9 More Famous Shipwrecks in History

In Part 1 of Famous Shipwrecks, we looked at vessels throughout history that became part of Maritime History and Legend including The Titanic, The Spanish Armada and MS Estonia amongst others.

In this article we will be continuing with our exploration of more sea-faring ships that went down under the waves and their stories.

Here are 9 More Famous Shipwrecks Throughout History Part 2:

1. MV Wilhelm Gustloff

The Titanic was regarded as the greatest loss of life in a Nautical accident for a long time but there was another that surpassed the loss of life experienced by Titanic which occurred in January 1945.

The MV Wilhelm Gustloff was built as a luxury liner in 1937 for members of the Nazi Party to relax on ocean cruises. In 1939, Gustloff was recommissioned as a Hospital Ship for wounded soldiers until November 1940 where it was anchored in Poland to become a barracks for submarine training.

Gustloff would stay anchored at Poland until January 1945 at which point it was ordered to take part in Operation Hannibal, to evacuate nearby German civilians and soldiers from the advancing Soviet Red Army, who were carrying out brutal attacks on German soldiers and appalling sexual crimes against German women of all ages.

Gustloff had a capacity of 2000 but by the time the evacuation launched, an estimated 10,600 people were crammed on board, 1644 were military personnel and crew and 8956 were civilians with around 5000 of those being children.

The sinking of the ship has been placed down to multiple reasons:

1. Inactivity for 4 years caused the captain to run the ship at a slower pace

2. The ship was only escorted by one submarine vessel for protection

3. The freezing temperature has frozen many of the ships appliances and attached weaponry

4. Labelling it as a Hospital Ship would have protected it from attack under The Geneva Convention

The main reason was a mysterious radio message that arrived at around 6.00pm about an oncoming minesweeper convoy but to this day it is unknown who had sent the message that caused the ship to change course as radio operators on the Gustloff denied receiving it.

Around 8.00pm Gustloff was spotted via their navigation lights by a nearby Soviet submarine, the S-13. Around 9.00pm, S-13 launched three torpedoes that struck key locations on Gustloff and killing many of the crew as well as disabling all power to the ship.

The Wilhelm Gustloff sank within 90 minutes during which, passengers had either been killed by the torpedo explosions, drowned by oncoming water, crushed in the stampede to escape the ship, frozen in the icy water which was around -18 degrees and some had even taken their own lives.

By the time a rescue operation reached them the next day, only an estimated 996 survivors were found with 9,604 people losing their lives where virtually all 5000 of the children perished.

The Wilhelm Gustloff to this day still has the Highest Loss of Life of during a Wartime Sinking as well as the Highest Loss of Life in a Maritime Sinking in History.

2. The Mary Rose

In 1510, a nineteen-year-old Henry VIII of England commissioned the building of a warship that would take its place within his proposed “Army by Sea” that was made up of 58 ships by the end of his reign.

Over the course of the next 4 years, Mary Rose would take place in several naval battles between England and France until a peace was signed between the two countries ending the war.

By 1522, Mary Rose was the favourite of Henry’s Fleet and was also the flagship and was once again called into service between 1925 to 1935 as England and France went to War again.

Between the years of 1535-1544, Mary Rose lay stationed in the Thames having been recalled for maintenance work and later stationed there ready to defend against a possible attack as Henry feared repercussions from Catholic states as he had been excommunicated by the Pope following his declaration that he was the Head of the Church of England.

In 1944, Henry had captured the French town of Boulogne and in retaliation the French fleet set sail for England and anchored in The Solent between the Isle of Wight and England. On the 19th July 1545 the Mary Rose was part of a defensive fleet that sailed out to defend against the French ships.

The cause behind the sinking of The Mary Rose was not due to enemy fire but rather nature itself. As Mary turned to fire her cannons from her port side, she listed severely to her starboard side during the turn and she was later described as “heeled over with the wind” which caused the open starboard gun ports to dip underneath the water. The incoming water caused The Mary Rose to sink within minutes.

The Mary Rose is just one ship of many that have appeared to have been sunk by nature, including another entry on this list.

3. The Vasa

The Swedish Warship the Vasa sank only 20 minutes into maiden voyage and had barely left the harbour it launched from.

In 1626, King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden order the building of 4 new warships to keep its naval strength up, these were two small ships and 2 large ships.

It was here that The Vasa’s fate was sealed as the design of the ship was then changed repeatedly in the following months confusing the builders, the completion timeframe was drastically shortened and during its construction after the King received word that the Danish were building a ship with two-gun decks, King Gustav ordered the builders to once again change the design to a 135ft warship with two-gun decks.

