There are more than 8000 shipwrecks off the coast of Australia, but only a quarter of those have been found. THOUGH SHIPWRECKS RARELY HAPPEN these days, historically, many have met their treacherous end in Australian waters.
Loch Ard (1878)
The iron clipper Loch Ard is significant as one of Victoria's and Australia's most tragic and famous shipwrecks.
Australia has a very lengthy coastline which is why it has such a high rate of recorded shipwrecks. Out of the 8000 registered shipwrecks only 2000 have been found.
Bermuda is often considered the shipwreck capital of the world. With more than 300 shipwrecks dotting its waters, the North Atlantic island boasts more wrecks per square mile than anywhere else on the planet.
Cataraqui (also called Cataraque) was a British barque which sank off the south-west coast of King Island in Bass Strait on 4 August 1845. The sinking was Australia's worst ever maritime civil disaster incident, claiming the lives of 400 people.
Trial Rocks
A British East Indiaman of approximately 500 tons, under the command of John Brooke wrecked on the Tryal Rocks off the north-west coast of Western Australia in 1622. It is Australia's oldest known shipwreck.
Except for 26 passengers, everyone on the Doña Paz died, including its crew of 58; while on the Vector only 2 of its 13 crew survived. The combined death toll from both ships is estimated at 4,386, making the incident the deadliest peacetime maritime disaster in history.
The San José Called the “holy grail of shipwrecks,” the Spanish galleon San José was carrying a treasure of silver, gold, and emeralds worth billions of dollars today. The galleon sunk after a battle with British ships off the coast of Cartagena, Colombia, in 1708.
RMS Titanic
The supposedly "unsinkable" ocean liner set sail on its maiden voyage on 10 April 1912 only to hit an iceberg just before midnight on 14 April and sank in less than three hours. Claiming 1,514 lives, it is often remembered as one of the most famous and tragic shipwrecks in history.
During World War Two the RAN lost 38 Ships, of which 14 were combatants and 24 were requisitioned ships. There were 39 more ships under construction in Australia when war ended in August 1945.
The dramatic moments on the 5th of March 1995, when during round four in the round robin stage of the America's Cup challenger series, and in a match race between One Australia and Team New Zealand, the Australian boat split and sunk within two minutes off San Diego, CA.
Around two million square kilometers of land around Australia was lost to rising seas after the last ice age, about the same area as modern-day Mexico. The scientific thinking echoes Indigenous lore: that these now-submerged landscapes, often called sea country, hold some of Australia's oldest histories.
The Extremely Ancient Dokos Shipwreck
Among them, the Dokos wreck is thought to be the oldest shipwreck found to date. It dates before c. 2200 BCE, judging by the pottery cargo it carried. It was discovered by Peter in 1975 at a depth of fifteen to thirty meters near the Greek island of Dokos.
Evidence. According to HIMA, the Cycladic pottery evidence is dated to around 2200 BC, which makes the Dokos wreck the oldest known underwater shipwreck yet discovered. The clay pots appear to be merchandise from an ancient Argolida manufacturing facility.
Seawise Giant was damaged and sunk in 1988 during the Iran–Iraq War by an Iraqi Air Force attack while anchored off Larak Island, Iran on 14 May 1988 and carrying Iranian crude oil. The ship was struck by parachute bombs.
Between 2011 and 2021, some 892 vessels were lost at sea. The majority of ships lost during this period—around 357—were cargo ships.
There's an estimated three million shipwrecks scattered across the ocean floor, from sunken World War II destroyers to colonial Spanish galleons to small abandoned dinghies. Today, many of them are teeming with marine life, reclaimed by the ocean as homes for coral, eels, snappers and sharks.
The Robertson family spent 38 days adrift with little fresh water or food supplies after their yacht was sunk by killer whales. Their tale of survival reveals the extremes the human body can endure.
The El Dorado of the sea
On 23 September, 1641, an English galleon named the Merchant Royal, loaded with gold and silver, sank off the coast of Cornwall. The wreck remains lost to this day. Within her soggy hulls is thought to be one of the most valuable shipwreck treasures in history.
While the Titanic is the most famous maritime disaster, it's not the deadliest. The Wilhelm Gustloff is the deadliest in history, killing 9,000 people when it sank in 1945. Similar to the Titanic, the Joola, the SS Kiangya, and the MV Doña Paz were carrying civilians when they were sunk.
One historian says Ernest Shackleton's ship 'Endurance' is the 'best preserved shipwreck in the world'. Dan Snow was speaking after the shipwreck was discovered at a depth of 3008 metres (9869 feet) in the Weddell Sea. It remains in remarkable condition, looking much like it did when it went down on November 21st 1915.
It was a monumental find, and more than 30 years after its discovery, the Whydah Gally (also known simply as “Whydah“) remains the only fully authenticated and positively identified pirate shipwreck ever recovered.
Port Phillip Bay Wrecks - Port Phillip Bay, Victoria
There are over 900 registered shipwrecks in Victoria. The capital city of Melbourne sits on Port Phillip Bay, home to more than 50 of those wrecks.