Famous Ship Wrecks

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Ships have been built and wrecked since pre-recorded history. Available data on the number of wrecks to date is unreliable. Survivors of the Titanic were rescued by the ship Carpathia which followed the same doomed fate and sank in deep sea. The motives behind exploring ship wrecks is mostly an academic interest but many expensive expeditions have been conducted to find the cause of the disaster and dig out the sunken treasures. While most explorations have been futile, a few have been successful in recovering treasures including gold. Every sunken ship is like a museum. The site of each wreck is of historical importance and have become tourist attractions. Legends, myths and fictional stories are attached to  shipwrecks which have been the subject of different genres.

1. RMS Titanic

RMS Titanic
RMS Titanic

Owned by White Star Line, RMS Titanic was an Olympic Class Ocean Liner. It was built by Herald and Wolff, Belfast. Work began on the Titanic on March 31, 1909, launched on May 31, 1911 and completed on April 2, 1912. The great ship was 269 meters long and 10.5 meters high from keel to top. (… of what?) It weighed 46,328 GRT (Gross Registered Tonnage). On April 15, 1912, during her maiden voyage, she was carrying 2224 passengers, some of them from the wealthiest families of the world while others were emigrants from Great Britain, Scandinavia and other countries. The ship was heading from Southampton, England to New York city. She was matched by no other in comfort and luxury. During its maiden voyage, the RMS Titanic collided with an iceberg and sank with the loss of 1514 passengers. Known as the Mother of Shipwrecks, the Titanic is consider the deadliest disaster in recorded peacetime history.

2. RMS Carpathia

RMS Carpathia
RMS Carpathia

RMS Carpathia was a Cunard Line transatlantic passenger steamship, constructed by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson at the Newcastle upon Tyne shipyard. She was launched on August 6, 1902. The ship was 165 meters long, 19.66 meters wide and weighed 8,700 tonnes. She made her maiden voyage in 1903. The Carpathia became famous for rescuing the survivors of the Titanic after it hit an iceberg and sank. The Captain of the Carpathia, Arthur Henry Rostron, sped to the Titanic in response to its distress signal. They rescued 70 passengers. He was awarded a gold medal, knighted by King George, and was invited to The White House to be honored with the highest US Congressional Award. The entire crew of  the Carpathia was honored. The Carpathia, destined to shipwreck as well, was torpedoed by an Imperial German Navy U-boat during the First World War and sank on April 15, 1912.

3. MS Estonia

MS Estonia
MS Estonia

Previously known as MS Viking Sally, MS Silja Star and MS Vasa King, the Estonia was a cruise ferry built by the German Shipyard, Meyer Werft, Papenburg. The ship sank on September 28, 1994 in the Baltic Sea losing 852 passengers. It is one of the worst maritime disasters in recorded history. Many causes have been assigned to the sinking of the ship and many of these are controversial. It is generally believed that rough weather was the major cause, although rumors abound that it may have been destroyed by an explosive device planted by the enemy. The site of the shipwreck is protected and well guarded. Diving in or around the area is a punishable offense under law.

4. The Costa Concordia

The Costa Concordia
The Costa Concordia

MS Costa Concordia was a Concordia Class Cruise ship built by Fincan Tieri’s Sestri Ponente Yard of Italy. The 114,137 GT Costa Concordia was the largest ship built in Italy. On the night of January 13, 2012 (check date?)  while it was carrying 4,252 passengers it hit a reef off the Italian Coast and sank. Thirty people died in the disaster while two were missing and 64 others were injured. Captain Francesco Stetting deviated from the computer programmed route to treat the people on Giglio Island and this is considered the major cause of the shipwreck. Soon after this deviation, it struck a reef and water entered in engine room.

