Researchers have identified the site of a World War I warship wreck after more than a century at the bottom of the Irish Sea.

HMS Stephen Furness was hit by a single torpedo fired from UB-64 on 13 December 1917 and sank with 100 of her crew, only 12 sailors surviving.

Researchers from Bangor University used high-resolution sonar data together with historical records to examine all known wreck sites in the region, which meant identifying the likely resting place of HMS Stephen became a relatively simple exercise.

The team said the process could easily be replicated elsewhere.

The wreck was located at a depth of 90 meters (295 ft) and about 10 miles (16.1 km) east of the entrance to Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland.

It was previously thought to be the remains of a Swedish cargo ship. SS Maja, which was torpedoed with the loss of nine lives a month before the end of the war.

The team believes they have located the remains of the SS Maja a few miles further south.

Gathering all the evidence and information, the research team was not only able to identify the likely resting place of the ship, but also to reconstruct some tragic aspects of what happened next.

The team found that on the afternoon of 13 December 1917, HMS Stephen Furness was in the northern Irish Sea, heading for repairs at Liverpool, when it was hit by a single torpedo fired by UB-64, which had been patiently chasing The Irish Sea for a time. opportunity like this for a few days.

The impact of the torpedo resulted in an explosion that caused the ship to sink within three minutes.

From that day to the present, the location of the attack and the final resting place of HMS Stephen Furness has remained a mystery.

The team also discovered that about a month after the sinking, four of the crew who lost their lives during the attack washed up along the coast of North Wales, nearly a hundred miles to the south.

Archived weather data was used to understand how this happened and to examine what might happen in other similar scenarios.

The new information from this discovery will allow researchers to explore beyond the simple narratives of U-Boat blockades and warfare and engage directly with the people involved, the lives they led and the sacrifices they made.

The discovery was part of a project called Unpath’d Waters, which took new approaches to investigate shipwreck sites.

The team has notified relevant authorities of the potential discovery to ensure the wreckage is protected.

Dr Mike Roberts, research and development manager at Bangor University’s School of Ocean Sciences, said: “Overall, the research highlights our significant lack of understanding of what actually constitutes the majority of shipwrecks in UK waters, which is, also a problem on a global scale.

“This project clearly demonstrates the incredible potential that our disparate and disparate collections of information and materials have when we take a collective multidisciplinary approach.”

Barney Sloane of Historic England said: “The probable identification of HMS Stephen Furness is a brilliant and poignant example of the potential of UK maritime heritage data and a testament to the collaboration and excellent detective work of the Unpath’d Waters team.

“This result is an outstanding example of how important such an effort will prove to be.”