SS Cotopaxi

The SS Cotopaxi was a tramp steamer named after the Cotopaxi stratovolcano. She vanished in December 1925, while en route from Charleston, South Carolina, USA, to Havana, Cuba, with all hands.

Description
Cotopaxi was a cargo ship of 2,351 GRT. She was built by the Great Lakes Engineering Works, Ecorse, Michigan, in 1918 for the Clinchfield Navigation Company.

Cotopaxi was 253 ft long between perpendiculars, with a beam of 44 ft. Her steam engine could propel her at 9.5 kn.

Final voyage
On 29 November 1925, Cotopaxi departed Charleston, South Carolina, for Havana, Cuba, under the command of Captain W. J. Meyer. She was carrying a cargo of coal and a crew of 32. On 1 December, Cotopaxi radioed a distress call reporting that the ship was listing and taking on water. The ship was officially listed as overdue on 31 December.

Despite the last radio transmission indicating that the ship was about to sink, she has since been connected to the legend of the Bermuda Triangle.

In fiction
In the 1980 Special Edition release of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the Cotopaxi is discovered, located in the Gobi Desert, presumably set there by extraterrestrial forces.