1. Santa Maria (1492) The notorious explorer Christopher Columbus set sail for the New World in 1492 with three ships: Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria. During the course of Columbus' voyage, which took him to the Caribbean, Santa Maria sank.
What is the most popular unfound shipwreck in the world? Flor de la Mar is the most famous shipwreck, filled with diamonds, gold and other riches.
The Flor de la Mar (1511) – $2.6 billion
This 400-ton Portuguese sailing vessel served for an astonishing nine years, completing multiple voyages over the Indian Ocean. But it also had a track record of springing leaks and requiring repairs.
In fact, it's thought the shipwrecks that have been documented only represent a small fraction of the total. According to an analysis by Unesco, there are over three million resting undiscovered in the world's oceans.
Between 2013 and 2022, some 807 vessels were lost at sea. The majority of ships lost during this period—around 311—were cargo ships. In 2022, the most perilous regions included the waters off the Southeast Asian coast, as well as the Baltic Sea.
According to Columbus's logbook, the Santa Maria foundered on a reef off Cap Haïtien, Haiti, on Christmas Eve, 1492. Its hull was dismantled and used to construct the fortified village of La Navidad, which also has yet to be discovered.
Explorers have found the deepest shipwreck ever identified, a US navy destroyer escort sunk during WWII. The USS Samuel B Roberts went down during the Battle Off Samar in the Philippine Sea in October 1944. It lies in 6,895m (22,621ft) of water.
With the discovery of the ship's bell in 1985 and a small brass placard in 2013, both inscribed with the ship's name and maiden voyage date, Whydah Gally is the only fully authenticated Golden Age pirate shipwreck ever discovered.
On average, two ships a week are lost, one way or another. That doesn't take into account smaller vessels or fishing craft. This is the nature of shipping. The ocean is the most dangerous workplace on the planet.
MV Wilhelm Gustloff
Of the estimated 10,000 people on board the Gustloff, only around 1,000 survived, making it the deadliest sinking in wartime maritime history.
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.
The largest monetary treasure haul found was on the wreck code named Black Swan, discovered by Odyssey Marine Exploration in 2007 off of Gibraltar. The salvage team reportedly found 17 tons of coins valued at $500 million; an amount that is both staggering and said to be “unprecedented” in the treasure hunting world.
The wreck of the Arctic has never been found. Captain James F. Luce never took to the sea again.
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.
Famous pirates from this period include Henry Morgan, William 'Captain' Kidd, 'Calico' Jack Rackham, Bartholomew Roberts and the fearsome Blackbeard (Edward Teach). Though this Golden Age came to an end in the 18th century, piracy still exists today in some parts of the world, especially the South China Seas.
USS Constitution, also known as Old Ironsides, is a three-masted wooden-hulled heavy frigate of the United States Navy. She is the world's oldest ship still afloat. She was launched in 1797, one of six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794 and the third constructed.
The oldest active pirate during the Golden Age of piracy was Captain William Kidd (born c. 1645, d. 23 May 1701), who plied his trade until the age of 54; owing to the many occupational hazards, the majority of pirates only lived into their mid-30s.
During this, it's understood that USS Samuel B. Roberts was critically hit by a battleship, killing 89 people as it sank. Now, its remains lie at depths nearly four times as great as the Grand Canyon - far deeper than the Titanic.
The most famous is the Titanic, but it is far from being the only well-known one. Among the most prominent we find the deepest wreck ever identified: a destroyer escort of the United States Navy which sank during World War II, called the USS Samuel B. Roberts. It was lost to the sea in the year 1944.
Bismarck was only slightly smaller than Titanic, and it was three thousand feet deeper -- three miles deep! There they found evidence to support the scuttling story.
The conditions are lousy for ship preservation
Also known as shipworms and 'termites of the sea,' these creatures can devour an exposed wooden wreck within a decade and are the arch-nemesis of underwater archaeologists working in the region.
The Santa Maria sank after hitting reefs off the Haitian coast around Christmas of 1492, months after arriving from Spain. It is believed that Columbus ordered some of the ship's timbers stripped from the wreck in order to build a fort on land near the shore.
He also sailed in 1493, 1498, and 1502. In the course of his four voyages, Christopher Columbus lost nine ships.
The wartime sinking of the German Wilhelm Gustloff in January 1945 in World War II by a Soviet Navy submarine, with an estimated loss of about 9,400 people, remains the deadliest isolated maritime disaster ever, excluding such events as the destruction of entire fleets like the 1274 and 1281 storms that are said to ...