5. SS Edmund Fitzgerald

SS Edmund Fitzgerald
SS Edmund Fitzgerald

Steamship Edmund Fitzgerald, owned by Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, was an American Great Lakes freighter. It is said that the ship had suffered mishaps since the its time of christening. It required three attempts to break open the bottle of champagne. The ship had been carrying Taconite Iron ore, from Mines near Duluth, Minnesota. Known as a ‘work horse’ it set six recores in seventeen years of service. The ship embarked on her last voyage under the command of Captain Ernest M. McSorley on the afternoon of November 9, 1975. En route to a steel mill, she was joined by another freighter. The next day both ships were caught in a  hurricane force winter storm. At 7:10 p.m. the SS Fitzgerald sank with its total crew of twenty-nine. None of the bodies were recovered.

6. HMS Victory

HMS Victory
HMS Victory

HMS Victory was the most powerful warship of its time. The ship was built in 1737. It was in commanded by the war hero Admiral John Balchin and was a part of the fleet that broke the French blockade of the Tagus River at Lisbon. While returning to England, the ship was hit by a fierce storm and separated from its fleet.  Along with its 1,00 sailors, it sank near the Channel Islands. The sunken ship remained out of sight for 250 years and was discovered in 2008. Uponn its discovery, Sir Robert Balchin said, ‘For 12 generations we have wondered what really happened. This astonishing find has brought it all back to life for us.’ In consideration of the experience of the sailors on board, it is almost certain that the shipwreck of HMS Victory was caused due to its construction.

7. The Tryall

Tryall Rocks
Tryall Rocks

The 500 ton ship, Tryall, was built by an East India Company. She was under command of John Brook when she sank near Tryall Rocks off the North West coast of Western Australia. The ship left from Plymouth for Batavia on her maiden voyage on September 4, 1621. She was carrying a cargo for trade in the East Indie and a gift for the King of Siam. The ship was sighted on the Australian coast on May 1, 1622. On may 25 at approximately 10:30 p.m., she struck the submerged rocks and sank near Barrow Island.

8. S.S.Maheno

S.S.Maheno
S.S.Maheno

S.S.Maheno, owned by Trans ”œTasman Crossings, was a luxury passenger ship constructed in 1905 in Scotland. During the First World War it served as a Hospital ship in the English Channel. The ship was declared outdated in 1935 and was being towed on June 25, 1935 from Melbourne when it was caught in a cyclone. On July 9, 1935 she appeared on shore and was beached on Fraser Island. She was used for training by the RAAF and Fraser Commando School.

9. The Mary Rose

The Mary Rose
The Mary Rose

Constructed in 1509-1511, The Mary Rose was a warship owned by the English Tudor Navy of King Henry VIII. It served for 33 years fighting against France, Scotland and Brittany. It was overhauled and rebuilt in 1536. She sank in the Solent Straits, Northern Isle of Wight while she was leading the attack on a French invasion fleet. The Mary Rose was discovered in 1971 after an expensive archaeological search mission and salvaged in 1982 by Mary Rose Trust. The finds from the disaster are considered the time capsule of the Tudor era. Its hull is displayed at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard while its cCollection of preserved artifacts is displayed at the Mary Rose Museum.

10. Nuestra Senora de Atocha

Nuestra Senora de Atocha
Nuestra Senora de Atocha

Nuestra Senora de Atocha was the most famous Spanish ship that sank off the Florida Keys. She went down on September 6, 1622. Driven by a fierce hurricane to the coral reefs approximately 35 kilometers from Keywest, its hull was badly damaged and it sank quickly with all its crew. Only three sailors and two slaves survived. Its cargo was comprised of copper, silver, gold, tobacco, gems, jewelry and indigo. Mel fisher recovered the treasure from Atocha which is valued at over $450 million and was shared with his investors.

Conclusion:

The endless chain of dust to dust applies to ships too. They are made on earth and at times sink deep onto a different type of earth: the bottom of sea. There are people who spend their whole lives in search of a lost shipwreck. A few recovered ships and their finds; displayed in museums, depict a certain historical point in time, frozen and preserved for generations to come.

 

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