Look Away! The Untold Story of the Confederate States of America | Full AudioBook

Oh Lord, methought what pain it was to drown. What dreadful noise of water in my ears, what sights of ugly death within my eyes. Methought I saw a thousand fearful racks, a thousand men that fishes gnawed upon, wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl, inestimable stones, unvalued jewels, all scattered in the bottom of the sea.

William Shakespeare, King Richard III, 1592-3, Act One, Scene 4.

Introduction, shipwrecks and culture.

On the 14th of August, 2020, the animal transport Gulf Livestock 1 departed Napier, New Zealand, bound for China. The Panamanian-registered vessel was carrying almost 6,000 live cattle and had a crew of 43: 39 men from the Philippines, including the captain, two from New Zealand, and two from Australia.

On the 2nd of September, when the ship was southwest of Japan, an emergency message was sent out. The engine had failed and the vessel was drifting in stormy seas caused by Typhoon Maysak. The Japanese Coast Guard responded and picked up two survivors, both Filipinos. They said the ship had been struck by a large wave and had capsized. The other 41 members of the crew had died along with the cargo of cattle.

News items about this incident appeared on various media sites for a few days before it was forgotten. This recent shipwreck was one of so many across the centuries. The oldest known shipwreck off the coast of Greece is more than 4,000 years old. And UNESCO has estimated that there are more than 3 million shipwreck sites around the world.

Shipwrecks have always been part of human experience, with the earliest account of a shipwreck from ancient Egypt being almost as old as the oldest known shipwreck. The loss of the Gulf Livestock 1 fits the most popular image of a shipwreck, with a vessel being overpowered by the forces of nature in a storm at sea. Other conceptions involve ships being driven onto a rocky coast by stormy seas. Yet the best-known shipwreck, that of the Titanic in 1912, took place when the North Atlantic Ocean was almost calm. An iceberg was the cause, not stormy seas.

There have been many types of shipwreck over the centuries, including ships that simply disappeared. And this book will look at a wide range of ship losses, whether in peace or war. Even in the age of sail, when shipwrecks were much more common than they are today, most people had never been in a shipwreck or even seen one from the shore. Yet shipwrecks, like other types of disaster, were popular subjects for storytelling, and most people's knowledge of disasters at sea came via such stories.

Thus, it seems reasonable to begin this book by looking at how people became aware of shipwreck stories, both fiction and non-fiction, through literature, art, and other cultural media. Shipwrecks feature in Homer's Odyssey, written in the 8th century B.C.E., and St. Paul's shipwreck at Malta appears in the Bible. But shipwreck narratives as a literary genre only started in the 16th century C.E. when Portuguese survivors of shipwrecks produced pamphlets about their experiences which found many readers.

The non-fiction shipwreck narrative enjoyed its heyday from the 17th to the 19th century, with Archibald Duncan's six-volume anthology, The Mariner's Chronicle, containing narratives of the most remarkable disasters at sea, first volume 1804, being perhaps the greatest of them all. However, even in the late 20th century, stories such as Sebastian Junger's book, The Perfect Storm, could achieve considerable popular success.

The dramatic nature of shipwrecks made them obvious targets for transformation into fictional literary forms. A number of William Shakespeare's plays feature shipwrecks, most notably A Comedy of Errors, 1594, Twelfth Night, 1602, and The Tempest, 1611. Shakespeare's inspiration for the shipwreck in the last of these three is said to have been the story of the wreck of the Sea Venture in 1609.

The Sea Venture was part of a supply fleet on its way to the struggling English colony of Jamestown, Virginia in North America. Encountering a storm while crossing the North Atlantic, the ship was wrecked on the island of Bermuda. The survivors managed to construct two smaller vessels from the shattered timbers of the Sea Venture and in 1610 they sailed on to Jamestown only to find the colonists ready to evacuate the settlement. Fortunately, another supply fleet arrived and the colonists decided to continue with their new life in America. An account of the Sea Venture's wreck and subsequent events was published in London in 1611 and was probably known to Shakespeare when he wrote and presented The Tempest later that year.

After Shakespeare, the man who did most to bring the shipwreck into English literature was Daniel Defoe. Originally a London merchant, Defoe was swept up in the shipwreck-hunting mania that followed New Englander Captain Fipps' recovery of a treasure from a sunken Spanish galleon in the Caribbean in 1687. Fipps brought great wealth to himself and his backers in England. Many companies were set up to go on similar hunts for sunken treasure, and Defoe invested in a diving bell concerned with that aim, even becoming its treasurer. Like most such ventures, this company achieved nothing. Defoe lost his money and was accused of financial irregularities. This debacle was one of the reasons Defoe went bankrupt in 1692.

To salvage his fortunes, he took up writing, producing both fiction and non-fiction. In 1703, a great storm swept across southern England and sank a dozen Royal Navy warships as well as 40 merchant ships with hundreds of sailors drowned. Defoe's book, The Storm, 1704, was a detailed study of this disaster and was the first book to cover a national weather event. Defoe's fictional work, Robinson Crusoe, 1719, is regarded by many as the first English novel. It is a shipwreck from which Crusoe is the only survivor that begins the tale of his adventures as a castaway.

The story of the Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk is usually taken to be the inspiration for Defoe's work, and it is certainly true that the author's account of Crusoe's life on the island owes much to details of Selkirk's time as a castaway. However, Selkirk was not shipwrecked. After a dispute with the captain about the seaworthiness of his ship, Selkirk had asked to be put ashore on an island in the Juan Fernández group in the Pacific Ocean off South America in 1704. Only in 1709 was he rescued by a visiting British ship. Selkirk did at least have the satisfaction of learning that the ship he had left did later sink, and that only the captain and a few other men had survived. The fact that Selkirk was not shipwrecked has led some scholars to suggest the authors of various contemporary shipwreck narratives as possible alternative inspirations for Defoe's Castaway.

The success of Robinson Crusoe led to the popularity of shipwreck scenes in 18th-century literature. In Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, 1726, Gulliver survives a shipwreck and once he has reached the shore, he falls asleep. On waking, he discovers that he has been tied to the ground by the tiny inhabitants of the land of Lilliput. In Candide, 1759, Voltaire has his hero survive a shipwreck near Lisbon, Portugal, only to reach that port just in time for the great Lisbon earthquake of 1755, which he also survives.

Neither Swift nor Voltaire had any personal experience of shipwreck, but one of the first notable poems about a shipwreck was written by a sailor who had survived not one but two of them and would eventually be lost in a third. The Scottish mariner William Falconer served on both merchant ships and warships, with his first shipwreck taking place in one of the latter. In 1760, the warship HMS Ramillies was wrecked on the south coast of Devon. Out of 850 men on board, only 27 survived, one of whom was Falconer.

Returning to the merchant service, Falconer joined a ship called Britannia, which was active in the Levant trade. On a voyage from Alexandria to Venice, the ship was wrecked on the coast of Greece, with Falconer one of only three survivors. With this latter wreck as his main inspiration, Falconer wrote the poem The Shipwreck, 1762, which enjoyed considerable acclaim. After finishing his equally popular maritime dictionary in 1769, Falconer set out for India as a passenger in the frigate HMS Aurora. The ship left Cape Town, South Africa on the 27th of December 1769 and was never seen again. It was generally thought to have been lost in a storm in the Indian Ocean in January 1770. Falconer's poem remained an inspiration for both writers and artists well into the 19th century.

One of the most famous French novels of the 18th century was Paul et Virginie, 1788, written by Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. The titular young couple are brought up together on the island of Mauritius, then known as Île de France, in the Indian Ocean and later fall in love. Eventually, Virginie is forced to leave and when she finally returns, her ship is wrecked within sight of Mauritius, after which Paul finds her lifeless body washed up on the beach. The author had spent some time in Mauritius and the inspiration for his shipwreck account is said to have been the loss of the French East Indiaman Saint-Géran off the island in 1744, which only 10 of the 267 people on board survived. The novel remained extremely popular throughout the 19th century and many artists portrayed the scene of Paul finding Virginie's body on the beach.

Shipwrecks could impact more directly on the lives of writers, as in the case of the English poet William Wordsworth. His brother John was a captain in the service of the East India Company. In 1805, he set out on a voyage to India and China in his ship Earl of Abergavenny. But the voyage had hardly started when the ship was wrecked in a storm on the south coast of England. John Wordsworth was not among the survivors, and it has been claimed that grief over his brother's death contributed to the declining quality of William Wordsworth's later poems.

Family links to shipwreck are also found in the narrative poem Don Juan, which George Gordon Lord Byron began to publish in 1819. Byron's grandfather, Admiral John Byron, had set out with Commodore Anson on his squadron's voyage around the world in 1740 when he was a young midshipman. Unfortunately, his ship HMS Wager became separated after rounding Cape Horn and was wrecked on the coast of Chile. The shipwreck was followed by a mutiny among the surviving sailors, and young Byron was lucky to survive these events. Eventually, in 1768, he published an account of his experiences that enjoyed some success with the reading public. Lord Byron used his grandfather's account as inspiration for the shipwreck section of Don Juan, but the cannibalism in that section was drawn from other shipwreck narratives and not the story of the loss of the Wager.

Shipwrecks loom large in the works of the American writer Edgar Allan Poe, especially his short story "Message Found in a Bottle," 1833, and in his novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, 1837. In the latter, Poe thought so much of one of his inspirations, the loss of the American brig Albatross in 1811, that he outlined much of its story in a footnote.

One of the most famous American poems about a shipwreck, "The Wreck of the Hesperus," 1840, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, had its inspiration in the great blizzard that swept across New England in January 1839, sinking 20 ships with a loss of 40 lives. In Longfellow's poem, a captain unwisely brings his daughter along on a winter voyage. One of his crew says a big storm is coming, but the captain ignores him. Soon, the ship is being hit by stormy seas, and the captain ties his daughter to a mast to stop her being washed overboard. The ship is eventually wrecked on Norman's Woe, a reef near Cape Ann, Massachusetts, and all on board perish. The daughter is found still tied to the mast when it is washed ashore.

Longfellow's direct inspiration was The Favorite, a vessel from Wiscasset, Maine, which was wrecked on Norman's Woe in the 1839 storm. There were no survivors, and it was said that a woman's body was found strapped to a mast. Longfellow changed the name of the vessel to the Hesperus, another vessel lost in the 1839 storm, which was wrecked near Boston. The poem was recited by generations of American school children, and it was still well enough known in the first half of the 20th century to form the basis for two films, one made in 1927 and the other in 1948.

Although it was greeted with widespread indifference when it first appeared in 1851, Herman Melville's Moby Dick, or The Whale, is now regarded as one of the greatest American novels. Much of the inspiration for its contents came from the story of the loss of the whale ship Essex in 1820. The ship left its home port of Nantucket, New England, and went to the Pacific Ocean in quest of whales. When west of the coast of South America, the crew encountered a sperm whale that struck back at them, smashing a hole in the side of the Essex. Before the ship sank, the crew recovered some supplies from it, but they had only two small whaleboats to carry them across the ocean to South America. After many difficulties, and with some survivors resorting to cannibalism, only eight of the original crew of 20 were eventually picked up by passing ships. Many films have been made based on Moby Dick, with the 1956 version being the most famous.

