1856 shipwreck that claimed 116 lives found off Massachusetts coast

The wreck of a passenger steamship that sank in 1856 in the Atlantic Ocean has been discovered about 200 miles off the coast of Massachusetts, a New Jersey-based salvage group said.

Le Lyonnais was a trans-Atlantic steamship, built in England for a French company. The ship was meant to carry passengers and mail between England and America, and had both sails and a steam engine, according to Atlantic Wreck Salvage, the organization located the wreck.

Le Lyonnais was making its first trip from America to Europe, carrying 132 people when it collided with the Adriatic, an American sailing vessel, on Nov. 2, 1856. The ship sank due to damage sustained in the collision, and 116 of the people aboard Le Lyonnais died in the disaster.

D/V Tenacious, a dive vessel that locates, dives and salvages shipwrecks, first determined potential resting places for Le Lyonnais in 2022 and 2023. In August 2024, the vessel and a crew returned to dive the sites.

After multiple search expeditions, the shipwreck was finally found off the coast of Massachusetts. The vessel was previously believed to have sunk southeast of Nantucket Shoals, according to the Asbury Park Press, but the D/V Tenacious team found the wreck on Georges Bank, about 200 miles from New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Multiple distinctive features helped the dive team confirm that the wreck was that of Le Lyonnais, the Asbury Park Press reported. The major clues were the discovery of the ship's steam engine and its sail system. Divers also found iron hull plates and a screw propeller, according to a social media post by D/V Tenacious. At the time of the ship's building, those were innovative features. Portholes were also recovered from the wreck.

Diver Jennifer Sellitti, who wrote a book about the sinking of the Le Lyonnais, told the Asbury Park Press that the wreck is "very buried" in the sand and the site is in "very deep water" with poor visibility.

D/V Tenacious has not clarified the exact location of the wreck or said how far underwater the ship's remains are. The team plans to return to the site to further catalog the artifacts there, the Asbury Park Press reported.

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