14 DAY TRIAL // Just yesterday, researchers with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, for short) announced to the world that three so-called ghost ships had been discovered not far from the country's coastline.
The vessels in question, two of which have already been identified, are resting in the waters close to San Francisco’s Golden Gate strait, and are several decades old.
In search of long-forgotten vessels in US waters
As detailed by NOAA specialists, these three sunken ships were discovered with the help of remote-controlled cameras and sensing equipment. Data obtained during recent dives in the region also came in handy.
Information made available to the public says that one of these vessels is the shipwreck SS Selja. Another one is a clipper ship dubbed Noonday, that sunk back in 1863, and the third is a Steam tugboat whose name is still a mystery.
The steamer Selja ended up at the bottom of the ocean after colliding with another ship. By the looks of it, the accident during which this ship was lost made headlines back in 1910, when it occurred, and even for several years to come.
“In 1910 the steamer Selja sank in a fatal collision, which featured prominently in a legal case that ultimately was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court over a key aspect of maritime law, the “rule of the road,” NOAA writes.
Noonday has a fairly interesting history as well. Thus, researchers say that, in its heydays, this ship served to carry men and supplies to California. The vessel completed most of its journey during and after the Gold Rush.
Plenty other wrecks where these came from
It is estimated that, all in all, the waters of the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary and the adjacent Golden Gate National Recreation Area are home to the remains of about 300 ships that sunk decades ago.
Together with the US National Park Service, NOAA started exploring this wrecks back in the 1980s. Since then, specialists have managed to put together an inventory of the ships resting in these waters. They hope to eventually locate all of them.
“The waters of the sanctuary and the park are one of the great undersea museums in the nation,” James Delgado, director of Maritime Heritage for the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, commented on the importance of this research project.
“These wrecks tell the powerful story of the people who helped build California and opened America to the Pacific for nearly two centuries. Finding the remains of these ships links the past to the present,” he went on to argue in a recent interview with the press.
Apart from these three ghost ships, researchers have until now managed to locate two sunken tankers dubbed Frank H. Buck and Lyman Stewart. These wrecks are located in the waters of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and sit surprisingly close to one another.