WORLD BRIEFING / AUSTRALIA
The rusting wreck of the first American vessel that was sunk during World War II has been found off Australia’s southeast coast, ocean researchers said.
The City of Rayville, a freighter carrying a cargo of lead, wool and copper from Australia to New York, sank in the Bass Strait after striking a German mine Nov. 8, 1940, a year before the United States entered the war.
One seaman drowned while trying to recover personal items from the sinking vessel, but the 37 other crew members survived.
Researchers at Deakin University found the vessel under 230 feet of water by using sonar equipment during a research project to map the seabed.
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