Although ships made of iron and later steel and propelled by steam engines seemed to promise greater safety at sea than the old wooden sailing ships, shipwrecks still occurred in the late 19th century. In December 1875, the German steamship Deutschland, bound for the USA, was wrecked on a sandbank in the Thames estuary after straying off course. Among those who died in the wreck were five Franciscan nuns fleeing the anti-Catholic laws in Prussia. Their fate moved a young English Jesuit priest, Gerard Manley Hopkins, to write his famous poem, "The Wreck of the Deutschland."

Wooden sailing ships remained vulnerable to shipwreck. And when the Royal Navy's sail training ship HMS Eurydice was lost off the Isle of Wight in 1878, with only two survivors from the 361 people on board, Hopkins produced the poem "The Loss of the Eurydice." In both poems, Hopkins struggles to understand God's purpose in allowing such tragedies to occur, but finally comes to believe that acceptance of God's higher wisdom is the only answer. None of Hopkins's poems was published in his lifetime, but after their first printing in 1918, they were soon recognized as important literary works.

God's purpose in allowing tragic shipwrecks to happen and his divine providence in allowing some people to survive them have been themes for writers since at least the 16th century. In the late 19th century, the first writers of what would become science fiction saw shipwrecks in a different, more secular light. In his Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, 1869, Jules Verne created a character in Captain Nemo, who is hostile to the world above the sea with its political and religious conflicts. But even he needs money to support his activities. Whenever Nemo needs to refill his coffers, he takes his submarine Nautilus to Vigo Bay in northwest Spain where his divers collect gold, silver, and jewels from the Spanish treasure galleons lost there in 1702. Those galleons, escorted by French warships, had arrived at Vigo to escape an Anglo-Dutch fleet that was looking for them. The pursuers then found their prey, sailed into Vigo Bay, and destroyed the Franco-Spanish fleet. Although most of the treasure had already been landed before the battle, tales of sunken riches at Vigo continued for decades afterwards.

H.G. Wells, in his novel The Island of Doctor Moreau, 1896, placed a shipwreck survivor on an island who soon finds out that the resident doctor is conducting evil experiments there on animals and humans. Where once a shipwreck survivor might have been confronted by primitive tribes, he now finds himself at the mercy of a mad scientist.

Although shipwrecks by no means vanished from literature after 1900, indeed, one appears in a fiction work as recent as Yann Martel's book Life of Pi, 2001, film adaptation 2012, they are no longer such important elements in stories as they were in the 18th and 19th centuries.

A similar evolution can be seen in the role of the shipwreck in art and painting over the last four centuries. The modern tradition of marine painting began in the Netherlands in the 17th century and the first portrayals of shipwrecks appeared in what were known as tempest paintings. Imaginative pieces, often set in exotic places, they showed sailing ships struggling against stormy winds and waves. Artists such as Bonaventura Peeters and Ludolf de Vlieger produced a number of such paintings.

The tempest or shipwreck painting underwent some changes in the 18th century at the hands of the French artist Claude-Joseph Vernet. While Dutch tempest pictures were likely to be bought by merchants and shipowners, Vernet's pictures were sought after by both royal and aristocratic collectors. Vernet produced many tempest pictures, such as The Shipwreck, 1772, and developed a clear structure for his paintings. There would be a dark and cloudy sky, usually with a shaft of sunlight or a bolt of lightning breaking through, tempestuous seas, a rocky shore, often with a castle perched on top of a cliff, and one ship in difficulty off the coast, while another is being smashed on the rocks in the foreground with rescuers struggling to save the few survivors who have reached the shore. Vernet studied from nature and was said to have once been bound to a ship's mast so that he could witness the horrors of a storm at sea.

The British artist J.M.W. Turner took the tempest painting in a different direction. In his shipwreck paintings, the wrecked ship is less important than the portrayal of the power of unleashed natural forces, which are rendered in a romantic style very different from Vernet's more classical approach. The power of the storm and its waves seemed to dominate the paintings, with the doomed ships and their occupants reduced to puny specks. Turner's first significant painting of this type, The Shipwreck, 1805, was much admired, and like Vernet's work, was soon turned into a widely sold print. Despite efforts to link Turner's paintings to real shipwrecks, his lost ships, like those of Vernet, were generic types, not particular vessels. This approach allowed the artist to give free rein to his creative imagination, unconstrained by the need to reproduce accurate details. For a long time, it was claimed that Turner's 1810 painting, The Wreck of a Transport Ship, was inspired by the wreck of HMS Minotaur on the Dutch coast in that year. However, research has shown that Turner's work was completed and sold months before the loss of the Minotaur.

Of course, many British marine artists did produce paintings of particular shipwrecks. One example is Nicholas Pocock's picture of the loss of the Post Office packet Lady Hobart in 1803. On a voyage from Halifax, Nova Scotia to England, the ship was attacked by a French privateer. In the ensuing struggle, it was the packet ship that captured the privateer. After putting some men aboard the French prize to take it to England, the Lady Hobart continued on its voyage. However, towards the end of June 1803, the ship collided with an iceberg and began to sink. The crew and passengers escaped in two boats, and after more than a week, they were fortunate to be picked up by another ship.

The most famous painting related to a particular shipwreck is undoubtedly The Raft of the Medusa, 1819, by the French artist Théodore Géricault. The loss of this ship became a national scandal in France, but it inspired the artist to produce the greatest shipwreck painting in French art, possibly the greatest shipwreck painting ever.

In 1816, after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the frigate Méduse was given the task of taking French officials and troops to repossess the French colony of Senegal in West Africa from the British who had occupied it during the war. The Bourbon monarchy had been restored in France and the captain of the ship was a former royalist exile who had not held a naval command in more than 20 years. Thanks largely to his incompetence, the frigate was wrecked on the bank of Arguin off the coast of present-day Mauritania. Many of the 400 people aboard the Méduse found space in the ship's boats, but there was not room for all. A makeshift raft was built and 151 men were put on it. The raft was to be towed by the boats as the survivors made their way to Senegal. All too soon the tow was cast off and the boats abandoned the men on the raft. The boats reached Senegal safely, but the men left on the raft were soon engulfed in a world of horror. Some were swept away and drowned. Others mutinied against the officers and were killed. Some committed suicide and, as supplies ran out, others resorted to cannibalism. When, after 13 days at sea, a ship found the raft, only 15 survivors were still alive.

The circumstances of the tragedy soon became known in France, and harsh criticism was directed at the Bourbon government. Just as the outcry was dying down, Géricault produced his masterpiece, showing the last survivors on the raft waving to a ship on the horizon that will end their torment. Géricault died only a few years after producing his great painting. But other important shipwreck paintings were produced by another French artist, Théodore Gudin. One of his first such pictures related to the loss of a British ship rather than a French one.

In 1825, the East Indiaman Kent set out from England bound for India with 640 passengers, crew, and troops on board. As it crossed the stormy seas of the Bay of Biscay, a fire broke out on board that was soon raging out of control. All aboard seemed doomed. But then the British brigantine Cambria, which was carrying Cornish miners to Mexico, appeared on the scene. With great difficulty and risk, the Kent had gunpowder on board. The Cambria rescued 550 people from the burning ship. Finally, the flames reached the gunpowder and the Kent exploded. News of this dramatic rescue soon spread across Europe. British artists such as William Daniell and Thomas Butterworth produced paintings of the Kent tragedy and the heroic rescue. But Gudin's atmospheric painting, completed in 1828, was a particularly fine portrayal of the incident. Gudin went on to paint another rescue from a doomed ship, but this time the rescuer was French.

In 1822, Captain Pierre Desse of Bordeaux was sailing to Île Bourbon, now Réunion in the Indian Ocean, in the brig Julia. During a storm, he encountered a Dutch ship, the Columbus, which was bound from Batavia, now Jakarta, to Amsterdam. The Dutch vessel had lost its masts and was sinking. Desse managed to rescue 92 passengers and crew from the doomed ship and was later rewarded by the Dutch and French governments. Gudin's striking painting of this rescue was exhibited in the Salon of 1831.

British-born marine painters brought the European tradition of marine painting to the United States in the early 19th century. One such was Thomas Birch, the first great tempest painter in the USA, whose works included The Shipwreck, 1837. Another British-born marine artist who thrived in America was Edward Moran. He produced a number of shipwreck paintings during the 1850s and on a visit to London in 1861, he copied Turner's The Wreck of a Transport Ship, 1810. In 1873, Moran produced a seascape featuring the reef of Norman's Woe, mentioned in Longfellow's poem, "The Wreck of the Hesperus."

However, in the late 19th century, it was an American-born artist, Winslow Homer, who produced some of the USA's most famous shipwreck paintings. Homer first became acquainted with disaster at sea when he worked as an illustrator. In 1873, the British steamship Atlantic was on a voyage from England to the USA when it was forced to divert to Halifax, Nova Scotia because of dwindling coal supplies. Unfortunately, the ship was wrecked near the entrance to Halifax Harbor, and 600 of the 900 people on board were drowned. The public was outraged to learn that all the women on board and all but one of the children had died, while the survivors included many of the ship's crew. Homer was asked to provide illustrations for articles about the tragedy. He produced one picture of a beautiful young woman lying lifeless on a beach that seemed to owe much to similar pictures illustrating the story of Paul et Virginie. The loss of the Atlantic was the worst maritime disaster in Canada until the sinking of the Empress of Ireland after a collision in 1914.

By the start of the 1880s, Homer's maritime interest had moved to painting fishing communities before shifting to shipwrecks, but with a new twist. He was more interested in the rescuers than the wrecks. During the 19th century, organized life-saving services began to be established in some countries to rescue survivors from shipwrecks. Britain's Royal National Lifeboat Institution was set up in 1824 and a similar American body in 1848, which then became the US Life-Saving Service in 1878. Homer painted a number of pictures of the American rescue services putting out in their surf boats to rescue shipwrecked sailors, but his most famous painting in this series was The Lifeline, 1884. A lifeline has been rigged from the shore to a wrecked ship, and the painting shows a rescuer being pulled along it while holding on to an apparently unconscious young woman. While the stormy sea rages all around the pair, Homer produced fewer shipwreck and rescue pictures after 1890, and this seemed to reflect a declining public interest in shipwreck paintings.

When what is arguably the world's most famous shipwreck, the loss of the Titanic, took place in 1912, this event was not to be immortalized in literature or art, but in a new creative medium, the cinema. The very first film about the Titanic tragedy started shooting in New Jersey within a week of the disaster. The silent film Saved from the Titanic starred 22-year-old survivor Dorothy Gibson, who had escaped in the first lifeboat. Already an established star of the silver screen, Gibson also wrote the script and wore the same skirt and coat she did on the fatal night. Released in May 1912, the film enjoyed considerable success. Sadly, like most silent movies, no copy of it has survived, only a few still photographs.

