GPS Coordinates: -4.660833, -174.544444

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Nikumaroro Island may be better known for the ongoing archaeological investigation into Amelia Earhart’s disappearance, but it’s also the site of a dramatic shipwreck. On November 29, 1929, the British freighter SS Norwich City wrecked on the reef here during a tropical storm. When a fire broke out in the ship, the crew were forced to wade across the reef and seek shelter on the atoll. Eleven men perished in the endeavor but the rest were later rescued. The SS Norwich City was deemed unsalvageable due to Nikumaroro’s remote location and there it still sits, being slowly eroded by the relentless forces of nature.

Some of photos presented here are courtesy of The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), the non-profit organization spearheading the search for Earhart on this atoll. The photos show how the shipwreck appeared throughout the twentieth century and up to the modern day.

Related Features: Still Searching: The Mysterious Disappearance of Amelia Earhart

Seven years after it wrecked, the Norwich City was still mostly intact.

Another aerial photo of the wreck from 1941.

A US reconnaissance photo of the wreck taken in 1941.

TIGHAR investigators wade out to what remains of the wreck in 2007.

All photos courtesy of TIGHAR.