A submersible dive to 95m from a luxury expedition ship off South America‘s Pacific coast has resulted in the discovery of the resting place of Titania, a German WWI naval supply vessel not seen since 1914.
The find was made by the expedition cruise operator Seabourn near Alejandro Selkirk Island in Chile’s Juan Fernández Archipelago on 14 October – and a small group of guests were able to watch as the long-lost upright shipwreck came into view for the first time in 110 years.
The 85m steel Titania had been built by WG Armstrong, Mitchell & Co on Tyneside in 1896, with a gross tonnage of 1,1916. The ship had a topgallant forecastle and a single propeller driven by triple-expansion engines.
She started out with the Finska Steamship line in Finland but in 1901 became part of the Imperial German Navy based in Kiel. In 1910 she had been fitted out as a tender to Germany’s Asiatic cruiser squadron.
Titania was known to have been scuttled off Selkirk, far west of Santiago, on 19 November, 1914, and stories of the shipwreck had passed down through generations of islanders. Fishermen had occasionally discovered pieces of metal in their lobster traps that they believed belonged to the vessel.
Selkirk island, formerly Más Afuera, is named after the early 18th-century castaway who inspired Defoe’s book Robinson Crusoe, and has a population of fewer than 60 people.
The 172m Seabourn Pursuit, the cruise line’s latest purpose-built expedition ship, was visiting the area as part of a wide-ranging South Pacific voyage. To locate the wreck its submersible team had liaised with local fisherman Gino Perez, who had long heard stories about Titania.
In ideal weather conditions Perez joined the sub dive to help in finding the wreck, which lay about 8km off Selkirk’s north-west coast. The island’s harbourmaster was able to confirm that no diver or submarine had ever visited the wreck before.
“I imagined this ship so many times and now I can see where she is, how she looks and how she is resting at the bottom,” said Perez. “Thank you so much – my father manages this sector of the island, this means a lot to us and our family history. This is extraordinary.”
“We were there witnessing history, and our guests had the chance to be a part of this discovery of Titania and the first to see this ship after she sank to the bottom of the ocean 110 years ago,” commented sub pilot Mauricio Fernandez.
“This was truly a special moment of discovery and a perfect example of how Seabourn expeditions continue to provide our guests with incredible ‘Seabourn Moments’ throughout each journey.”
The South Pacific voyage was covering more than 4,000 miles between Melanesia, French Polynesia and San Antonio, Chile, on an itinerary that also takes in Easter Island, the Pitcairns and Fiji’s remote Yasawa Islands. The vessel will run four such 16-20-day expedition trips in 2025.
Seabourn, part of Carnival Corporation, operates a fleet of six cruise vessels. Pursuit’s sister-ship Seabourn Venture, launched a year earlier in 2022, also carries a custom-builtm 300m-depth-rated submersible. Three guests can be seated in each of two clear acrylic spheres flanking the pilot’s central station, allowing undistorted views in most directions.
The passenger seats in each sphere are mounted on a rotating platform that can be turned for the best sightlines. Submersible experiences are available for an additional charge on select Seabourn itineraries.
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