At this point in time, Sweden had never built a ship of this size and so the builders were unsure of how to go about this task and it is rumoured that they simply increased all the dimensions of the original plans for a 108ft ship to the new 135ft design.

However, this meant that the top part of the ship was now much wider than the bottom causing a drastic shift to where the centre of gravity lay and its overall stability. Finally, The Vasa was an incredibly well ornated ship which only added to its imbalance problems.

The Vasa was completed in 1628 and was launched at around 4pm, it had only gone about 2 nautical miles when a light breeze caught the sails and caused it to tilt to one side where water began pouring into the gun ports, where it was finally submerged only twenty minutes after launching with her sinking being watched by many of Sweden’s citizens!

The Vasa was a huge embarrassment for Sweden at the time and would eventually inspire the phrase Vasa Syndrome that describes how a lack of communication and poor management can cause projects to fail.

4. RMS Rhone

RMS Rhone was owned by the UK Royal Mail Steam Packet Company and was constructed in 1865 and was a cutting-edge steamboat of its time.

RMS Rhone was designed to carry Royal Mail packages from the UK, to Europe, the Caribbean and South America and soon gained the title of “Unsinkable” as it managed to survive incredibly dangerous storms during its travels.

In October 1827, the RMS Rhone and RMS Conway were refuelling at a temporary station in Great Harbour on Peter Island when they detected early signs of an approaching storm. However, both Captains agreed that it was too late in the season for it to be a Hurricane and proceeded to wait the storm out in the harbour.

Both captains were proved wrong as the ensuing hurricane that hit the harbour, dragged the ships around despite them being anchored in place. Both captains agreed that they should make for a more sheltered harbour during a calm period of the storm and transferred all of Conway’s passenger to Rhone.

As Rhone set sail, they discovered that their anchor had become wrapped around coral and had to be cut loose. It is said that Rhone was only 250 yards away from open water, when it encountered the Class-3 hurricane once again. The 130 mph winds of the hurricane threw Rhone onto the nearby Black Rock point which pierced the hull.

The cold sea water that entered the hull came into contact with the boilers that had become super-hot as a result of being run at full steam in the effort to escape the storm. This caused the boilers to explode with devastating force that tore the ship in half causing to sink almost instantly.

Many of the passengers onboard had been secured to their bunks and had either been killed in the explosion or were drowned when the ship sank, only 23 crew members survived with all 146 of the original Rhone passengers and the unknown number of Conway’s transferred passengers losing their lives. It is said that the captain of the RMS Rhone had prematurely celebrated on the deck and was thrown overboard when the hurricane hit for a second time and his body was never recovered.

The RMS Rhone was featured in the 1977 film, “The Deep” during the underwater scenes.

5. The Sultana

The Sultana Steamboat was constructed in 1863 and was regularly used to transport passengers and freight along the Mississippi River.

During the final 2 years of the American Civil war, The Sultana was also frequently used to transport troops. Following the end of the civil war, The Sultana was docking at Vicksburg to carry out maintenance repairs on a faulty boiler.

The Sultana’s captain was contacted by the U.S. Government to transport freed Union Soldiers who had been held as Prisoners of War in Confederacy prisons back into northern state territories in return for payment.

Seeing this as a lucrative contract that could bring in a substantial amount, The Sultana was then overpacked beyond its legal capacity of 376 personnel with between 2000-2500 soldiers to be transported up the river. To prevent the soldiers from being transported on other ships, the captain also ordered that a temporary fix was to be made on the faulty boiler as a full repair would be made upon reaching their destination.

The Sultana set off at full steam and slowly over the course of 4 days, the boilers became increasingly overworked because of the faulty boiler and the seasonal climate that had caused the river to swell from melting snow and having to work overtime to resist the fast-moving current.

In the early morning on the 27th April, all four of the boilers exploded in a chain reaction that was later described as erupting with the force of a volcano in the centre of the ship.

Hundreds of soldiers were instantly killed having been packed in against the boilers, many more were then killed by a combination of boiling hot water, steam or flying shards of debris or by the raging fire that quickly began to consume the wooden frame of the ship.

Many of the crew and passengers were faced with the choice of either staying on the ship where they could be killed in the fire or jumping into the cold water where they could end up drowning or dying from exposure.

