NJ Dive Team Discovers Wreckage Of Lost Shipwreck

NANTUCKET, MA — A New Jersey dive team recently discovered the wreckage of a lost French ocean liner off the coast of Massachusetts.

Atlantic Wreck Salvage, which owns and operates the dive boat D/V Tenacious of Point Pleasant Beach, located the wreckage of the 1856 transatlantic passenger steamship Le Lyonnais about 200 miles from their launch point at Fleet Marina in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Dives on Aug. 22 and 23 located and identified the ship. The crew publicly announced the discovery on Sept. 4.

According to a post on the dive team's Facebook page, the Le Lyonnais collided with the American sailing vessel Adriatic off the Nantucket coast on Nov. 2, 1856. The ship sank with 132 passengers and crew onboard, and 114 were killed in the disaster.

The disaster was also mentioned in Jules Verne’s classic novel “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," the dive team.

The Le Lyonnais was one of six ships built by Laird & Sons of England for Compagnie Franco-Americaine to be used for transatlantic passenger and mail service.

In an interview with NJ Advance Media, crew member Jennifer Sellitti said the discovery was the culmination of eight years of research that prompted her to write a book on the disaster.

“Le Lyonnais, her passengers, and her story captivated me and set me on an eight-year journey in search not only of her final resting place but also for the truth behind her sinking and its eventful aftermath,” Sellitti told the publication. “Marking that journey with a book and collaborating with my friends on such an important discovery still feels surreal.”

Discovery team members also included Andrew Donn, Kurt Mintell, Joe Mazraani, Tom Packer, Tim Whitehead and Eric Takakjian.