Two Victorian shipping mysteries may have been solved thanks to the £50 million search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

While sonar devices have failed to pinpoint the wreckage of the Boeing 777 which disappeared with 239 people on board in March 2014, they have located a pair of shipwrecks on the Indian Ocean seabed.

One is believed to be West Ridge, a 220-foot iron barque, built in Scotland, which was lost while carrying British coal to India in 1883, claiming the lives of 28 crew.

It was found on December 19 2015, 12,000 feet below the surface, 1.500 miles off the west coast of Australia.

The wreck was found lying upright and evidence uncovered by Australian archaeologists suggest that the vessel weighed between 1,100 and 1,655 tons and had at least two decks.

Sifting through the debris, scientists found a coal sample which, on further analysis, suggested that the ship was British.

That information and the surviving anchors and metal fasteners enabled researchers to identify the West Ridge as the likeliest candidate.