Sellitti differentiate the Associated Press . “ In some ways it ’s the beginning — documenting it , fix what is down there and what should be brought up [ … ] This was a very other example of a steam engine . ”
Le Lyonnaisisburieddeeply in sand , though its specific profoundness has not been revealed . The salvage squad is declining to give away the ship ’s exact resting plaza to preclude others from visiting the site .
