A Part of the wreck of “Kaiser Wilhelm”, a German ship that was sunken in 1914 off Morocco’s Atlantic coast, was discovered late September by a Moroccan scientific mission off the Southern city of Dakhla.
The mission was dispatched to the area after authorities received information about the existence of the wreck from a local divers’ association.
The scientific mission members, after conducting underwater research for three days, confirmed that the wreckage was actually that of the German ship as the name “Kaiser Wilhelm” was still clearly readable on one of the sides of the ship.
Some of the features of the liner such as circular windows, corridors and rooms were still discernible, said the mission members who believe that the discovered part, lying 23 meters below the surface of the sea, is the prow of the ship.
The German transatlantic ocean liner, named after Emperor Wilhelm I, entered service in September 1897. As the first liner to have four funnels, it marked the beginning of a huge change in the way maritime supremacy was demonstrated in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century.
The ship started as the most important transcontinental luxury boat servicing a Europe-America line before it was converted some ten years later into a third class ship carrying mostly European immigrants to the United States.
When World War I broke, she was converted into an auxiliary cruiser that destroyed several enemy ships during the first months of the war. But on 26 August 1914, she was destroyed by a British warship. The discovery of parts of the wreck in the early 50s off Morocco is still vivid in the memory of some inhabitants of the region.
According to Moroccan authorities, extensive research operations will be conducted on the site once legal and technical procedures are completed.
