heritage Article Early Observations on the Steamer Bengala (Formerly Named Mecca and Livorno) Sunk off Capo Rizzuto (Crotone, Italy) in 1889 1, 2, 3, , Salvatore Medaglia y, Francesco Megna y and Luca De Rosa * y 1 Laboratory of Ancient Topography and Calabrian Antiquity, University of Calabria, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende, Italy;
[email protected] 2 Marine Strategy CRSM, 88900 Crotone, Italy;
[email protected] 3 Independent Researcher in Mechanical Engineering, 88841 Isola di Capo Rizzuto (Kr), Italy * Correspondence:
[email protected] These authors contributed equally to this work. y Received: 18 July 2020; Accepted: 11 August 2020; Published: 13 August 2020 Abstract: In the waters of the Calabrian Ionian Sea, off Isola di Capo Rizzuto (Crotone, Italy) and at a depth of 26–29 m, lies the wreck of Bengala, an iron screw-steamer foundered in 1889. She was built and launched in 1871 in Sunderland (Great Britain) in the yards of Iliff, Mounsey, and Co. (Sunderland), with the name of Mecca and her British owner was Mr. Ralph Milbanke Hudson Junior. In 1872 she was sold to the Lloyd Italiano company and was rechristened as Livorno. In 1876 her ownership changed once more and she became part of the fleet of the Genoese shipping company Rubattino and Co. with the name Bengala. The steamer was sold for the last time at the launch of the Navigazione Generale Italiana in 1881, one of the largest shipping companies in Europe. Until now, no scientific study has been dedicated to this topic and the few references in the literature are often incorrect.