Long-Lost Wreck Of The USS Conestoga Found Off San Francisco 95 Years After It Vanished

Nearly a century ago, a small U.S. Navy tugboat left Mare Island Naval Shipyard, near San Francisco, for Pearl Harbor. But the USS Conestoga and the 56 men aboard were never seen again. The disappearance of the Conestoga on March 25, 1921, had been considered one of the Navy's greatest unsolved mysteries. Until now, that is. Researchers say they've found the wreck near the Farallon Islands, just 30 miles off San Francisco.  The wreck was first spotted in 2009 during a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) hydrographic survey near the Farallon Islands. At the time it was listed as a "probable, uncharted shipwreck." Working with the Navy, NOAA was able to confirm in October that they had found the remains of the Conestoga.  "Thanks to modern science and to cooperation between agencies, the fate of Conestoga is no longer a mystery," Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy, Installations and Environment, Dennis V. McGinn, said in a Wednesday news release. "In remembering the loss of the Conestoga, we pay tribute to her crew and their families, and remember that, even in peacetime, the sea is an unforgiving environment." Cameras on remotely-operated vehicles captured images of the wreck: In the initial confusion after the Conestoga vanished, the ship was first incorrectly reported as having safely arrived at Pearl Harbor.  The search for the ship didn't begin until more than five weeks after it left San Francisco -- and even then, it ...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news