The Sultana sank to the bottom of the river in just over an hour by which time it was estimated that around 1800 people lost their lives during the sinking with around 700 survivors being rescued.

6. RMS Republic

The RMS Republic was constructed in Belfast for the White Star Line company who would later commission the building of The Titanic.

Republic was fitted with at the time a Marconi wireless telegraphy transmitter that would be responsible for saving the lives of the passengers on board and gained worldwide attention as a result.

Republic gained the nickname of “The Millionaire’s Ship” as it would frequently transport very wealthy passengers on its route between Liverpool UK and Boston US. Republic would enjoy 6 years of successful journeys between its maiden voyage in January 1903 and its final voyage in January 1909.

On January 23rd 1909, Republic was travelling from New York to Gibraltar with 742 personnel on board including Mr. Leonard L. McMurray who would survive this shipwreck and then the shipwreck of the RMS Lusitania in 1915.

Republic encountered a very thick fog during this part of her travels and as a result was following standard safety protocols by maintaining current speed and using a whistle to alert any nearby ships that they were nearby. At around 5.47am, another whistle was heard through the fog and Republic was ordered to reverse and turn to their port side, at which point the SS Florida appeared out of the fog and collided with Republic’s portside.

Republic’s captain issued an S.O.S call to any nearby ships for assistance and began evacuating procedures as the ship began to sink. As Florida had survived the collision, they began taking on many of Republic’s passengers and soon the U.S. Cutter Gresham arrived to assist. Another White Star Liner, the RMS Baltic would arrive in the evening to help transport the personnel back to New York City.

RMS Republic would finally sink on the 24th January after an unsuccessful attempt was made to pull her back to port using Gresham.

A total of 6 people would perish during the sinking of RMS Republic because of the initial collision, three passengers on Republic and three crewmen on Florida, all remaining crew and passengers were safely and swiftly rescued.

The sinking of the RMS Republic would mark the first time that a CQD transmission (All Stations: Distress) was used via a wireless transmitter.

Its has been rumoured for years that during this voyage, Republic had been carrying a cargo of gold coins and other valuable items at the time of its sinking that had been loaned to the US by Russia and would be worth around £5.5 billion today but no such treasure has ever been located during searches of the wreck.

7. RMS Lusitania

The RMS Lusitania was a British cruise liner owned by the Cunard Line that was launched in 1906 and transported passengers across the Atlantic with praise being given to its luxurious interior set up and the impressive speed at which it travelled.

Lusitania completed 201 successful journeys across the Atlantic between 1906 and 1915. In May 1915, Lusitania was returning to Liverpool from New York with a total of 1959 personnel on board and an assortment of ammunition and shells.

As Lusitania approached the coast of Ireland, it was reported that German submarine activity had been detected and the Captain of Lusitania was advised to begin an evasive zigzag course to prevent the submarines plotting her course to attack her.

The captain decided to ignore this warning and maintained course and later that afternoon, a torpedo struck the ship on the starboard side that caused her to begin taking on water but also a second explosion that may have been caused by some of the ammunition exploding.

Lusitania took only 20 minutes to sink under the water and around 1198 personnel lost their lives in the attack including 128 American passengers.

It was thought that the loss of the American passengers would prompt the U.S. to join the war but they would not do so for another two years.

8. Endurance

Sir Ernest Shackleton was a famous British explorer who was active during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration during the years 1897 – 1922.

Shackleton first experienced a journey to the icy Antarctic region on board the Discovery Expedition with Captain Scott between 1901-1904 before launching the first of three expeditions he would lead as Captain with Nimrod in 1907-1909.

In 1913, after hearing of the death of Captain Scott and his crew during their Terra Nova expedition, Shackleton began preparations for his newest expedition dubbed The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition that would see them cross the Antarctic Continent from coast to coast via the South Pole by setting off through The Weddell Sea Region south of South America and resuming on The Ross Sea Region south of New Zealand, a journey of around 1800 miles through deadly terrain.

Norwegian built ship The Polaris had originally been constructed for a separate expedition that had collapsed and it was purchased by Shackleton and renamed The Endurance after his family Motto “By Endurance We Conquer.” Endurance was one of the strongest ships created for ice work.

This expedition became The Endurance’s Maiden and Final Voyage at the same time.

Despite the outbreak of World War 1 in July 1914, Shackleton was given the go ahead to proceed with the voyage and Endurance set off from Plymouth in August 1914. After stopping at South Georgia in November 1914 following various stops along the way, the Endurance would remain docked until the 5th December on which date they set sail into the icy waters of The Weddell Sea.

