Divers recently found a long-lost shipwreck that sank in a hit-and-run.

A fishing vessel run aground

More than 160 years after vanishing beneath the waves of the Atlantic, the wreck of French steamship Le Lyonnais was discovered off the coast of Massachusetts. The ship’s demise in November 1856 was a bit out of the ordinary. Le Lyonnais didn’t topple in a storm or suffer an epic wreck — it sank as a result of a hit-and-run.

Le Lyonnais was sailing from the U.S. to France when it collided with the U.S. sailing ship Adriatic. The Adriatic suffered only minor damage and sailed on, heading for port in Gloucester, Massachusetts, for repairs. The crew of the Adriatic reportedly thought Le Lyonnais was fine to carry on as well, but the French ship was not so fortunate: The hull was punctured, and despite the crew’s efforts to patch the breach, the situation grew worse. Three days later, Le Lyonnais succumbed to the damage and sank. Of the steamship’s 132 passengers, only 18 survived.

Though the fate of Le Lyonnais was known, the exact location of its wreckage remained a mystery until recently. In August 2024, a shipwreck hunting and salvaging team discovered the vessel about 200 miles from New Bedford, Massachusetts. They knew they’d found the right ship thanks to a few key details including the horizontal steam engine and iron hull plates. Most crucially, the engine’s cylinder measured 57 inches — a perfect match with the ship’s records. According to Jennifer Sellitti, a member of the crew that found the ship and the author of The Adriatic Affair: A Maritime Hit-and-Run off the Coast of Nantucket, Adriatic Captain John Durham later had his ship apprehended by French authorities and was put on trial. But even with the international attention, the sinking of Le Lyonnais was all but forgotten after the onset of the American Civil War.

By the Numbers

Did you know?

A California chicken farmer once discovered a $400 million shipwreck.

Mel Fisher followed a winding path to becoming one of history’s most profitable treasure hunters. After spending his childhood and university years in Indiana, followed by a stint with the U.S. Army, Fisher ended up in California, where he worked on his parents’ chicken ranch. It was there that he indulged in a longtime passion, opening his first dive shop in a feed shed on the ranch.

By the 1960s, Fisher was immersed in the world of shipwreck hunting and had become fixated on finding the Nuestra Señora de Atocha, a Spanish treasure galleon that sank off the Florida Keys in 1622. In 1985, it paid off: Fisher’s team found the long-lost ship, and its gold, silver, jewels, and other artifacts, worth about $400 million, were intact. The Atocha treasure made Fisher a millionaire — and led to law reform. In 1987, Congress passed the Abandoned Shipwreck Act, giving states ownership of shipwrecks found within 3 miles of their coastlines.