Ship linked to Bermuda Triangle mystery found 95 years after it vanished, explorer says
An underwater explorer believes he's found the wreck of a ship that vanished nearly a century ago. The SS Cotopaxi was thought to have disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle in 1925, but in a new TV show for the Science Channel, Michael Barnette concluded it sank off the north Florida coast.
The steam-powered bulk carrier left from Charleston, South Carolina, for Havana on November 29, 1925, with 32 passengers on board, according to the Science Channel. The ship never made it to Cuba, and none of the bodies of anyone on board were recovered.
Barnette enlisted a British historian, Guy Walters, to look for new information about the lost ship. He found records from the Cotopaxi's insurance broker saying that the ship sent distress signals on December 1, 1925.
The distress signals were received in Jacksonville, Florida, the Science Channel said. Barnette went to Florida to conduct more research and concluded the wreck of the Cotopaxi was found nearly 35 years ago off the coast of St. Augustine, Florida.
According to the National Ocean Service, the port city is north of the Bermuda Triangle, a part of the Atlantic Ocean generally located between Miami, Bermuda and San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Science Channel will show Barnette's journey to the Cotopaxi in the series premiere of "Shipwreck Secrets" on February 9.
