How we found a long-lost first world war vessel beneath Irish waters

HMS Stephen Furness was steaming through the northern Irish Sea on the afternoon of December 13 1917, en route to Liverpool for repairs. The crew maintained a cautious course, altering direction every ten minutes and travelling at a steady 13 knots – fully aware of the lurking threat from German U-boats.

At 4.15pm, disaster struck. A torpedo launched by the German UB-64 hit the starboard side of the vessel, causing an explosion that sank the ship in just three minutes. Of the more than 100 sailors on board the Stephen…

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