Progress to Vahsel Bay was slow as Endurance had to break its way through think pack ice that hampered their speed. It was on the 18th January 1918 that Endurance would come within 80 miles of their landing point and encountered pack ice so thick that the ship could not break through. Endurance would be rendered immobile in the pack ice for the next 10 months

It became apparent on the 21st February that the pack ice was slowly moving the ship north as it remained locked within the ice, the explorers where even able to see the land above Vahsel Bay in the distance as the ice pack took them past their destination.

The Endurance would remain trapped in the ice until 14th June 1915 at which point a noise was heard from underneath the water. Shackleton passed it off but the on-board carpenter pointed out that the noise was due to the ice contracting around the ship creating pressure to build upon its frame.

From the 14th June until the 21st November 1914, the ice began to batter The Endurance through various pressure waves that slowly crushed its frame all whilst keeping it locked in placed and drifting further north quicker and quicker.

Despite numerous efforts by Shackleton and his crew through the months to keep Endurance together, the crew were ordered to abandon ship on the 25th of October and had to watch their ship in the crew’s words “slowly being tortured by the ice over the next few weeks” until the 21st November where the pack ice opened, allowing the ship to sink below the ice which closed over it.

The Endurance had been lost in the treacherous Antarctic waters for 106 years until its resting place was discovered on March 5th 2022 at a depth of 3008 metres. Due to the conditions of the water, the wreck is still in very good condition as the nameplate on the stern is still visible.

9. USS Arizona

The USS Arizona was a Pennsylvania Class Super-Dreadnought Battleship commissioned for the US Navy and built in 1916 but would not see active combat in World War 1 and was instead kept stateside as a defensive asset.

At the time of its construction, Arizona was the US Navy’s most weaponised ships and one of the largest, the other being its sibling ship The USS Pennsylvania. However, from 1916 to 1944, Arizona would not see active combat but was instead utilised during naval combat exercises and as an escort vessel.

Between the years 1929 – 1931 and again between 190-1941, Arizona was recalled to undergo modern improvement that included upgrades to its munitions and armour.

In October 1941 whilst on a training operation, Arizona was struck by the USS Oklahoma that caused a tear in its port side. After a few weeks of repair work, Arizona was returned to training.

On December 6th 1941, Arizona returned to its base at Pearl Harbor alongside other battleships. The following morning at approximately 7.55 am, Imperial Japanese forces launched a surprise attack that lasted for two hours during which a combination of over 350 Japanese Torpedo planes, fighters and bombers attacked.

Arizona was attacked at around 8.00am by 10 Torpedo Planes that managed to land 4 bomb hits on the vessel. It would be the final bomb that struck at approximately 8.10am that proved fatal to Arizona and its crew.

The final 800kg bomb struck Arizona and penetrated its armoured deck in the forward section of the ship where its munitions were held that caused them to ignite and explode with a cataclysmic force that ruptured the ship with such a force, that it tore the ship in half and lifted it out of the water.

The blast was so powerful that debris landed onto nearby Ford Island and the blast shockwaves were so intense that it put out fires on the nearby repair Ship Vestal. The ensuing fires burned for two days as the ship sank below the water.

1177 of Arizona’s crew lost their lives during the initial bombing and the final explosion. 2400 people lost their lives during this attack in which almost half were lost during this single explosion.

Arizona was one of 4 vessels that sank during the Attack on Pearl Harbor alongside the Oklahoma that capsized, however Arizona was the only vessel that was damaged beyond salvation and the US Navy salvaged parts from Arizona over the following years.

The wreck has been leaking oil for 84 years and it has been calculated that if left, the oil spill could last for another 500 hundred years depending on the rate of decay. The oil spill has been referred to as “The Black Tears of The USS Arizona”

While attempts were made to recover bodies from the wreckage, more than 900 were left entombed and the decision was made to allow survivors of the explosion to have their ashes placed within the wreck upon their deaths to lay with their fallen comrades and veterans who served on Arizona during its career can have their ashes spread in the water above the wreck.

The Attack on Pearl Harbor and the sinking of The USS Arizona lead to the Unification of the US Population and the support to end the US Neutrality during World War 2, which occurred on December 8th 1941 when the US declared War on Japan.

The USS Arizona Memorial was created above the wreck in 1962 to mark the final resting place of the fallen crew members but also to mark the events of Pearl Harbor. The final survivor of The USS Arizona, Lou Conter passed away at the age of 102 in April 2024.