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Studying shipwrecks can help us understand the past, connect us to our cultural heritage, and teach us lessons on how the environment and human error can impact each other.
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Renowned explorer Dr. Robert Ballard and WHOI scientist Dr. Kirstin Meyer-Kaiser provide a fascinating overview of some of the many, surprising facts that can be learned from shipwrecks.
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Unescoclaims there are around three million shipwrecks but this is probably an underestimate. The figure does not include fishing vessels, which have been, and sadly still are, the types of ship most likely to be lost at sea.
An undisturbed historic shipwreck can function as a time capsule, giving a glimpse of a way of life frozen the moment the ship was lost. For example, the 3,000-year-old Uluburnum wreck, found off the southern coast of Turkey in the ’80s, gave archaeologists a unique picture of life and trade in the eastern Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age.
Finds vary from ship to ship over the centuries but sometimes shipwreck archaeology can bring reality to events previously only known in literary sources. For example, classical authors describe many naval battles between Romans and Carthaginians but until recently there was little evidence of these battles. Since 2010, 19 bronze warship rams have ...
The emergence of scuba diving in the ’50s allowed access to shallow water wrecks. At the start of the ’60s, archaeologist George F Bass showed that the methods of land archaeology could be applied to underwater wreck sites. Remotely operated underwater vehicles allowed deeper wrecks to be located. However, they needed a long cable from a ship on th...
Those who look for shipwrecks divide into two usually antagonistic groups: treasure hunters and maritime archaeologists. Probably the most famous treasure hunter was Melvin Fisher who for 16 years searched for the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha, wrecked in 1622 off the Florida Keys. He finally found the main wreck site in 1985 and recover...
Britain led the way in protecting historic shipwrecks with the Protection of Wrecks Act of 1973. On an international level, the Unesco Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage (2001) includes shipwrecks but has not been accepted by all maritime states. Although successes like Fisher’s discovery of the treasures of the Atocha mak...
One famous Scottish shipwreck is the Tobermory galleon. One of the Spanish Armada ships, the San Juan de Sicilia, reached Tobermory Bay on Mull in September 1588. Only a few weeks later, the ship caught fire and blew up. Over the centuries many salvage expeditions have tried to find the ship’s treasure, all without success. When it comes to treasur...
Shipwrecks may be connected to important historical events. People working to protect the marine environment can learn important lessons from shipwrecks about how currents, weather, technology and human error can damage the environment.
Dec 19, 2023 · Shipwrecks host quantities and varieties of marine life that can make them hot spots for biodiversity. The microbes that transform the wreck structure into habitat also enrich the surrounding...
May 12, 2022 · Research has shown that shipwrecks can intensely affect the structure, chemistry and biological makeup of marine ecosystems, even decades after they occur.
May 6, 2020 · Renowned explorer Dr. Robert Ballard and WHOI scientist Dr. Kirstin Meyer-Kaiser provide a fascinating overview of some of the many, surprising facts that can be learned from shipwrecks. Recorded on May 6, 2020 as part of the Ocean Encounters virtual series.
