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Nearly a Century Later, Navy Tug Lost At Sea is Found Near San Francisco
The search for the Conestoga was the largest sea and air search ever conducted until the search for Amelia Earhart, officials say.
PHOTO: The officers and crew of USS Conestoga, in San Diego, California in 1921. Lost for 95 years, the tug was discovered in the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary off San Francisco. Credit: Naval Historical Center Photograph NH 71503
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By Bay City News Service:
Federal officials announced Wednesday the discovery of a Navy tugboat lost at sea 95 years ago after it left the Golden Gate with 56 crewmembers aboard.
Wednesday in Washington, D.C., Naval officials and investigators met with more than 20 surviving family members of the crew of the Conestoga to give them some closure.
"There were some tears," Robert Schwemmer, West Coast regional maritime heritage coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Marine Sanctuaries, said.
Schwemmer was one of the investigators. None of the crewmembers survived.
USS Conestoga at San Diego, California, January 1921. Credit: Naval Historical Center Photograph NH 71299
The Conestoga was found 189 feet down and three miles off Southeast Farallon Island or about 30 miles off the coast of San Francisco. The search for the Conestoga was the largest sea and air search ever conducted until the search for Amelia Earhart, Schwemmer said.
The search started in the waters off the Hawaii Islands, where the tug was headed. Another search was done off the coast of Mexico when a lifeboat thought to be from the tug was found off the Mexican coast. But never was one done near San Francisco, Schwemmer said.
Conestoga left the Mare Island Naval Shipyard at 3:25 p.m. on March 25, 1921. According to weather records, the seas were rough and the winds were blowing from 23 to 40 mph when the ship disappeared. Investigators believe she sailed into a gale and may have sunk while trying to make it to the Farallon Islands.
A coast survey conducted in 2009 by NOAA showed a probable, uncharted shipwreck where the Conestoga was found. Last year in October, NOAA confirmed the shipwreck was the Conestoga.
Naval officials in Washington Thursday dedicated a plaque and rang a bell 56 times to honor her crew.
"It really drove home the number of people who died," Schwemmer said.
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