The first sound film version of the sinking was the British Atlantic, made in 1929. During the Second World War, the German anti-British propaganda movie Titanic was released in 1943, but it was soon withdrawn, perhaps because a disaster movie was seen to be inappropriate when Nazi Germany was obviously on the road to disaster itself. An American film called Titanic appeared in 1953, but it concentrated more on the personal stories of the fictional families on board the ship than on the details of the disaster.

Walter Lord's 1955 book about the loss of the Titanic, A Night to Remember, was very successful and was brought to the screen in a British film of the same name in 1958. This time the film concentrated more on the details of the loss of the ship than on the stories, real or fictional, of the passengers. At the time, it was the most expensive film ever made in Britain.

In 1980, the film of Clive Cussler's adventure novel Raise the Titanic was released. In this story, the Titanic must be raised because it was carrying rare minerals which will give the West an advantage in the Cold War. Despite the testimony of the survivors that the Titanic broke in two as it sank, the film showed an intact vessel being brought to the surface from the ocean depths. In 1985, Robert Ballard found the wreck of the Titanic, which was indeed in two sections, as the survivors had always claimed. The discovery of the wreck of the Titanic sparked renewed public interest in the story of the ship's loss.

In 1997, the Canadian film director James Cameron gave the story the full Hollywood treatment. His movie Titanic was the most successful shipwreck film ever made and, at the time, the highest-grossing film ever made, linking the dramatic story of the ship's loss with a fictional love story and also including actual footage of the wreck of the Titanic at the bottom of the North Atlantic. Cameron's great personal interest in undersea exploration in general and the Titanic in particular led him to produce a documentary on the lost ship entitled Ghosts of the Abyss, which appeared in 2003 and included footage taken from remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) that were actually going into the cabins of the sunken ship.

Naturally, the Titanic is not the only shipwreck that has inspired movies, and there has even been a comedy film based on a shipwreck. In 1941, the British ship Politician was wrecked on the island of Barra in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Among its cargo were thousands of cases of whiskey, and many bottles found their way into the homes of islanders. The authorities made every effort to recover the lost whiskey, but with only mixed success. Compton Mackenzie used this story as the basis for his 1947 novel Whisky Galore, which portrayed the fight over the whiskey as a humorous struggle between the little man and government officials. Ealing Studios made the comedy film of the same name in 1949, but in the USA, it was given the title Tight Little Island.

British filmmakers moved from the comedy shipwreck to the grim tragedy of a submarine disaster with the making of Morning Departure in 1950. The film was based on a stage play that was inspired by the loss of the submarine HMS Thetis in 1939, shortly before the start of the Second World War. In the film, an accident sends the submarine to the bottom and desperate efforts are made to rescue the surviving crew. Some are able to escape, but as hope fades, those who remain below must face their inevitable fate. Between the completion of the movie and its scheduled release date, another British submarine, HMS Truculent, was sunk in the Thames estuary with heavy loss of life. Some people said the film should not be shown after such a tragedy, but it was eventually released with a message at the beginning noting the recent tragedy and dedicating the film to the men of the Royal Navy's submarine service.

In 1959, the movie The Wreck of the Mary Deare was released, based on the 1956 novel by Hammond Innes. The book was clearly inspired by the story of Captain Carlsen and his ship the Flying Enterprise, which had gripped the world's attention at the start of 1952. The American ship, under Danish Captain Henrik Kurt Carlsen, had left Hamburg, West Germany in December 1951, bound for the USA. The ship ran into severe weather as it left the English Channel and was damaged by a rogue wave. An SOS was sent out and rescue ships soon arrived. All those on board the Flying Enterprise were taken off except for the captain, who refused to leave his ship. As it developed a severe list, it seemed the ship must founder. But eventually a salvage tug got a line aboard and began to tow the Flying Enterprise towards Falmouth. One member of the salvage crew joined Carlsen aboard his stricken vessel. The world media carried daily reports of the ship's slow progress towards safety, but eventually it became clear that it was doomed. Carlsen and his companion were taken off and the ship sank on the 10th of January 1952. In the film adaptation, the captain and the salvage men uncover a plot to deliberately sink the ship they are on.

The 1960 film, The Last Voyage, centers on the sinking of an ocean liner in the Pacific Ocean following an explosion in the engine room. A number of incidents in the plot were clearly derived from accounts of the sinking of the transatlantic liner Andrea Doria after a collision off the coast of New England in 1956.

When the writer Paul Gallico was traveling across the Atlantic Ocean in the Queen Mary during the 1960s, the ship was hit by a freak wave that almost knocked it over onto its side. The incident was used by Gallico as the basis for his 1969 novel, The Poseidon Adventure, which was adapted into a film in 1972. The plot centers on a fictional liner that is hit by a massive wave in the Mid-Atlantic and capsizes, killing most of the passengers and crew. Only a small group of survivors remain who must be led to safety through the upturned ship. Some of the scenes in the ensuing film adaptation were filmed in the Queen Mary, which by this time had been retired to become a tourist attraction at Long Beach, California.

The wreck of the Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mary's running mate on the North Atlantic, featured in the James Bond movie, The Man with the Golden Gun, 1974. Sold in 1970, the Queen Elizabeth was to have become a floating university called Sea Wise University. But while being fitted out for its new role at Hong Kong in 1972, the ship caught fire and partially capsized. External shots of the wreck appear in the film, and some other scenes supposedly take place at a secret British base inside the wreck. The Lost Liner was later scrapped.

The 1975 movie Jaws, based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name, might not seem to be a shipwreck movie at first glance, but much of the latter part of the film features the shark demolishing Captain Quint's fishing boat, Orca, at sea. Benchley's novel, The Deep, filmed in 1977, had more direct links to shipwrecks. Set in Bermuda, the plot involves both the hunt for a sunken Spanish treasure galleon and the discovery of morphia ampules in a Second World War wreck, news of which excites the interest of a local gangster. Bermuda's real-life shipwreck hunter Teddy Tucker had a small part in the movie.

In 1978, the submarine disaster movie Gray Lady Down was released. In it, a US Navy submarine sinks after a collision, and the survivors trapped in the hull are rescued only after great difficulties. A new twist was given to a similar plot in James Cameron's first venture into shipwreck movies, The Abyss, which came out in 1989. An American submarine sinks in the Caribbean, and US and Soviet ships rush to be the first to reach it. But when the rescuers finally get down into the depths, they confront something entirely unexpected: aliens.

The huge success of Cameron's film Titanic emboldened Hollywood to make other shipwreck movies. In 2000, The Perfect Storm appeared. This movie was an adaptation of Sebastian Junger's 1997 book covering the impact of the storm which struck New England in late 1991. The plot centers on the fishing boat Andrea Gale from Gloucester, Massachusetts, which was eventually lost in the storm with no survivors from its six-man crew. As a counterpoint to this tragedy, the film also covered the US Coast Guard's difficult but successful rescue of three people from a disabled yacht during the same storm. The Perfect Storm performed well at the box office, but more recent ventures into the shipwreck film genre have enjoyed less success.

In 2015, In the Heart of the Sea was released, an adaptation of Nathaniel Philbrick's book retelling the story of the loss of the whale ship Essex in 1820. The following year, USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage came out, covering the sinking of an American cruiser in the last days of the Second World War. Owing to bureaucratic lapses, the ship's non-arrival at its next port of call was not noticed for several days, leaving the survivors of the sinking at the mercy of the sea and marauding sharks. The film Kursk, 2018, US titled The Command, covered the sinking of the Russian submarine of that name in 2000.

Clearly, shipwrecks have been a feature of Western culture throughout recent centuries, but they are also much more than that. At best, shipwrecks can be time capsules, allowing access to long-departed societies and civilizations. Even shipwrecks from more recent times can shed new light on historical events. They are not just a thing of the past. Since the 1960s, supertanker wrecks have unleashed oil spills causing environmental disasters.

This book will look first at shipwrecks over a 4,000-year period, examining their significance, and then at the developments over the last 60 years that have made detailed study of those earlier shipwrecks possible and at the dangers posed by shipwrecks in the modern world. Indeed, it is true to say that most of the major shipwrecks from the 4,000-year period have been found in the last 60 years, which have seen the emergence of maritime archaeology as a recognized academic discipline and the growing technological sophistication of those seeking to find treasure in shipwrecks. Maritime archaeologists and treasure hunters often appear to be bitter enemies, but there are also shipwreck hunters who look for wrecks without declared scientific or financial aims. This book will recount the discoveries they have brought out of the depths.

Part One: The First 4,000 Years.

One: Ancient Shipwrecks of the Mediterranean Sea.

The thunder crashed, the earth shook, and trees toppled over. The shipwrecked sailor closed his eyes and cringed in terror. When he dared to look, he saw a giant serpent approaching him. Its body was covered with gold, and its eyebrows were real lapis lazuli. The serpent took the sailor into its mouth and carried him away to its lair. The sailor thought he would be killed. Instead, the serpent sat him down and began to talk to him in a language he could understand. The creature asked him to tell his story, and he did so.

He had been on an Egyptian ship sailing south in the Red Sea, bound for the land of Punt. It was a large ship with a crew of 120 men. The ship sank in a terrible storm, and the sailor was the only one of the crew to survive, coming ashore on the serpent's land. The creature was sympathetic to the shipwrecked sailor's plight, and told him that an Egyptian vessel would soon come to rescue him. Much reassured by the serpent's prophecy, the sailor promised to send it incense as a reward. The creature laughed and said that it was the prince of Punt and supplied Egypt with all its incense. In due course, an Egyptian vessel did come and rescued the shipwrecked sailor, and as a parting gift, the serpent provided it with a full cargo of incense.

Such is the earliest known shipwreck narrative. It was composed in ancient Egypt around 2,000 B.C.E. and is a strange mixture of fact and fantasy. Egyptian ships did sail down the Red Sea to collect cargos of incense and other goods from the land of Punt, probably located in the Horn of Africa, but it is unlikely that their crews met any talking serpents. The Egyptians also sent trading vessels around the eastern Mediterranean Sea and particularly to the area that is now Lebanon to collect cedarwood for shipbuilding.

The River Nile was the basis of Egyptian civilization, and it was natural for its people to take a close interest in watercraft. Many of the oldest surviving boats have been found buried in Egyptian tombs, notably the Khufu boat found near the Great Pyramid in 1954. But Egyptian seagoing ships are known only from carvings on the walls of temples. No wreck of an ancient Egyptian seagoing vessel has ever been found.

The world's oldest known shipwreck was a much simpler vessel than the Egyptian ship described in the sailor's story, but it seems to have been lost around 2000 B.C.E. when the story was composed. The remains of the 4,000-year-old shipwreck were found in 1975 by divers off the coast of southern Greece near the island of Dokos in the Aegean Sea. The Dokos wreck was extensively excavated between 1989 and 1992 by the Hellenic Institute of Maritime Archaeology. This was the first ever full-scale excavation in Greece of an ancient shipwreck.

