S.S. Cotopaxi

Cotopaxi
Career
Flag
Owner	Clinchfield Navigation Company, New York
Shipyard	Great Lakes Engineering Works, Ecorse, Michigan
Type	"Stemwinder"/Design 1060 bulk cargo ship
Authorized	1918
Keel laid	August 29, 1918
Launched	November 15, 1918
Commissioned	November 30, 1918
Status	Sank off Florida December 1, 1925
Characteristics
Displacement	2,351 tons
Length	253.33 feet
Beam	43.58 feet
Draft	25 feet
Speed	9 knots
Crew	30

Steam Ship Cotopaxi was a small, bulk cargo carrier which was in operation early in the 20th century; its sudden disappearance in 1925 would give to her some notoriety in books about the paranormal and in film until her rediscovery off Florida in 2020.

History

Cotopaxi was number 209, the fourth ship in a series of 24 cargo steamers known as "Design 1060" ordered by United States Shipping Board in March 1918 from a shipyard in Ecorse, Michigan, of which 17 would be built there. The design was informally called "stemwinder", due to the placement of the superstructure (including bridge, cabins, etc) and engine room aft, leaving the forward 2/3s of the ship for cargo, which was aided in loading by four "kingpost" cranes. The power plant consisted of a triple expansion steam engine, which was powered by two coal-fired boilers. The construction of Cotopaxi took 78 days from the laying of the keel to launch; she was delivered on November 30, 1918 and was intended for use on the east coast of South America. During her time in service two mishaps were reported: in 1919, on a trip from Philadelphia to Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, she ran aground in the Braganza Canal damaging her propeller shaft and engines; and in 1920 she collided with and sank a tug while entering Havana, Cuba.

On November 29, 1925, Cotopaxi loaded with coal and sailed from Charleston, South Carolina to Havana; onboard were 32 men. On December 1, 1925 the captain reported the ship was in the teeth of a tropical storm and water was coming in. Nothing more was heard from the ship, and despite an extensive search no trace of Cotopaxi was found.

Wreck discovery

Due to its disappearance without a trace, Cotopaxi in the years since has become one of the more famous victims of the Bermuda Triangle, an area of the Atlantic Ocean claimed by paranormal enthusiasts to have caused the disappearance of hundreds of ships and planes, and thousands of people, often at the hands of freak natural events, gateway portals, or space aliens, of which the last became a plot device in a major motion picture. In 1977, director Stephan Spielberg released Close Encounters of the Third Kind, a science fiction film in which aliens attempt to make contact with earth, including returning people and objects which have disappeared in the Triangle. A memorable scene has investigators discovering Cotopaxi, returned to earth, high and dry in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia.

M.V. Capitán Leonidas, wrecked in Chile in 1968, and used by hoaxers and paranormalists to claim Cotopaxi returned from a Bermuda Triangle limbo.

The outlandish claims about the ship's disappearance in the Triangle have naturally led to equally outlandish claims concerning the ship's alleged "reappearance". In May, 2015 the World News Daily Report, an admitted fake news website, published an article stating Cotopaxi was found off Cuba, and intercepted by Cuban authorities who discovered the ship crew-less upon boarding. In another case, a shipwreck which actually does exist is rusting in the Messier Channel, one of the waterways near Puerto Eden, Chile, and has been claimed as Cotopaxi by paranormal enthusiasts and hucksters. According to their theories, Cotopaxi suddenly returned via a timewarp with little to no explanation, with many pundits posting videos on YouTube under the Cotopaxi name. In reality this particular ship, Capitán Leonidas, lies grounded on a submerged rock known locally as "Bajo Cotopaxi"; after having delivered a cargo of sugar to Uruguay in 1968, an unsuccessful attempt was made to sink the ship in Chilean waters in a case of insurance fraud.

In January 2020, a shipwreck located about 35 miles east of St. Augustine, Florida and known locally as the "Bear Wreck" since 1985, was identified as Cotopaxi after a search in the Lloyd’s archives revealed that the steamer had sent a location with the distress signal prior to sinking. Further investigations, which included the identification of a valve manufactured in Ecorse, Michigan, the historical facts of a severe storm which struck the area on the date of sinking, and a little-known court case against the owners of the ship by the families, helped identify the Bear Wreck as Cotopaxi.