Liner Lost in ’98 Found Off Massachusetts

The steamer Portland, which disappeared in a storm 91 years ago with perhaps 200 passengers, has been found at the bottom of the Atlantic off Massachusetts, an oceanographer said Sunday.

“There’s no doubt; we’ve got it,” said John Fish of the Historical Maritime Group of New England. Fish worked with Arnold Carr and William McElroy for 13 years to solve the mystery of the Portland.

“The find is particularly significant, not only because the Portland was one of the worst maritime disasters in the Northeast, but because it remained shrouded in mystery,” Paul Johnston of the Smithsonian Institution said.

Fish said it appears that the hull was rent lengthwise when the ship went down in 1898. “We expected something weather-beaten,” Fish said. “We found something that appeared to have exploded.”