Wreck of Canadian Steamship Sunk by a Nazi U-Boat Found Off Maine After 81 Years

The wreck of a 400-foot Canadian steamship torpedoed by a German submarine off the coast of Maine in 1944 has been found, more than 80 years after it sank. The Nomad Exploration Team, based in New Hampshire, announced this week that it located the SS Cornwallis in July, nearly 400 feet below the surface.

The team said it had to contend with cold water, strong currents and remote locations. Side-scan sonar revealed the wreck, and later dives confirmed the vessel's identity. "For the team, finding the wreck was the culmination of years of persistence," said dive team member Danny Allan. "For the families and communities connected to the ship, it brings renewed attention to a largely forgotten tragedy."

The Cornwallis was a 5,458-ton steam merchant ship launched in 1921 and built in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was originally named the Canadian Transporter and was later renamed after a transfer to Canadian National Steamships. On Sept. 11, 1942, while anchored in Barbados, it was hit by torpedoes from a German submarine. It only partially sank in shallow water, was repaired and returned to service.

In November 1944, the ship left Barbados loaded with sugar and molasses, bound for St. John, New Brunswick. According to nautical historian Eric Wiberg, it carried a 4-inch gun, a 12-pound gun and machine guns on the bridge, none of which were ever fired. On Dec. 3, as it moved along the Maine coastline, the German submarine U-1230, commanded by Hans Hilbig, spotted it. A torpedo struck near the bow and the ship went under in less than 10 minutes.

Only six of the 48 people aboard reached life rafts, and one died of hypothermia. The five survivors were picked up by fishing boats and transferred to a U.S. Navy ship that took them to Rockland, Maine.

The sinking drew attention because of what the same U-boat had done days earlier. On Nov. 29, 1944, U-1230 landed two German agents, Erich Gimpel and William Colepaugh, near Hancock, Maine, to gather intelligence in the United States. Colepaugh was an American who had traveled to Germany in 1944 to train in espionage, according to a 2018 Main Line Today article. After the sub dropped them off, the two made their way from Maine to New York City without being detected.

After the Cornwallis went down, American authorities investigated whether the submarine had put enemy agents ashore. The FBI later learned that residents had seen strangers roaming through Hancock around the time of the sinking. The agents' mission ended in New York, where Colepaugh confessed to a friend, who contacted the FBI. Gimpel was arrested days later. A military court sentenced both men to death, but the sentences were later commuted to life in prison. U-1230 survived the war and was scuttled in 1945.

The location of the Cornwallis stayed a mystery until now. "Lying at nearly 400 feet, the Cornwallis is no longer the ship that sailed north with sugar and molasses," the Nomad team wrote. "She is an underwater time capsule from one of the most unusual episodes of the war along the Maine coast."