The wooden hull of the vessel had long since disintegrated, as everything biodegradable had been taken back by the sea. The remains of the cargo of hundreds of clay vases and other ceramic items are the evidence of the shipwreck. This collection of early Helladic pottery has been dated to around 2200 B.C.E. and appears to have been merchandise intended for trade to small coastal villages around the Gulf of Argos and the Myrtoan Sea. This Helladic pottery technology predates the invention of the pottery wheel. The pottery consisted of hundreds of ceramic pieces, including cups, kitchenware, and urns. More than 500 clay vases were uncovered. There was a variety of sauceboats in multiple shapes and sizes. The bowls and sauceboats of the early Helladic period were of a type widely found in southern and central Greece. This suggests that the shipwreck may lie on a maritime trade route from southern Euboea to the Saronic and Argolid Gulfs.

Many amphorae, the ancient containers widely used to carry both liquids and solid items, were also found on the wreck site, along with basins, wide-mouthed jars, baking trays, and common household utensils. Stone anchors were found near the wreck. The anchors were of a fairly primitive type, being two large boulders with holes drilled in them. They are likely to have been dropped before the ship sank. Wedge ingots were also found among the cargo, along with many millstones which could have been ballast or part of the cargo. The wide variety of ceramics suggests that the lost ship traded all along the southern coast of Greece.

The Dokos ship clearly took part only in local coastal trade, but in later centuries, the first true maritime state arose on the island of Crete. This Minoan civilization sent ships all around the eastern Mediterranean. But as with the Egyptians, these vessels are known only from carvings and wall paintings, since no identifiable Minoan shipwreck has ever been found.

After the collapse of the Minoan Empire, new maritime powers arose. One was the Mycenaean civilization on mainland Greece, in whose time Homer placed the Greek expedition to Troy in the Iliad. Another was the Proto-Phoenician civilization among the ports along the coasts of Syria and Palestine. Fortunately, an important shipwreck has been found that is a true time capsule, giving us a unique insight into these civilizations of the Late Bronze Age.

Originally discovered by a Turkish sponge diver in 1982, the shipwreck off the promontory of Ulu Burun, near the town of Kaş on the southwest coast of Turkey, was thoroughly excavated by Turkish and American maritime archaeologists from the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) between 1984 and 1994. The wreck site was about 130 ft (40 m) underwater. Two large stone anchors at the site's deepest end suggested the location of the ship's bow, with its stern at the highest point. Given the ship's cargo, it appears the vessel was sailing from the coast of Syria, Palestine, or Cyprus and headed in a northwesterly direction when it failed to clear the rocks of Ulu Burun. In summer, the prevailing wind usually blows from the northwest, but strong southerly winds can arise unexpectedly in that season, and such a storm may have driven the ship ashore. For centuries, Mediterranean sailors put to sea only between spring and autumn, remaining in port during the winter months.

Early finds suggested that the Ulu Burun ship sailed the eastern Mediterranean towards the end of the 14th century B.C.E. At this time, Mycenaean Greeks were spreading out from the Greek mainland. There were seafaring Canaanites on the coast of Syria-Palestine, and in Egypt, Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti were carrying out religious reforms. The Ulu Burun ship's valuable cargo, both raw materials and manufactured goods, seems to represent some sort of royal treasure, either tribute or gift, on its way from one ruler to another. But there were probably also private merchants on board.

In bulk terms, raw materials make up most of the cargo. There are 10 tons of Cypriot copper in ingots alongside some tin ingots. When alloyed with copper (at 10 parts copper to one part tin), these would produce 11 tons of bronze. The tin does not seem to have come from European mines and possibly originated in Iran or further east. The Ulu Burun ship also carried about 150 Canaanite jars which could hold liquid or solid commodities. One jar was filled with beads and several with olives, but about half of them contained a yellowish material identified as terebinth resin, which was probably used to make incense.

Some 170 cup-shaped glass ingots in a variety of colors were found in the wreck. They are among the earliest intact glass ingots known. Small dark logs of what the Egyptians called ebony, but is known today as African blackwood, were another unique find. Furniture found in the tomb of Tutankhamun was made of this wood, showing it was for elite use. Ivory was also found, some derived from elephant tusks, other pieces from hippopotamus teeth. The cargo also contained Cypriot export pottery, Canaanite gold jewelry, cylinder seals, weapons, and tools. Among some items of Egyptian origin in the wreck was a gold scarab inscribed with the name of Nefertiti. The scarab is considered to be one of the most important Egyptian discoveries ever made in the Eastern Mediterranean outside Egypt.

Most of the Ulu Burun ship's cargo could have been taken on at a port in Syria, Palestine, or Cyprus, but that did not necessarily mean the ship was based in those areas. However, there are many facts that point to the ship being from one of those regions rather than mainland Greece or islands in the Aegean Sea. The 24 stone anchors carried by the ship are of a type virtually unknown in the Aegean Sea, but often found in Syria, Palestine, and on Cyprus. The ship itself was built from Lebanese cedar, a tree chiefly found in Lebanon, southern Turkey, and central Cyprus. Many weights found in the wreck of the type used by merchants on pan balances used weight standards from the Near East, not the Aegean.

The ship was about 49 ft (15 m) long and built of cedar. Construction was in the shell-first style, with pegged mortise-and-tenon joints holding the planks together and attaching them to the keel. This was the type of hull construction used in all ancient Greek and Roman ships. The skeleton-first method of later centuries attached planks to a timber frame that was built first. The remains of a wicker fence that went along the top sides of the ship to protect cargo from the waves were found, as was a bed of brushwood put on the bottom of the cargo hold to protect the planks from the hard edges of the metal ingots. Both these features were mentioned by Homer when he described the building of a ship in the Odyssey.

The ceramics found in the cargo help to date the shipwreck, as does the Nefertiti Scarab, since the ship cannot have been lost before her reign. A date in the late 14th century B.C.E. is most likely, with 1300 B.C.E. as a commonly used estimate. The Ulu Burun ship's varied and valuable cargo, with objects from areas as far apart as northern Europe and tropical

Africa and from as far west as Sicily to as far east as Mesopotamia includes products from nine or 10 ancient cultures. The ship undoubtedly came from Syria, Palestine, and Cyprus. But where was it going?

To roads, a major redistribution point for cargos going to the Aian to Cree or to a Masonian port on mainland Greece. We will never know. But the Ulubberoon shipwreck does show us the great variety of goods being traded along the seaw routes of the eastern Mediterranean in the late Bronze Age.

About a century later, circa 1200 B.CE, TE. Another small merchant ship sank east of Ilubun off Cape Galedonia. Another rocky outcrop where winds and currents might sweep coasting vessels to their doom. The Rex site was discovered in the 1950s and first excavated in 1960. This excavation was especially significant because it was the first to adapt land-based archaeological techniques to an underwater shipwreck site. Without a disciplined and orderly approach to the identification and removal of the remains of ships and their cargos, divers overlook, lose, or destroy clues vital to a more complete understanding of maritime culture, trade, and warfare in the past. George F. Bass was an important American member of the 1960 excavation team and would later found the Institute of Nautical Archaeology.

The lost ship at Cape Galedonia was carrying about a ton of metal, including 34 ingots of almost pure copper from Cyprus. The remains of tin ingots were also detected. There was a quantity of scrap bronze in the ship, clearly intended to be melted down and turned into new items. The rec site also contained many metalwork tools, so it is possible that the vessel served as a sort of traveling smithy visiting various ports to carry out the repair or creation of bronze items.

At one end of the site, probably in living quarters at the stern, were found some of the personal possessions of those on board. These included sets of weights for a balance used by merchants, an oil lamp, a bronze razor, a chisel, four scarabs, and a cylindrical stone seal of the kind rolled out on clay documents as a type of signature by Neareastern merchants.

At the time of the excavation in 1960, the general scholarly consensus was that the masonian Greeks dominated the trade of the eastern Mediterranean in the 14th and 13th centuries B.CE and that traders from the Syria Palestine coast did not become important on maritime trade routes before 1,000 B.CE. What was found on this wreck site soon posed a challenge to this view. The weights for the balance were all to Neareastern standards. The oil lamp amp was probably Canaanite. The scarabs were not Egyptian, but imitations made in Syria Palestine with meaningless hieroglyphs. And the bronze razor was also of Near Eastern type. The cylinder seal had been carved in northern Syria centuries before the shipwreck took place and was probably a family heirloom. Bass argued that the lost ship was of Neareastern origin, not Greek, and that having picked up copper from Cyprus, it was sailing westwards along the coast bound for the Aian Sea when it was lost. The excavation in the 1980s of an earlier Neareastern vessel, the Ulu Brun ship, confirmed that non-Greek seafarers were active in this period.

In the 12th and 11th centuries B.C.E., There was much disturbance and warfare in the eastern Mediterranean said to be caused by the so-called sea peoples and trade routes were disrupted. However, after 1,000 B.CE, new trade routes began to emerge. They covered not just the eastern Mediterranean, but the central and western portions of that sea. Indeed, for the first time, Mediterranean traders passed through the straight of Gibralar and explored both north and south along the Atlantic shores of Europe and Africa.

The two principal peoples involved in these activities were the Greeks and the Phoenetians. The former followed trade routes and established colonies along the northern shores of the Mediterranean, including on Sicily, southern Italy, and the south of France, as well as venturing into the Black Sea. The latter ventured out of their home cities such as Sidon and Ty on the coast of Syria Palestine to dominate the southern shores of the Mediterranean with colonies in places such as Malta, Tunisia, Sardinia, the Balaric Islands and the south of Spain. It was the Phoenetians who first braved the Atlantic Ocean, venturing north to the British Isles and south to the shores of Northwest Africa.

Despite their prowess as seafarers, the Phoenetians left little trace of their ships, and it was only recently that Phoenician shipwreck sites were identified and excavated. Although its existence had been known for some years, the first Phoenician shipwreck to receive detailed attention from maritime archaeologists was excavated only in 2008 to 2011. This was the Bah de la Campana wreck northeast of Cartahena on the southeast coast of Spain. The ship was probably a coastal traitor lost during the Iron Age in 600 B.CEE. It struck a reef known as the Bahella Campana where other ancient wrecks have been found, one Carthaginian and one Roman. But it is the Phoenician example that has aroused most interest.

The hull is gone, and part of the cargo survived only because it was collected in a sea cave beneath the rock. When the ship sank, it was carrying at least four tons of cargo comprising consignments of both raw materials and manufactured goods, including a varied collection of Western Phoenician pottery and a number of more exotic items. The artifacts recovered from this wreck site show the nature of Phoenician trade between the colonies on the Iberian Peninsula and with its indigenous inhabitants, but also reveal interconnections with more distant trade routes.

Phoenician inscriptions have been found on a dozen or so of the more than 50 elephant ivory tusks found on the rec site. They seem to be requests to various gods for protection or blessings. One reads in the protection of Ashtar, the chief female deity of the Phoenicians. Another reads, my lord is the god Kammon. Such inscriptions were usually associated with valuable offerings at temples and shrines where the items would usually remain. Why they were part of the ship's cargo is unknown.

Among more mundane items in the ship were more than a ton of Galina nuggets from which lead could be extracted. There were also more than a 100 small ingots of tin and some ingots of copper. Most of the copper came from mines in the Iberian Peninsula, but some was from sources as far away as Sardinia and Cyprus. Five lumps of amber were also found, having come down from the Baltic Sea far to the north by various trade routes. Much of the cargo was made up of pottery items, including amphas, bowls, bottles, plates, jugs, and cooking pots. Many of these items had been produced in Phoenician settlements around the straight of Gibralar, but some came from Phoenician colonies in the central Mediterranean. Among luxury items in the wreck were alabaster jars from the Near East and Egypt and bronze furniture elements, including four legs for a small chair, stool, or table, and the four corner pieces for a couch.

