The shipwreck of a WWI US combat vessel has been discovered off the Cornish coast by a team of divers – 108 years after it sank.
The US Coastguard Cutter TAMPA has been missing since being torpedoed by a German U–boat in 1918.
Now, it has been found, 50 miles offshore in Newquay by the Gasperados Dive Team.
All 131 lives on the vessel were lost including those from the American navy and coastguard, and British civilians.
Dominic Robinson, 54, a member of the Gasperados Dive Team, says they have been searching for the last three years for the ship after it vanished.
The team on the day – made up of leader Steve Mortimer, Jacob Mackenzie, James Gregory, Steve Green, Duncan Haywood, Chris Lowe and Paul Downs – used information from the UK Hydrographic Office including seabed data to help track it down.
They have also analysed German records about the U–Boat that sank it and have spent the last three years conducting dives to locate it.
Sunday 26 April was to be their final attempt when they made the incredible discovery.
The shipwreck of a WW1 US combat vessel has been discovered off the Cornish coast by a team of divers – 108 years after it sank
The US Coastguard Cutter TAMPA has been missing since being torpedoed by a German U–boat in 1918
The team have presented their findings to the US Coastguard, and Mr Robinson says they are ‘confident’ they have found TAMPA.
Mr Robinson, a diver, from Plymouth, Devon, says: ‘Sunday was our last attempt.
‘Basically we were like “we’ve looked everywhere this could be”, and were going to give up, and then we got down there and found it.
‘Most people think a shipwreck is a ship under water but the reality is it’s been underwater for 100 years in the Celtic Sea in–between Cornwall and Ireland, so it’s been smashed by storms and a 100 odd years of decay.
‘And the fact it was torpedoed in the first place.
‘The things we were looking for were anchors, boulders, the engine – we knew it had guns on it and lots of ammunition, lots of portholes.
‘It was a well–built, good quality ship.
‘We’ve all dived and seen lots and lots of vessels and we understand what era they were used for.
Dominic Robinson, 54, a member of the Gasperados Dive Team, says they have been searching for the last three years for the ship after it vanished
The team have presented their findings to the US Coastguard, and Dominic says they are ‘confident’ they have found TAMPA
‘We also saw crockery that had “New Jersey” written on it so that was an instant link to America’.
The TAMPA vessel was assigned escort duty in World War I protecting convoys from German submarines between Gibraltar and the south coast of England.
On September 26 1918 TAMPA had just parted with a convoy it had just escorted when it was torpedoed.
Mr Robinson, who shared his experience with Sell Us Your Story, says: ‘It was quite a misty day and once it had left the convoy four hours after they heard a large explosion and the TAMPA was never seen again.
‘Because it was quite misty and nothing was found the location has always been very vague.
‘The US have kept a vessel called TAMPA in service ever since.
‘A whole load people have tried to look for TAMPA including ourselves as part of a dive team called Gasperados.
‘It’s probably important to recognise this is not a one–off event and a culmination of three years of stuff and loads of other people who have done other dives’.
The TAMPA vessel was assigned escort duty in World War I protecting convoys from German submarines between Gibraltar and the south coast of England
Sunday 26 April was to be their final attempt when they made the incredible discovery
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Mr Robinson says the type of diving necessary was ‘extreme’.
With wrecks up to 100 metres deep the team would spend around 20 minutes at the bottom and a further two and a half hours decompressing, coming up to surface slowly.
‘We have added all these things together and presented the info to the US Coastguard who have had a look at the video and photos and are confident we’ve found TAMPA,’ Mr Robinson says.
US Coastguard Cutter TAMPA
DEPTH FOUND: 320ft, 50 miles off the coast of Newquay
All 131 lives on the vessel were lost including those from the American navy and coastguard, and British civilians
SUNK: September 26, 1918 (Tampa had just finished escorting a convoy and was returning through the Bristol Channel towards the Welsh port of Milford Haven)
ON BOARD: 131 – 111 Coast Guardsmen, 4 US Navy personnel, and 16 British (Royal Navy and civilians)
WEAPONRY: Four 3-inch guns for close-range defence against submarines, two 6-pounder guns (quick-firing naval guns, about 57 mm)
LENGTH: 205ft
- Biggest single American naval combat loss of life in WW1
- Torpedoed by German U-boat UB91
- Sank in less than three minutes
- No distress signal was successfully sent
