More than a century after it was lost, the wreckage of the biggest U.S. Naval loss of World War I has been discovered by a team of British divers. The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Tampa was found approximately 50 miles off the coast of Newquay, a seaside town in southwest England, after vanishing in 1918.
Discovery After 107 Years
All 131 people aboard the vessel perished as it sank, marking the largest single American naval combat loss of life in WWI. “When the Tampa was lost with all hands in 1918, it left an enduring grief in our service,” said Admiral Kevin Lunday, commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, in a press release. “Locating the wreck connects us to their sacrifice and reminds us that devotion to duty endures.”
The discovery is the result of three years of collaboration between the Coast Guard Historian’s Office and a group of British divers known as the Gasperados Dive Team. The divers initially contacted the Coast Guard Historian’s Office in 2023 before conducting an extensive search for the missing 1,050-ton ship, according to the Coast Guard.
Their efforts eventually led them to wreckage lying more than 300 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, which they believed could be the long-lost Tampa. “We provided the dive team with historical records and technical data to assist in confirming the wreck site,” said Dr. William Thiesen, Coast Guard Atlantic Area Historian. “This included archival images of the deck fittings, ship’s wheel, bell, weaponry, and archival images of the Tampa.”
Confirmation and Significance
Steve Mortimer, team leader of the search, confirmed the discovery on Monday via Facebook. “TAMPA is of huge importance to the United States and the relatives of everyone who died that day,” Mortimer said. “Their final resting place is now known.”
The Coast Guard released an image of the wreckage taken by Gasperados, showing the sheared hull lying on the ocean floor. In the murky depths of the Atlantic, tiny growths can be seen on the surface of the boat’s remains.
The Final Moments
The 190-foot-long vessel vanished on September 26, 1918, just nine days after it began convoy duty in Atlantic waters. According to a Coast Guard document commemorating the Tampa, the boat had requested permission to leave the convoy earlier that day because it was running dangerously low on fuel. After the request was granted, the ship began heading toward a port in Wales at around 4 p.m.
Hours later, at 8:15 p.m., a German UB-41 submarine struck the vessel with a single torpedo. A secondary explosion, caused by coal dust igniting or depth charges aboard the boat detonating, followed. The Tampa sank in the Bristol Channel in just three minutes, according to the document.
One hundred and eleven Coast Guardsmen, four U.S. Navy personnel, sixteen Royal Navy personnel, and civilians died as the vessel disappeared beneath the waves. Among those killed were eleven Black crewmembers, who were the first minority Coast Guardsmen killed in combat.
Aftermath and Recovery
The remains of Seaman Alexander Saldarini were discovered and reburied at sea two weeks after the boat vanished, the document states. Weeks later, two other bodies washed ashore in the Welsh town of Pembroke, with one identified as Seaman James Fleury. Both bodies, with the other remaining unidentified, were buried in the nearby Lamphey Churchyard.