The ship was probably coming from a large Phoenician colony, most likely Malikica, Malaga on the south coast of Spain, where it would have collected items from more distant trade sources, as well as local manufacturers such as pottery. The ship was likely also carrying perishable items such as textiles and food stuffs, but these have long since disappeared. It headed east along the Spanish coast, calling at various ports. But after rounding, Cape Palos, it was probably hit by an easterly wind that drove it onto the reef. Despite the many items discovered, the Baj shipwreck is usually regarded as a disturbed site. Disturbed both by the action of natural forces over the centuries and by plundering scuba divers before it was excavated by maritime archaeologists.

In 2007, an apparently undisturbed Phoenician shipwreck was found off Gooo in Malta. It was probably left intact because it is 360 ft 110 m underwater, too deep to be found by sports divers. Since 2017, maritime archaeologists have been carrying out excavations on this wreck site, revealing a large cargo of ceramic items, which would seem to indicate that the ship was lost in the 7th century B.CE.

The Phoenetians and the Greeks were the first sea peoples to make a clear distinction between merchant ships and warships. Perhaps the most famous ancient warship is the Greek Tri galley with its three banks of ores. However, no wrecks of triams have ever been found. The replica triem Olympius built in Greece in the 1980s was based entirely on literary and iconographic evidence about such vessels. The most likely survival from a war galley wreck would be the ship's bronze ram, but few have ever come to light. One such was found near Athlet Israel in 1980, but it probably came from a larger ship and from a later period than the heyday of the tri in classical Greece.

During the 1880s, the Greek government supported an underwater search at the site of the battle of Salamis 480 B.CEE the greatest sea battle of the classical Greek period 500 to 323 B.CE. But the search found no sign of either Greek or Persian galley wrecks.

One of the most significant shipwrecks from the Greek classical period was that of a merchant vessel found in 1985 near the island of Alonos in the northern Sporades group in the Aian. It was reported to the Greek authorities and in 1991 a preliminary survey of the wreck site found a mound of aeras at a depth of 100 ft 30 m. The mound was 82 feet 25 m long and 39 ft 12 m wide indicating the shape of a large ship. The upper layer of emperors had been disturbed, but the lower layers seemed untouched. The size of the mound indicated that this shipwreck was twice as large as any other shipwreck of the classical period discovered up to that time.

In 1992, systematic excavation of the rec site began under the direction of the Greek Department of Maritime Antiquities. First, a photomosaic was made of the rec site and then trenches were excavated into the mound at various points. The bulk of the emperors came from Mendi and Scopulos, and a smaller number originated at Ekos, Kios, and Kirka. All had contained wine. Other artifacts found included black glazed bowls, cups, and plates along with bronze table wear. The wreck was dated to the late 5th century B.C.E. Further excavations in 1993 and 1999 to 2000 brought up more amphas ballast stones and pieces of the ship's hull.

At a conservative estimate, the ship was carrying 4,200 emperors with a total weight of 126 metric tons. The length of the ship's hull was at least 100 ft, 30 m. This makes it considerably larger than the few other shipwrecks that have been found, which date from the Greek classical period. It is conclusive proof that the Greeks constructed ships carrying burdens of up to 150 metric tons from the fifth century B.C.E. onwards. Plans to develop the Aloniso shipwreck site as an underwater museum reached fulfillment in August 2020 when the wreck site was open to tourist sports divers after the installation of electronic systems that will detect any attempt to interfere with the wreck.

A smaller shipwreck from the end of the Greek classical period aroused particular interest because the ship might have been sunk by pirates and because enough of its hull had survived for it to be raised from the seabed, conserved and reconstructed and then exhibited in its own museum. In addition, the details of the hull allowed a replica of the ship to be built and sailed. This shipwreck was found off Karenia, now Gerna, in northern Cyprus in 1967 and excavated in 1968 to 1969. When the cargo had been removed, it was found that much of the ship's hull had survived. This was raised and conserved in 1969 to 1974, becoming the main exhibit of the maritime museum in Kirinia Castle.

The Corinia ship, 47 ft 14 m long and 14 1/2 ft 4.2 m wide, had originally been built close to the year of Alexander the Great's death, 323 B.CE, and must have moved tons of cargo during the years in which his generals were carving up his empire into kingdoms of their own. The island of Roads, a great maritime center, used its navy and diplomacy to stay independent of the generals. The Corinia ship is thought to have come from roads and was on its way to Cyprus when it was lost circa 295 to 285 B.CE.

The survival of four oil jugs, four salt dishes, four wine pitchers, and four wooden spoons in the wreck points to a crew of four. the captain and three sailors. Under small decks at the bow and stern were amperas from Samos containing thousands of almonds. Also on board were 29 heavy millstones from the volcanic island of Niseros near roads. They may have been both ballast and cargo for later sail. The open central section of the ship held almost 400 rodian emperoras which contained wine from that island. All had been swirled inside with hot pitch to make them watertight. The wine they carried took on the resin flavor that survives in Ratsina in modern Greece.

The ship had a single mast with a single square sail. The helmsman on the aft deck steered with two ores called quarter rudders. The blade of the starboard rudder was found lying outside the collapsed stern on the sea floor. There was a hatch in the stern deck that led down to the only enclosed cabin on the ship. This was no doubt the captain's cabin, and the items found there include iron ingots, which may have been his personal trade goods. Also discovered there was a marble ceremonial basin of a type used in religious ceremonies. Perhaps the captain used it to ask the Greek sea god Poseidon for a safe and successful voyage. If that was so, on the last voyage the captain's prayers went unanswered.

The ship was old, much repaired, and in poor condition. Its timbers had been damaged by shipworm, and as a last attempt to keep the hull watertight, it had been sheathed in lead. A severe storm could easily have sent such a ship to the bottom. But the eight iron spearheads driven into its hull led archaeologists to speculate on another cause of loss. The ship might have been captured by pirates. The crew and any passengers taken to be sold as slaves and any portable valuables removed. After that, the pirates might have sunk the ship to conceal their crime. Enough of the Kernia ship's hull had survived to make the building of a replica named Corinia 2 possible. In 1986, this vessel made a passage from Pyus, Greece to Cyprus, sailing more than 400 miles, 640 km at nearly three knots. And in one 24-hour period, it averaged almost twice that, though adequate for trade, such speeds would have made the Corinia ship easy prey for a pirate galley.

Over time, the Phoenician mother cities such as Tyer and Sidon fell under the control of rising Neareastern empires such as the Assyrians. Many of the inhabitants fled to Phoenician colonies elsewhere in the Mediterranean, and one of these Carthage near Tunis grew strong enough to dominate the central and western Mediterranean. While the Carthaginians ruled the seas, a new land power was growing up in Italy, Rome. When overrunning Italy, the Romans took little interest in the sea. But when they turned their inquisitive gaze to Sicily, they were bound to clash with Carthage. The Carthaginians controlled most of the island and saw it as an essential part of their Carthaginian or Punic Empire.

To beat the Carthaginians, the Romans had to become a naval power. According to ancient historians, they did this by rapidly building a fleet of war gs based on the design of a Carthaginian galley that had run ground and been captured. This speedy creation of a fleet may have been aided by Carthaginian construction methods, which were revealed by the excavation of a wreck that was believed to be a Punic warship that had sunk off Sicily. The ship, an ordriven dispatcher scouting vessel, was lost off Marcala, Sicily during the 3rd century B.CE, probably in the later stages of the first Punic War, 264 to 241 B.CE. between Carthage and Rome.

When it was excavated in the early 1970s, the Marcella ship was found to have Punic symbols and letters painted onto its timbers. This showed that the ship was built of prefabricated sections that allowed ship builders to piece them together rapidly. If Carthaginian galleys were built in similar fashion with painted instructions for assembly, the Romans would have been greatly assisted in building copies of such ships. The first Punic War saw many naval battles between the two sides with hundreds of vessels lost, according to ancient historians. But until recently, no archaeological evidence of these clashes had come to light.

One of the last sea battles of the conflict was fought off the Egates Egodi Islands to the west of Sicily in 241 B.CEE, ending in a decisive Roman victory. In 2004, an Italian fisherman from these islands brought up a galley's bronze ram from the seafloor. This in turn led maritime archaeologists to begin a detailed sonar survey of the seabed off Levanzo Island in the Egod. This survey led to the discovery of the world's first ancient naval battlefield. Finds discovered by the archaeologists included ballast from lost Carthaginian ships, scattered emperors, both Roman and Punic, helmets, and most importantly, 16 bronze rams from sunken war gs. Suddenly, the number of such rams that had been found in the Mediterranean increased fivefold.

One Carthaginian ram has a Punic inscription that can be read as a prayer to the god Baal. that this ram will go into an enemy ship and make a big hole. The inscription on another ram is said to boast that this ram eats ships. When raised, it was found to have fragments of a Roman hull still wedged in its face. Some of the rams that were recovered have been badly battered, presumably from damage inflicted during the fighting. Roman victory over Carthage in the Punic Wars ensured Roman dominance in the central and western Mediterranean.

The next step in Roman expansion was to move into the Eastern Mediterranean, overrunning the Henistic states that had been created after the death of Alexander the Great. In one of these conflicts, the Roman general Sula sacked Athens in 86 B.CE. And it was at first assumed that an ancient shipwreck found off the coast of southern Greece in 1900 contained booty from that event that was lost on its way to Italy.

Greek sponge divers discovered the wreck off the island of Antictherraa which lies between the southern tip of mainland Greece and the island of Cit. This information was passed to the Greek authorities and in the following year Greek naval vessels went to the site and divers went down to recover artifacts. Although this is usually called the first modern investigation of an ancient wreck, it was more of a salvage operation than a systematic archaeological excavation. Divers brought up whatever came to hand, and there was most interest in ancient works of art in the cargo. Items recovered included three life-siz marble horses, coins, jewelry, glassear, and hundreds of works of art, including a 7ft tall, 2.1 m statue of Heracles. from the ship itself. Lead scupper pipes and lead sheeting from the hull were recovered, as well as a set of lead sounding weights. The shipwreck was dated to the 1st century BCE, and there was some speculation as to whether it contained loot from Sullah's sack of Athens. The recovered items were taken to the archaeological museum in Athens for further examination.

In 1902, what appeared to be a gear lever was found in a concreted lump of bronze. This was the most surprising item to be found in the rec site and has come to be known as the anticothera mechanism. It is a complex clockwork mechanism composed of 37 meshing bronze gears and has been described as the first ever analog computer. It could follow the movement of the sun and moon through the zodiac, predict eclipses, and track the 4-year cycle of athletic games that was similar to the Olympiad. The knowledge of this technology was lost at some point in antiquity. Similar technological works later appeared in the Byzantine and Islamic worlds, but works with similar complexity did not appear again in the West until the development of mechanical astronomical clocks in the 14th century CE.

