The largest ship ever
The last time a cruise ship sank with passengers on board was a Chinese river cruise ship in 2015, which hit an unexpected and severe storm that capsized the boat.
The dubious honor of the worst sinking of all time goes to the Wilhelm Gustloff, torpedoed by a Russian submarine on January 30th, 1945. She was crammed to the gunwales with German refugees, fleeing the advancing Russian Army in the waning months of World War Two.
SS Californian was a British Leyland Line steamship. She is thought to have been the only ship to see the Titanic, or at least her rockets, during the sinking, but despite being the closest ship in the area, the crew took no action to assist.
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.
Shipwrecking is truly a big loss of material possessions and human lives. A rough estimate by the United Nations shows at least 3 million shipwrecks are lying across ocean floors.
In a short career of less than seven months, the submarine H.L. Hunley sank three times. Potentially the unluckiest boat in history – or the most incompetently run, given the self-inflicted nature of each sinking - it holds a record for the most times for a submarine to sink.
Well-known shipwrecks include the catastrophic Titanic, MV Doña Paz, Britannic, Lusitania, Estonia, Empress of Ireland, Andrea Doria, Endurance or Costa Concordia. There are also thousands of wrecks that were not lost at sea but have been abandoned or sunk.
RMS Titanic
Minutes before midnight on April 14, Titanic struck an iceberg, then, fatally, continued sailing for another 10 minutes. The water flooding into the damaged hull created tremendous pressure, forcing the ship to be stopped.
Mary Celeste (/səˈlɛst/; often erroneously referred to as Marie Celeste) was an American-registered merchant brigantine, best known for being discovered adrift and deserted in the Atlantic Ocean off the Azores Islands on December 4, 1872.
Don't touch it. Notify the authorities. Tell the Beach Patrol or local law enforcement if you find it on the beach or the Coast Guard if you find it while diving or boating. Disturbing the wreck or removing pieces can ruin its research historical value for archaeologists.
Such became the nickname of the Benson-class destroyer USS Laffey (DD-724), which served with distinction during the Normandy invasion, then later stood her ground against a withering and relentless combined assault from conventional bombers and kamikazes during the Battle of Okinawa.
Violet's life experiences justify the moniker she had earned, 'Miss Unsinkable'! The three sunken ships that Violet had worked in are RMS Olympic, RMS Titanic and HMHS Britannic.
While Olympic, the lead vessel, had a career spanning 24 years and was retired and sold for scrap in 1935, her sisters would not see similar success: Titanic struck an iceberg and sank on her maiden voyage and Britannic was lost during World War I after hitting a mine off Kea in the Aegean Sea before she could enter ...
It is estimated that there are over three million shipwrecks worldwide! Less than 1% of these wrecks have actually been explored. Some wrecks are actively being looked for, including the Bonhomme Richard, but many are found by accident. The Dokos shipwreck is the oldest known wreck, dated to 2700-2200 BC.
There are no survivors of the Titanic alive today
The very longest-living person to have survived the Titanic died on the 31st of May 2009. Her name was Elizabeth Gladys 'Millvina' Dean, and she was just two months old when she boarded the Titanic with her family.
Speed of Sinking...
At 8.12am on 21st November 1916, while steaming in the Aegean Sea HMHS Britannic struck a mine and sadly sunk in only 55 minutes with the loss of 30 lives.
"Decomposition slows if bodies get cut off from the open sea, reducing oxygen levels and scavengers," says William J. Broad in The New York Times. "The interiors of old wrecks have thus yielded bones, teeth, and sometimes whole bodies."
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.
ABOUT STAR OF INDIA
Star of India is the world's oldest active sailing vessel. She is also the oldest iron-hulled merchant ship still afloat. She was launched as the fully-rigged ship Euterpe at Ramsey Shipyard on the Isle of Man in 1863. Euterpe began her working life with two near-disastrous voyages to India.
January 13, 2012: Captain Francesco Schettino abandoned his ship before hundreds of passengers had been evacuated during the Costa Concordia disaster. 32 people died in the accident. Schettino was sentenced to 16 years in prison for his role in the disaster.
Around 20 million tonnes of gold can be found there! According to estimates by the US National Oceanic Service, the gold from the depths of the oceans is so diluted that there is only one gram of this precious yellow metal for every 100 million metric tons of water.
Although you might think the rules surrounding 'finders keepers' apply to a sunken treasure ship, this is unfortunately not true. Under salvage law, you must at least try to return the treasures to their rightful owner. As a result, upon discovery, you'd need to notify the government which controlled those waters.