95-Year-Old Wreck Found Near Bermuda Triangle; Believed To Be SS Cotopaxi

KEY POINTS

Barnette discovered a wreck near St. Augustine, Florida
He believed it is the SS Cotopaxi
Historians and archaeologists are helping him confirm the discovery
SS Cotopaxi mysteriously disappeared in 1925 near the Bermuda Triangle

After its infamous disappearance in 1925, explorers believed that they discovered the wreck of SS Cotopaxi near St. Augustine, Florida.

On the summer of 2019, Michael Barnette went on a dive off the coast of St. Augustine and believed that he came across the wreckage of SS Cotopaxi in an area called the Bear Wreck.

Barnette said that he wasn’t specifically looking for the ship but regularly helped in locating wreckages.

In an ABC News report, he said that he believed the wreck to be SS Cotopaxi because of its reputation as the only big steamship in the area.

He dived around the wreck but was unable to get clues that it was indeed the Cotopaxi.

Barnette sought the help of historians and experts to verify his find.

After nearly 95 years, explorers believe they have discovered the SS Cotopaxi, a ship that vanished near the area known as the Bermuda Triangle in 1925. https://t.co/1hEUrwWUps
— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) January 31, 2020

With the help of St, Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum, a non-profit organization dedicated to researching and preserving the maritime history of the region, Barnette dived with two of the group’s leading archeologists to find more clues around the wreckage.

Chuck Meide, director of the organization, was one of the archeologists who accompanied Barnette and made measurements to confirm the ship’s identity, WJXT reported.

They also examined the ship’s original blueprints and planned to do more diving excursions to monitor the wreck and the effects of hurricanes and other natural elements on it.

Barnette also enlisted the help of British historian Guy Walters who told him that Cotopaxi sent out wireless distress signals on Dec. 1, 1925—two days after it left Charleston—and these signals were in Jacksonville, Florida around the site of a shipwreck that was found 35 years ago.

Further research that coincided with the wreck’s location convinced Barnette that he had discovered the Cotopaxi.

The SS Cotopaxi was an American merchant steamship that left Charleston, South Carolina for Havana, Cuba on Nov. 29, 1925 despite unfavorable weather conditions.

The ship reported water in the hull and after that, no distress signals were sent and the ship mysteriously disappeared with its 32 passengers.

The Cotopaxi became the subject of numerous Bermuda Triangle disappearance conspiracy theories and made an appearance in the 1977 science fiction movie, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”