For decades after 1901, the Anticther wreck was left undisturbed. Then in 1953, the undersea explorer Jacqu Kustoau, father of scuba diving, paid a short visit to the site. Kustoau returned in 1976 when he carried out work on the wreck in association with the Greek authorities. More than 300 artifacts were recovered, including more pieces of bronze and marble sculptures, ceramic jars, gold jewelry, hull planks, and bronze and silver coins. The dates on the coins showed that the ship was probably lost around 60 B.CE, so it could not have been carrying Sula's booty from Athens.

In the early 2010s, a joint expedition by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution of the USA and the Greek authorities was proposed to undertake a new excavation of the Anticther Rex site. The technology of underwater archaeology had advanced greatly since the 1970s, and it seemed to promise a more thorough study of the shipwreck than ever before. A preliminary survey was made in 2012 and a more detailed survey in 2014 to 2015. The wreck site was found to be much larger than previously thought. And the ship itself might have been as long as 164 ft, 50 m, putting it among the largest known ships of the Roman era, such as grain carriers, which were said to carry up to a,000 tons of cargo. Another ancient shipwreck was found not far from the Antictherraa wreck and seemed likely to date from the same period.

Excavations on the Anticther site in 2014 to 2016 brought new finds. timber from the ship's hull or decks. Several large lead anchors, more lead hole sheathing, bronze nails and spikes, two large bronze spears from statues, the left hand of a marble statue, ornate glass bowls, intact ceramic jars in various styles, and a gold ring similar to one recovered in 1976. One extraordinary find was an ancient weapon known as a dolphin. A 220 lb 99 kg lead bulb tipped with an iron spike intended to be dropped from a ship's yard arm through the deck and hull of an attacking vessel. This is the only example of a war dolphin ever discovered. At the end of August 2016, a fairly complete human skeleton was uncovered on the wreck site. If sufficient viable DNA remains in the bones, it may be possible to establish the ethnicity of the 2,000-year-old shipwreck victim. Further excavations in 2017 and 2019 produced yet more remains of bronze and marble statues as well as hull planking and frames from the ship.

The works of art recovered from this wreck may be booty taken in war, but there was always a great demand among the Roman rich for Greek art, whether original or copied, and regular trade to satisfy this demand seems likely. Another Roman shipwreck from the same period, full of art treasures, was found off Madia, Tunisia, not long after the discovery of the Antictherraa wreck.

Another large Roman wreck lost around the same time as the Antithera ship was found in 1967 of Medro Deianne east of Tulon on the Mediterranean coast of France. Some 65 ft 20 m underwater. The wreck site was 130 ft 40 m long and 30 ft 9 m wide and it was excavated over 11 seasons between 1972 and 1982. This was the first large-scale scientific underwater archaeological excavation carried out in France. The ship was estimated to have been capable of carrying 400 tons of cargo, making it one of the largest Roman wrecks found up to that time. With only the shipwreck off Albena, Italy being larger with a carrying capacity of 600 tons.

The Menra Dejian ship was probably capable of carrying up to 8,000 emperoras, but on its last voyage, the vessel seems to have been carrying around 6,000, all containing wine. Most of the amperas had the stamp of the potter Publius Vivio Papus, showing they were an export from Terracina, a wine producing area of southern Italy, where he was known to have a workshop. On top of the layers of wine amperos was a large load of ceramics, including black glazed companion wares and coarser kitchen wear. Some of the wine cargos seemed to have been salvaged soon after the wreck. Local stones were found in gaps within the cargo, and this indicated that free divers had been at work. Holding their breath, they would grasp a large stone taken from the nearby shore and plummet to the seabed, taking a rope with them. The stone would be dropped and the rope attached to an ampha, and the diver would return to the surface and the ampha would be pulled up. This was the first time traces of work by free divers had been found in an ancient shipwreck.

The lost ship was undoubtedly one of the largest ships of its period with only grain carriers being larger. Much of the wooden hull has survived. It had been constructed in the usual shelf first fashion with mortise and tenon joints pegged from the outside. There was a covering of lead on the outside. In form, the hull had a central section with a sharp bottom and there was a prominent keel aft. At the front of the ship, the keel was extended by a long forefoot that ended with a concave stem post tilted towards the back. This stemost was reinforced towards the front by an imposing cutwater in the form of a ram. This distinctive shape is similar to a ship shown in a mosaic from the thermal baths at Temetra in Tunisia. Such an image gives some idea of the upper parts and rigging of the Madra Dejon ship. Equipped with an elaborate hull and large square sails carried by two or possibly three masts, the ship, despite its large size and substantial tonnage, must have possessed good nautical qualities and been an impressive sailing ship.

In 31 B.CE, the naval battle of Octum in Greece brought the Roman civil wars to an end, and Octavian, soon to become Emperor Agugustus, was the winner. Rome now controlled all the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The first and last political entity ever to do so. The Mediterranean was Marin Nostrum, our sea to the Romans, and it witnessed no more naval battles for the next 250 years or so. Such peace and security allowed maritime trade to flourish in the Mediterranean as never before.

The city of Rome required thousands of tons of grain every year to feed its large population. And hundreds of ships carried such cargo from the principal supply areas of Sicily, Tunisia, and Egypt. Some of these ships were so large that they could carry more than a thousand tons of grain. Even at the start of the 19th century CE, almost 2,000 years later, very few wooden sailing ships could carry such a large cargo. The grain carriers were the largest ships afloat in the Roman period. Yet, the wreck of a Roman grain carrier has never been found. Fortunately, such ships receive mention by ancient authors and even appear in the New Testament.

The shipwreck in such a ship of the Apostle Paul, St. Paul, traditionally dated to 60 CE, receives comparatively detailed coverage in Acts of the Apostles 27:es 1-44. Paul had been arrested in Palestine for his Christian missionary activities. At first, he was to be tried there, but as a Roman citizen, he claimed the right to be tried before the emperor himself in Rome. Paul was handed over to the centurion Julius who was to escort him there together with other prisoners at Kaisaria Maritima. They boarded a ship from Adramitium and sailed north. The ship called it Sidon before sailing north past Cyprus to the south coast of Asia Minor. Contrary winds slowed progress, but the ship finally reached the port of Meera in Lydia. There, Julius and his prisoners transferred from their first ship to a ship of Alexandria, Egypt, which was carrying grain to Italy.

This ship set off westwards, but still faced contrary winds. After reaching the port of Nidus on the southwest coast of Asia Minor, it was decided to sail south of the island of Cree in the hope of encountering better winds there. The ship eventually reached a place known as Fair Havens on the south coast of Cree, but the crew became worried because winter was fast approaching. The ship might winter at Fair Havens, but it was eventually decided to move to the port of Phoenix further to the west on the southern coast of Cree since it was a safer place to spend the winter. the ship put to sea, but soon afterwards it was struck by a violent storm with winds coming from the northeast. For almost two weeks, the ship was driven westwards before the storm until the crew believed they were approaching land. The sailors dropped their sounding lead and found a depth of 20 fathoms, 120 ft, 36 m. A little later they did this again and found 15 fathoms 90 ft 27 m. Clearly the ship was nearing land. To prevent the vessel from being driven ashore, the sailors dropped four anchors from the stern of the ship. Then they got out the ship's boat and said they would get into it and lay further anchors from the bow. Suspecting that the sailors were trying to desert the ship, the Centurion ordered the crew to stay on board and had his soldiers cast the boat a drift. Efforts were now made to lighten the ship by dumping some of its cargo of grain into the sea. Daylight revealed that the ship was not far from a shoreline, so its anchors were taken up and the vessel was run ground on a sandbank. The forward part of the ship remained intact, but the stern began to break up under the impact of the waves. There were said to be 276 people on the ship, and all were said to have reached the shore safely, with some swimming and others coming ashore on pieces of wreckage. Paul's ship had been wrecked on the island of Malta. The wreck site may have been in the bay, still known as St. Paul's Bay, but no remains of his ship have ever been found there.

Paul spent the three winter months on Malta and then headed north in another grain ship from Alexandria that had spent the winter at the island. After calling at Syracuse and Reio, Paul's ship finally reached Poti on the Gulf of Naples. This was one of the principal ports where grain for Rome was landed. Paul went on to Rome by land and spent two years under house arrest there before eventually appearing before the emperor's court. He was acquitted. According to later tradition, Paul then went on a journey to Spain to spread the Christian gospel only to be arrested once again and returned to Rome. There Paul was martyed during a persecution of Christians.

After the Western Roman Empire collapsed in the second half of the fifth century CE, the empire lived on in the Eastern Mediterranean with the capital now at Constantinople. It was an increasingly Greek political entity and historians have called this Roman remnant the Byzantine Empire. It lasted until 1453. One feature retained in this surviving empire was the need to continue the grain trade to the capital. But now the principal route was from Egypt to Constantinople. Hundreds of ships were active in this trade and looked to the Byzantine Navy to protect them. The main Byzantine warship was the Drummond, a type of galley that included among its weapons an early form of flamethrower projecting Greek fire. Sadly, no wreck of a Drummond has yet been found. Indeed, until recently, no wreck of any Byzantine warship had come to light.

In 2004, during the digging of a new railway tunnel in Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, Turkey, in the suburb of Yanekapi, the remains of the harbor of Theodosius were unearthed. It had flourished as a major harbor for Constantinople between the 4th and 11th century CE before becoming silted up and then built over. Among the remains of more than 30 Byzantine ships found on the site by archaeologists were six Byzantine warships dating from the 9th to the 10th century CE. They were not Durommans but small galleys used as scouts and dispatch vessels. They probably sank in the harbor during a violent storm around a thousand years ago and were not salvaged. Silt and mud soon covered them, keeping out light and air and thus aiding their preservation. Removed from the site with all the other wrecks discovered, the warships are undergoing conservation and research.

Finds of the wrecks of Byzantine merchant ships are more common, and a particularly interesting one was discovered on the southwest coast of Turkey at Yasiada. Although the ship at just over 69 feet, 21 meters long, could carry some 60 tons of cargo, its hull, at a slim 4:1 length to width ratio and a maximum breadth well after midship was primarily designed for speed. The hull showed an interesting transitional stage between Greco Roman shell first construction and the later frame first construction. The lower part of the ship up to the water line was built in shellfirst style, but with smaller, wider spaced mortise and tenon joints that were not pegged. Above the waterline, the planking was simply nailed to frames or ribs within the ship. The ship probably had two masts, but with triangular latine sails rather than square ones. The ship had been well equipped and despite its small size carried 11 iron anchors.

At the stern, the remains of an elaborate galley kitchen were found. A large tile firebox with an adjustable iron grill occupied the port half of the galley floor. A superructure rising above deck level to give access and interior light to the galley was roofed with tiles. Galley wares included cooking pots, cauldrons, a copper baking pan, jars, pitchers, jugs, and five settings of fine table wear. A storage locker in the galley's forward wall contained the ship's valuables, 16 gold and 50 copper coins, three steel yards and a set of balance pan weights, 16 unused lamps, a carpenters's chest of tools, and a bronze sensor surmounted by a cross. The latest copper coin was minted in the year 625 to 626 CE, so the shipwreck probably took place shortly after that date. An inscription on the largest steelard gives the name and title of its owner, Georgio Priest, Sea Captain.

