SS Nemesis shipwreck relatives come forward | Photos, video

NSW heritage minister Penny Sharpe issued a global call, asking for descendants of the 32 men on board the ship when it vanished in 1904 to share their stories.

Crew members were from Australia, the UK and Canada. Between them, they left behind more than 40 children.

So far, 20 grandchildren and great grandchildren have come forward from NSW, Queensland, Victoria, SA and WA, to seek and share information about their family history.

Among them is Denise Burrell, the great-granddaughter of the ship's captain, Alexander Lusher.

She said her 99-year-old mother Esther Field - captain Lusher's granddaughter - is now his oldest surviving relative.

"After hearing the wreck had been found, Mum retold our family the story of SS Nemesis from what she remembers," Denise said.

"Throughout my life I have heard the family folklore, but this research and discovery has made it so much more real."

Heritage NSW is asking relatives to write down their stories so they can be collated and archived.

They are providing a better understanding and appreciation of the plight of SS Nemesis as well as previous unknown details of shipping, trade and craftsmanship from the early 1900s.

SS Nemesis was built at Whitby, UK in 1881, measured 73.4m, weighed 1393-ton, had an iron hill and was powered by a compound engine. It could reach speeds of 12 knots. The Nemesis was registered in Melbourne under Huddart Parker Ltd with the intention of concentrating on the coal trade from Newcastle

SS Nemesis departed Newcastle on Friday, July 8, 1904, loaded with coal and headed for Melbourne.

It was last sighted signalling distress in a storm off Wollongong.

The bodies of at least four crew members washed ashore at Cronulla Beach in the days after, and the men were buried in Sutherland.

The location of the 73-metre-long iron-hulled steamship remained unknown until remote sensing company Subsea Professional Marine Services stumbled across the wreck in 2022.

At the time it was trying to locate cargo containers lost off the coast south of Sydney.

Subsea reported the wreck to Heritage NSW and also undertook an initial inspection of the site using a remotely operated vehicle.

Heritage NSW petitioned the CSIRO to investigate the wreck to gather further data to aid in its identification.

RV Investigator was able to conduct a detailed seafloor mapping and camera investigation of the wreck while on a transit voyage from Hobart to Sydney in September 2023.

The CSIRO team used the vessel's advanced multi-beam echo sounders to first map the wreck site and surrounding seafloor in high resolution.

It then conducted a systematic visual inspection of the entire wreck using a specialised underwater drop camera system.

CSIRO voyage manager Jason Fazey said RV Investigator was in the right place at the right time to conduct the survey.

"Our voyage track took us right past the wreck and we were extremely lucky with the conditions for the survey, with our team onboard doing a superb job in capturing incredible imagery of the wreck," he said.

"We surveyed the entire length of the wreck with our drop camera, revealing a lot of detail of the ship's structures including some of the internal spaces."

Phil Vandenbossche, a CSIRO hydrographic surveyor on board the voyage, said the seafloor mapping by Investigator shows the wreck is lying in 160 metres of water and is about 28 kilometres off the Illawarra.

"The wreck is located towards the edge of the continental shelf and is sitting upright on the seafloor but is showing significant damage and deterioration at both the bow and stern," Mr Vandenbossche said.

"Our visual inspection of the wreck using the drop camera showed some key structures were still intact and identifiable, including two of the ship's anchors lying on the seafloor."

The bathymetry and camera survey data from Investigator, along with the previous imagery collected by Subsea, allowed Heritage NSW's maritime archaeology experts to identify the wreck as the Nemesis.

The video imagery collected by Investigator will now be "stitched together" to create a 3-D photogrammetric model of the wreck to allow it to be investigated in further detail.

The wreck of the Nemesis is protected as a historic shipwreck under the Underwater Cultural Heritage Act 2018.

Those with a connection to SS Nemesis are asked to contact Heritage NSW.