Are Prometheus & Kerberos Based on Real Ships in 1899? Here’s What Happened to Them

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From what we’ve seen in Netflix’s latest mystery thriller series, there are two different ships in 1899. The first ship is the Prometheus, which is the mystery ship that had gone missing four months before the events of the story, and the second one is the Kerberos, which is the ship that the characters are on during the series. Seemingly happening in 1899, this series follows the story of people who want to escape the Old World to get to America, and the Kerberos was their way to a new life. Considering that there were mass migrations from Europe during the 19thcentury, does that mean that the Prometheus and the Kerberos were based on real ships?

It is highly unlikely that the Prometheus and the Kerberos are based on real-life ships. While the Prometheus and the Kerberos have similarly named ships in real life, they were not based on them. That’s because the story of 1899 isn’t even historical at all and actually happens in an entirely different timeline. 

Any similarity between the names of the ships in 1899 and the names of real-life ships are probably purely coincidental at best. Of course, there must be a deeper meaning behind the names of the ships in 1899, and that’s what we are here to look at as we discuss both the Prometheus and the Kerberos.

Are The Prometheus And Kerberos Based On Real Ships?

1899 is a series that seemed to be a simple mystery storyline set against the backdrop of the great migration of Europeans to America during the 19th century. The storyline introduces two different ships that both play important roles in the series. First is the Prometheus, which disappeared out on sea four months before the events of the series. The second is the Kerberos, which is the same ship that Maura and the other main characters are on.

The Kerberos is the ship that is carrying the characters that want to go to the New World to escape their pasts in Europe. But the thing is that Eyk, the captain of the Kerberos, went to the location of the Prometheus after they received a message from it. And that was when the entire mess involving the two ships started, as this was when the characters experienced weird psychological events in the series.

Of course, the storyline and ending of 1899 have their own dedicated article. But what we are more interested in here are the ships that are quite important in the events of the series. So, considering that there was also a mass migration from Europe to America during the 19th century, does that mean that the Prometheus and the Kerberos are based on real-life ships?

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It is unlikely that the Prometheus and the Kerberos are based on real-life ships. That’s because 1899 is not based on a true story and is actually more sci-fi than anything else once you get the entire picture of what the series is all about. As such, it is highly unlikely that these two ships are based on ships that actually existed in real life long ago.

Of course, due to how many ships have existed in recorded history, there are some ships that share the same name as the Prometheus and the Kerberos. There are numerous ships called the HMS Prometheus, as three of them have existed throughout history. The most recent was the one that was launched in 1898, but it was a cruiser meant for naval warfare. Meanwhile, there is a ship that’s called the HMS Cerberus, which was launched at the end of the 18th century.

Considering that these ships have entirely different histories compared to the things that happened to the Prometheus and the Kerberos in 1899, we don’t believe that these are the ships on which the ships in 1899 are based. Instead, we do believe that they simply have similar names.

What Happened To The Real-Life Prometheus And Cerberus Ships?

Both the HMS Prometheus nor the HMS Cerberus didn’t have histories that were actually as interesting as the Prometheus and the Kerberos in 1899. Instead, they were used for naval warfare until they were sold. The HMS Cerberus actually fought in several wars during the 18th century but was eventually sold off as well.

However, there are ships that share similarities with the Prometheus and the Kerberos in 1899 in the sense that they disappeared under unknown circumstances. These ships were the USS Proteus, USS Nereus, and USS Cyclops. And the circumstances surrounding these ships are actually quite mysterious.

The Cyclops vanished in 1918, but both the Nereus and the Proteus still continued to sail until 1941. There are numerous theories surrounding these three ships, as it is possible that they were actually sunk during the time of the war between the Germans.

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Of course, the most common theory is the possibility that they may have disappeared due to the effects of the Bermuda Triangle, which still remains one of the most mysterious places on the planet. There are no official documents or evidence that support this theory, however.

Still, considering that the Proteus, Nereus, and Cyclops are sister ships that had similar designs, they are very similar to the Prometheus and the Kerberos in 1899 because of the fact that these two are also sister ships. But the standing theory is that the three aforementioned ships were sunk due to how their designs weren’t exactly the best in terms of how they were able to withstand attacks coming from other naval vessels.

There is another story that is analogous to the case of Prometheus. Back in 1881, a ship called the Ellen Austin found a vessel just north of the Sargasso Sea, as this ship wasn’t propelling in any direction but was still drifting in the waters. Ellen Austin’s crew attempted to make contact with it, but the crew of the opposing ship didn’t answer. That was what led them to send a small crew to the ship.

When the crew got on the mystery ship, everything was in normal condition, but there were no humans on board. There were enough supplies to feed what could have been a large crew, but there were no people on the ship. Based on what the crew also saw, it didn’t seem like the ship had been caught in a storm. As such, the captain of the ship decided to tow the mystery ship, only to realize that the crew that he was sending there consistently vanished.

Of course, the abovementioned story has no factual basis as it is merely based on conspiracy theories and rumors. Still, the fact is that this has remained one of the most popular Bermuda Triangle mysteries of all time, as it is possible that the events surrounding both the Prometheus and the Kerberos were based on the events surrounding the Ellen Austin and the mysterious ship that it found.

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