Scientists find the 'Titanic of New England'

On Nov. 26, 1898, a light snow began to fall as a 291-foot coastal steamer christened the "Portland" eased out from Boston's India Wharf en route to Maine.

She never arrived. Sometime during the next 18 hours, the richly furnished side-wheeler with its 191 passengers and crew foundered in the teeth of the 19th century's "perfect storm." The pride of the Portland Steamship Company sank, killing all in what became known as the Portland Gale.

Now a team of marine scientists says it has definitely found the fabled wreck in 500 feet of water off the coast of Boston, ending a century-long search for the so-called "Titanic of New England."

The announcement Thursday that researchers have identified and surveyed the Portland in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, 25 miles east of Boston, provides the first unambiguous identification of the ship's location. It could be the first of several expeditions aimed at solving some of the mysteries surrounding one of the worst disasters in US maritime history.

Images taken remotely show the Portland sitting upright and intact on the bottom, bits of spokes still radiating from the hubs of its side-mounted paddles. The steamer's twin smokestacks, a 40-foot A-frame that supported the "transmission" linking the ship's steam engine to the paddles, and the lack of a propeller on the stern told the team it had the right ship, according to Bruce Terrell, marine archaeologist for the federal sanctuary program.

The most striking thing about the wreck, he says, is the disappearance of the steamer's superstructure. "All of the structure above the main deck is swept clean," he says. "We're not finding any debris on the bottom around it.... You can't see that without feeling the power of the ocean and sympathy for the poor people on board during those awful last hours."

The effort comes at a time of heightened federal activity in identifying and preserving offshore cultural resources. Earlier this month, for example, a salvage team from the US Navy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) pulled up the gun turret from the Civil War warship the USS Monitor. It is hoping to preserve what pieces they can of the rapidly deteriorating vessel.

The Portland's final resting place was discovered initially in 1989 by John Fish and Arnold Carr of American Underwater Search and Survey, Mr. Terrell notes. But the evidence needed to identify the vessel was inconclusive. Then a few years ago, the US Geological Survey conducted detailed sonar surveys of the Rhode Island-sized sanctuary. Improvements in sonar technology "rendered the ocean transparent," says Craig McDonald, the reserve's superintendent, allowing researchers to spot features as small as a refrigerator on the sea floor.

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