Giorgio's ship was carrying around 900 emperors. Some 700 of these were globular jars stacked three deep in the hold. The rest were cylindrical jars placed horizontally between the necks of the top layer. Most probably contained wine. At first, it was believed that the lost ship was a coastal trader involved in the wine trade. But the presence of a priest captain, the elaborate galley, kitchen, and much Christian graffiti on the outside of the emperors pointed to a different role. The ship probably belonged to the Byzantine Orthodox Church and had been designed for speed and the feeding of passengers so that it might transport churchmen as well as cargo with the latter likely to have been derived from church estates. The ship was lost towards the end of a long war between the Byzantine and Persian empires 602 to 628 CE. At one point the Byzantines had been in such desperate straits that the emperor called on the church to support his army with money and supplies. The church did this and eventually the Byzantines defeated the Persians. It is possible that this church-owned vessel was lost while carrying a cargo of wine to supply the Byzantine army during the conflict.

Although they were victorious against the Persians, the Byzantines faced a new and more dangerous enemy a little later in the 7th century CE. Out of Arabia came armies committed to the new religion of Islam. Within a few years, they had driven the Byzantines out of Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and North Africa. Although they were originally land warriors, the Muslim Arabs soon took to the sea and were able to send fleets and armies to besiege Constantinople on several occasions, although without success. By the late 10th century CE, the Byzantines had recovered enough to start pushing back into Syria. On the land frontiers, Christians and Muslims often clashed even when major wars were not taking place.

However, maritime commerce was still possible between the two sides, as revealed by the wreck of a ship lost early in the 11th century CE, probably around 10:25. When excavation of the shipwreck at Ser Lemani on the south coast of Turkey began in 1977, much broken Islamic glass was found, as well as some whole Islamic glasswware. The initial assumption of maritime archaeologists was that this was a Muslim vessel and that the broken glass was caused by the shipwreck. However, the later discovery of pork bones and items with Christian markings cast doubt on the original assumption. This was a Byzantine ship, not a Muslim one. Attempts to glue together the broken Islamic glass were largely fruitless, and it was eventually accepted that most of the broken glass was scrap being sent for reuse in a Christian glass works. Literary sources showed that at various times, scrap glass had been sent from Muslim ports to Christian Venice. The broken glass in this cargo was probably on its way to a glass works in Constantinople. Broken or not, this was the largest collection of medieval Islamic glass ever found.

Among the other Islamic items found in the shipwreck were some gold coins, with the latest probably minted in 1024 to 1025 CE, thus helping to establish when the ship was lost. The vessel was 51 15 ft, 15.6 m long, and its breadth was a third of that. The ship was of modern construction. That is, the skeleton frame of the ship had been built first, and the planks of the hull were nailed onto it later. The ship probably had two masts with two triangular latine sails and a steering ore at the stern. The hull had a flat bottom that would allow the vessel to enter shallow rivers. There were some nine iron anchors on the ship. Iron dissolves over time underwater. unless buried in mud or silt. But before this happens, rock concretions can form around iron objects, and an empty space in the shape of the lost object will remain. Archaeologists have found a way to inject liquid epoxy into such empty molds. Once it is hardened, a copy of the lost iron object will have been created. Using this method, a whole collection of iron Byzantine tools and other items from this ship have been recreated.

Also found was the largest collection of Byzantine weapons from any archaeological site. 11 sets of weapons were found, each containing one thrusting spear and four or five javelins, throwing spears, some still wrapped in a burlap-like fabric. An iron sword with a wooden sheath and a bronze hilt, ornately decorated with a plumemed bird, probably belonged to the ship's captain. Because plans were made showing the position of every artifact found on the rec site, it was possible to determine the social stratification of those on board. The most prominent people, officers and merchants, lived at the ship's stern, eating pork, goat, and possibly mutton and fish, along with almonds, various fruits, and olives. To pass the time, they played chess. Also in the stern were the gold and copper coins, jewelry, weighing devices, and sets of pan balance weights, iron padlocks with keys, and most of the weapons and tools. A less grand living space for merchants was found in the bow of the ship. The common sailors, however, lived amid ships, unarmed, not sharing the pork and possibly not the fruit, and playing the less intellectual game of backgammen.

Many of the emperors found in the ship had Greek names written on them, but others had what appeared to be Slavic names. Some of the emperors had been made at kils run by a colony of helanized Bulgarians on the sea of Marmara not far from Constantinople. It is possible that the ship and its crew came from this colony. The Cir Leman wreck is eloquent testimony to the fact that whatever clashes were taking place between Byzantine and Muslim warriors on the land frontier between their two civilizations in the world of maritime trade, the two sides were still able to cooperate and do business. This Byzantine ship had probably picked up its cargo of glass, both intact and broken, at a Muslim port in Syria or Palestine, and was taking it back to Constantinople. However, it ran into a storm and took shelter at Cer Lemony. An anchor was put down, but the storm continued. The anchor broke and the vessel was driven onto the rocks.

Before the 11th century CE was over, a different kind of storm would burst over the Eastern Mediterranean with the arrival of the first crusaders from Western Europe. Their arrival would have profound effects on both the Byzantines and the Muslims.

Two Asian shipwrecks before 1500. Wong was in despair. The fierce winds and mountainous seas were driving his ship and the rest of the fleet towards the shore. The anchors would not hold much longer. Wong, the commander of 100 Chinese soldiers, now in the service of the new Mongol Emperor of China, Kubla Khan, had resisted attacks by Japanese samurai warriors. But there was no way to defeat the fury of the typhoon now raging around him. The Mongol invasion of Japan in 1281 was coming to a disastrous end. Soon, most of the ships of the Mongol fleet would be smashed to pieces on the rocky Japanese coast, and Wong would find a watery grave. The lost soldier would lie undisturbed at the bottom of Imari Bay for more than seven centuries. Only in 2002 would maritime archaeologists find his remains. They were able to do so because of the spread of maritime archaeology in Asia since the 1970s. Yet that discipline is still at an early stage in this region and so far relatively few ancient shipwrecks have been found when compared to those that have been discovered in an area like the Mediterranean Sea.

Hundreds of Roman shipwrecks have been found in the Mediterranean. But Roman maritime interests were not restricted to that sea. Sailing from Egyptian ports on the Red Sea, Roman ships also ventured into the Indian Ocean, particularly in the first two centuries CE. The Romans had a strong demand for goods from India and China. Some came via the Overland Silk Road through Central Asia, but others arrived via the maritime silk route through the Indian Ocean. Sadly, almost no shipwrecks from this period have yet been found. An exception is what is claimed to be the oldest shipwreck so far discovered in the Indian Ocean. The remains of this lost ship were found off Goravaya on the southern coast of Sri Lanka in 2003 and several archaeological expeditions have visited the site since 2008. The vessel was carrying a cargo of raw materials including iron ingots and glass ingots as well as finished stone qus benches and ceramic bowls. Unfortunately, little of the ship itself is left, but the artifacts suggest the wreck dates to either the last two centuries B.CE or the 1st century CE.

Chinese goods going by sea originally reached the Romans via Indian intermediaries. Indeed, in the early centuries CE, Chinese maritime developments mostly took place on internal waterways, rivers, lakes, and canals rather than on the oceans. Most Chinese overseas trade at this time was carried by foreign vessels, chiefly Arab, Indian, and Southeast Asian ones. When the wreck of one of these vessels was found in Indonesian waters in 1998, it was a major find for maritime archaeologists and all those interested in the history of China under the Tang Dynasty, 618 to 9007 CE. The silk road from China through Central Asia to the west was an important trade route. But while pack animals such as camels could carry consignments of silk with little fear of damage, they could not carry large quantities of Chinese ceramics safely. These bulk exports could only go by sea, and the wreck discovered in 1998 contained the largest hoorde of Tang Dynasty ceramics ever found.

The ship had sunk around 8:30 CE near the island of Bellong in Indonesia. It was 56 ft 17 m underwater and the hull was 58 ft 18 m long and 21 ft 6.4 m wide. Although it was carrying a Chinese cargo, the ship itself was an Arab Dao, probably built in Yemen or Oman. Made of African and Indian timber, the ship's hull planks were sewn together with strong coconut fiber rope, a feature of many Indian Ocean ships. The vessel was thought to be on its way from a South China port, probably Guanghou, bound for a port in the Persian Gulf, possibly Basra. This would have been one of the longest sea voyages undertaken up to that time.

Apart from about 10 tons of lead ingots, which served as ballast but could later be sold, most of the ship's cargo was made up of Chinese ceramics, some 60,000 pieces in all, many of them intact. Most were bowls turned out by kils at Changa, south of the river Yangty in central China. But there were also hundreds of mass-roduced ink pots, spice jars, and ursers. One of the bowls bore a Chinese date that corresponds to the year 826 CE, which fits in with the date ranges suggested by Chinese coins found in the wreck and radiocarbon dating of the ship's timbers, and a sample of star anis, a spice native to China and Vietnam. When shipped, the Chung Sha bowls were nested and wrapped in straw or packed in large storage jars from Vietnam.

In addition to the mass market cargo, the Bitung ship also contained numerous pieces of silverware, some etched with gold and the largest gold cup of Tong origin ever known, as well as more refined ceramics from Xia Jang privates in China. That an Arab Dao sank in Southeast Asian waters carrying a Chinese cargo around 8:30 CE shows that at that time a wide ranging international trade existed in Asian waters. There must also have been cultural interchange between regions as the Chong Sha bowls are decorated with motifs which demonstrate that their Chinese makers had a good understanding of their intended markets. Most of the bowls bear geometric designs or inscriptions from the Quran rendered in red or green and were obviously intended for Muslim customers in the Abbasid caliphate which then dominated the Middle East. Green splashed bowls were popular in Persia, while those adorned with lotus symbols were intended for Buddhist customers. The blue used on the Zha Jang wear was made from cobalt and in the 9th century the Chinese had to import this from Persia. While fine Chinese ceramics would always find foreign buyers, it seems surprising that China enjoyed enough comparative economic advantage at this time to turn out mass market goods for customers thousands of miles away. The Middle East, for example, did not lack for potters who could turn out

bowls for the local market. Yet, it seems it was economically viable to import Chinese bowls despite the relatively high cost of shipping them by sea.

The Bitong ship's cargo, known as the Ty treasure, was kept together after being raised from the seabed. And in 2005, the Republic of Singapore bought this unique collection for $32 million.

The Tong Dynasty collapsed in the 10th century and was eventually replaced by the Song Dynasty. The Song were the first dynasty to take a serious interest in China's overseas trade. They would encourage the rise of China's own merchant fleet to carry its exports and establish China's first permanent navy. But foreign shipping would still be important for carriage of Chinese exports until the 12th century.

