A CARGO ship which sank without trace in the wild waters of the Atlantic in November, 1936, has been located by Keighley-born deep sea diving expert, Graham Jessop.

Graham and his team discovered the German ship, the Isis, when combing the seabed to find the Carpathia, one of the most historic wrecks off the British coast.

"It's a sad story because of the 40 crew on board, only the cabin boy survived," said Graham, who has been in touch with the German press, which is attempting to trace any relatives.

Graham, who runs the deep sea exploration company Ocean Point, has been commissioned to find the Carpathia, the Cunard liner which rushed to the rescue of stricken passengers adrift in the Atlantic after the Titanic sank in 1912. The Carpathia was itself sunk by a German U-boat in 1918, and lies in 600ft of water, about 185 miles west of Land's End.

The Isis was found as Graham and his team searched the bottom of the sea using sonar.

"The last message from the Isis was that it was taking water quickly and that it's bow was smashed in.

"It sank and 39 people lost their lives, only the cabin boy surviving. Its last know location was 20 miles from where we found it."

The Red Star liner, Westernland, which was in the area, steamed to the rescue and picked up the young lad from a lifeboat.

Also in the area was the Queen Mary, which responded to the last SOS message from the stricken ship, but was beaten to it by the Westernland.

On board the huge liner was 1930s heart-throb Douglas Fairbanks Junior. The Press at the time reported he was in tears at the plight of the boy, said Graham.

"There could be a chance that the boy is still alive. He'll possible be in his 70s now. And there could be other relatives of the drowned crew".

The location of the vessel has also been given to the Ministry of Defence, which keeps a record of wrecks, and the French authorities had also been informed.

The tragedy was recorded in The Times on November 10, 1936, which reported that the vessel was bound from Hamburg to New York when it foundered in a gale.

The only survivor was cabinboy Fritz Koethke, who was the sole occupant of the lifeboat when rescuers arrived.

Graham and his partner, Gary Goodyear, whose exploration vessel, Dawn Venture, is based in Grimbsy, plan to resume their search for the Carpathia in the spring, using a special unmanned deep sea diving pod. There are three or four wrecks in the area which could be the Carpathia.

He has been commissioned to find it by best selling author, Clive Cussler, who wrote Raise the Titanic, and the National Underwater Marine Agency, which has located some 65 historic wrecks.

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