Off Maine's Coast, a Wreck 'That Belongs to Everyone and No One'

A World War II vessel lying off Maine's coast has finally been pinned down. Civilian divers say they've located the SS Cornwallis, a Canadian merchant ship sunk by a German torpedo in December 1944, about 25 miles south of the mainland, killing 43 of 48 crew members, reports Smithsonian . The Nomad Exploration Team, based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, found the roughly 5,500-ton wreck almost 400 feet down near Mount Desert Rock after five search expeditions that mapped more than 50 square miles of seafloor.

"It is a miracle we found it," says Nomad's Danny Allan, per the Boston Globe , describing the area where the wreck was found as being "known for powerful currents, rough seas, and cold temperatures." The ship, carrying sugar and molasses from Barbados to New Brunswick, went down days after the same U-boat reportedly landed two Nazi spies in Maine under "Operation Magpie," per Smithsonian .

The divers, who confirmed the wreck using original blueprints, say they don't plan to claim ownership and hope the find underscores how close the war came to New England's shores. The wreck "belongs to everyone and no one," says Allan. He adds, per MassLive , that "finding the wreck was the culmination of years of persistence. ... For the families and communities connected to the ship, it brings renewed attention to a largely forgotten tragedy."