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Divers Discover the Shipwreck of a World War I-Era Coast Guard Cutter, Which Vanished With 131 Sailors on Board in 1918
Key takeaways
- Ellen Wexler | Writer and Special Projects Editor
- “It gets darker and darker,” he recalls. “Eventually, out of the gloom, the seabed appears—or, if you’ve done it right, the shipwreck appears.”
- Mortimer, the leader of the British technical diving team Gasperados, was searching for the Tampa, a United States Coast Guard cutter that sank in 1918.
Ellen Wexler | Writer and Special Projects Editor
Add as preferred source During World War I, the Tampa protected convoys from submarine attacks. U.S. Coast Guard Steve Mortimer tempered his expectations before he slipped beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. As he dove, the light from above faded, and the readings on his depth gauge crept past 300 feet.
“It gets darker and darker,” he recalls. “Eventually, out of the gloom, the seabed appears—or, if you’ve done it right, the shipwreck appears.”
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