One such foreign ship was wrecked around 1,00 CE and although it seems not to have been trading directly with China, it still carried many Chinese export ceramics in its variegated cargo. The ship known as the Inanrech was found in Indonesian waters in 1997. It was a ship of Southeast Asian timber and design about 90 ft (27.4 m) long and 25 ft (7.6 m) across, perhaps 300 tons, with a V-shaped keel. Its hull planks were joined at the edges by wooden dowels while its internal ribs were lashed with palm fiber rope. It probably carried several sails and had a large rudder at one side of the hull.

It is likely that the cargo, including the Chinese ceramics, was loaded at an entrepôt in Sumatra, probably the port of Palamang, which had close trading links with Chinese ports. The ship was probably bound across more than 400 m (644 km) of open ocean to a port on the north coast of Java.

By the 10th century, navigational technology had advanced in Asia, and among the items found in the wreck was a compass bowl. This technological breakthrough had come from China and spread to Southeast Asia and then onto India. The compass consisted of a natural fragment of magnetite, the magnetized form of iron, which was mounted on a small wooden disc. This was then floated on water in a special bowl that had incised markings on the inner surface. Magnetite always points to magnetic north, so sailors could set their course from the incised lines on the bowl.

Serving as both ballast and cargo, the ship was carrying many ingots of tin which had been mined in the Kada region of the western Malay Peninsula. Java had no tin, and once the ingots reached there, they would likely be combined with copper to make bronze, which was widely used in Southeast Asia at this time. Items made of tin alloy found on the wreck site included two types of mirror. One, giving an indistinct image, was of Southeast Asian design, but the other was of Chinese design and could be polished to produce a good image. The ship also carried a quantity of scrap brass, an alloy of copper and zinc, which was being sent for smelting and reuse.

Around 1,000 CE, both Buddhism and Hinduism were widespread across Southeast Asia with many competing sects. The sunken ship yielded many religious items relating to both faiths. Some items relating to Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism were found, including bells and a distinctive spear-shaped scepter. Other items found related to forms of ritual from India: a bronze lion's head finial, a bronze lotus bud, and ceremonial spears, vessels, and trays. The most striking of these objects was a set of incised and carved brass hinges and door decorations. The large wooden doors to which they were attached have long since disintegrated, but were probably intended for a religious building of some type in Java.

The divers brought up 245 glass beads, all similar in size and style. Chemical analysis has shown that the beads probably came from Persia rather than India or China. They are of the type known as eye beads, which were supposed to protect the wearer from the evil eye. The existence of such malevolent forces being a widespread belief in both Asia and Europe at this time.

Some silver ingots were found in the wreck, with one bearing the Chinese inscription "sword office, high-grade silver of 52 liang, certified by officer Chen Shun." Chinese government officials worried about the outflow of precious metals from China to pay for imports from Southeast Asia and elsewhere. They encouraged the outward shipment of Chinese silk and ceramics to pay for such imports instead. Any silk in the ship's cargo disintegrated long ago, but a quantity of Chinese ceramics was found among the cargo of the sunken ship. There were celadons, porcelain with a jade green glaze from the Yao kiln, light blue seladon from the Qing Jen kiln, and white glazed artifacts from the Ding kiln. Some people have claimed this might indicate the ship had visited China, but since many Chinese exports went to Sumatra, it seems more likely that the ceramics were picked up there.

On a more prosaic level, the wreck's cargo also included many Chinese cast iron cooking pots, which were sold widely across Southeast Asia. The cargo recovered from the Inan shipwreck is more varied than that from the Bitong shipwreck, showing the increasing sophistication of maritime trade in Southeast Asia by the 10th century CE.

Soon, Chinese ships began to take a larger share of this trade, especially after the Song Dynasty lost control of northern China to invading barbarians in the early 12th century and had to concentrate their remaining power in southern China. The Song government became more dependent on taxation of seagoing trade and encouraged the growth of new ports. Soon Quanzhou came to replace Guangzhou as China's leading international port.

In 1973, a shipwreck was found buried in what had once been a creek that led into Quanzhou Bay, China. Some 504 coins were found in the wreck, 70 of which were minted during the Song Dynasty, with the latest dated 1272. The ship was probably lost soon after that date. The remains of the hull showed the ship was 113 ft (34.4 m) long and 32 ft (9.7 m) across, drew only 10 ft (3 m) of water, and displaced 375 tons, making it as large as any 13th-century European ship.

However, the ship was unlike any European craft and did not conform to what archaeologists thought a Chinese oceangoing ship of the period should look like. With its pointed bow, V-shaped bottom, and 12 bulkheads separating the hull into distinct compartments, it was built with a strong hull capable of meeting stormy seas. The rugged construction included a double-planked hull which became triple-planked at the turn of the bilge. The planks were fastened with iron clamps and spikes. Like ancient Mediterranean shipbuilders, the Chinese built their ship shell first, fitting planks together to make a strong hull. Only then were the internal frames fitted. It was thought that early Chinese ships did not have keels, but the Quanzhou ship was found to have one made up of three separate pieces of timber. The rudder was fitted into the flat stern, suspended and angling down along the watertight transom, but not attached to a stern post. The interior of the hull contained mounts for two masts, and their spacing indicates that a third mast may also have been fitted at the stern. It was clear from the nature of the ship's surviving cargo that it had returned to Quanzhou from a voyage to Southeast Asia.

12 of the ship's 13 compartments contained incense wood which would be burned during religious and domestic ceremonies. There were also small quantities of black pepper, ambergris (originally from Somalia), frankincense (probably from Arabia), mercury, dragon's blood (a red resin), and hematite, along with one turtle shell. There were also 2,000 cowrie shells, either from Southeast Asia or from the island of Hainan off China's south coast.

There were no obvious reasons for the ship's sinking, and various theories about its demise have been put forward. One has the ship departing from Quanzhou while that port was still held by Song forces but returning in 1277 to find the city had fallen to the advancing Mongol forces of Kublai. The captain then took his ship to a remote part of Quanzhou Bay, where he scuttled it. The crew intended to return later to salvage the valuable cargo but were unable to do so. Although it is an interesting possibility, this hypothesis is pure speculation. The remains of the ship were dug up and taken to Quanzhou city. Today they reside in a special pavilion in the grounds of the Kaiyuan Temple.

If the Quanzhou ship was lost returning from an overseas voyage in the 13th century, the next major Chinese shipwreck to be discovered was a vessel that was beginning such a voyage in that century. Found in 1987, the shipwreck lay off the coast of Guangdong province in southern China, and the vessel had probably left the port of Guangzhou, bound for a destination across the South China Sea. Appropriately, the wreck became known as Nanhai 1 (South China Sea 1).

The first survey of it found about 200 pieces of porcelain dating from the Song Dynasty, together with Song coins, some silver bars, a brass kettle, and a gold waist chain. Later surveys found thousands of items on the wreck site, most of which were Chinese ceramics. There were white glazed ceramics from the Dehua Kil, celadons from the Yue Kiln in Zhejiang, the Qingdeng Kil in Jiangxi, and the Luan Kil in Zaozhuang, and black glaze artifacts from the Jizhou Kil in Jiangxi. The ship itself was 100 ft (30.4 m) long, 32 ft (9.8 m) wide, and 11 ft (3.5 m) deep in the hull. The hull, still containing many artifacts, was raised in 2007 and moved to a purpose-built museum, the Maritime Silk Road Museum on Hailing Island, Yangjiang, Guangdong Province. The wreck is kept in a water tank known as the Crystal Palace, which allows underwater display and viewing.

Quanzhou had fallen to the Mongols in 1277, and Guangzhou suffered a similar fate in 1279. This marked the end of the Song dynasty in China. But a new Mongol dynasty known as the Yuan was established in a united China by Kublai Khan. He was the grandson of the original Mongol warlord Genghis Khan, but was keen to adopt Chinese culture. In order to defeat the Song, he had been forced to build up naval forces of his own. The Yuan dynasty proved to be as interested in maritime trade as the Song had been. They took over what was left of the Song Navy and soon directed it towards new enemies.

Even before he finally defeated the Song Dynasty, Kublai Khan had organized a maritime attack on Japan in 1274. The Japanese had refused to recognize Kublai Khan as their overlord, and they also continued to trade with Song-held ports in China. The Mongol ruler ordered the vassal state of Korea to build ships to send against Japan. When they were ready, a force of 33,000 Mongol, Korean, and Chinese troops set out for Japan in a fleet of 900 ships. The islands of Tsushima and Iki were captured, and the attackers came ashore in Hakata Bay on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu. The town of Hakata, now Fukuoka, was then Japan's principal port for overseas trade. The invaders soon destroyed it while battling with Japanese samurai warriors. Any further advance was halted by concerns about an approaching storm that might endanger the Mongol fleet. The invaders withdrew. The fleet sailed and may have lost ships during its stormy voyage back to Korea. Whether it was a successful raid or an unsuccessful invasion, the Mongol incursion of 1274 had failed to overthrow the Japanese. They still refused to recognize Kublai Khan as their overlord and began preparations in case of another Mongol attack. A major part of these preparations was building a defensive wall along the shores of Hakata Bay.

Once Kublai had defeated the Song in 1279, he turned his attention back to Japan and planned a new attack using massive forces allegedly numbering 4,000 ships and 140,000 men. This time there would be two attacking forces. One fleet came from Korea, and the other was assembled in China, mostly around the mouth of the Yangtze River. The two forces were to combine off the Japanese coast and then land on Kyushu. However, the Korean force was ready before the Chinese one and went into action on its own in June 1281. Coming ashore at Hakata Bay, the invaders had difficulty in breaching the Japanese defensive wall and were eventually forced to withdraw. They now joined up with the force from China, and a new landing was made at Imari Bay, 30 mi (50 km) south of Hakata Bay. An advance inland from there would outflank the Hakata defenses. However, Japanese resistance remained fierce. The samurai fought the Mongol, Korean, and Chinese forces on both land and sea. The latter resistance including fire ship attacks. The Mongol fleet was moored off Takashima Island, and one night in August, it was struck by a severe storm, probably a typhoon. Hundreds of ships and thousands of men were said to have been lost as the stormy seas drove the fleet onto the rocks. The surviving vessels headed for Korea, while any survivors who were washed ashore in Japan were killed or enslaved. It was said that the storm had been sent by the gods in answer to the Japanese emperor's prayers, and it became known as the kamikaze, or divine wind. In fact, few contemporary Japanese sources viewed it in this way outside the imperial court. But the legend of the kamikaze would live on into the 20th century, when it was exploited in 1944 to 1945 to justify suicide attacks by Japanese airmen against advancing Allied naval forces.

Kublai Khan's failed attacks on Japan in 1274 and 1281 have been viewed by many as some of the greatest naval disasters in history. Yet, it was not until 1980 that someone chose to start looking for the wrecks of the lost ships in Japanese waters. Torao Moshi, a retired marine engineer, first looked at Hakata Bay in 1980, but brought up only a few stone anchors that had no obvious link to the Mongol fleets. Hearing that fishermen had been bringing up Chinese pots, Moshi moved his search to the waters near Takashima Island. In 1981, the 700th anniversary of the 1281 invasion, divers began to bring up spearheads, iron and copper nails, stone anchors, stone bowls, iron ingots, and lots of ceramic and earthenware pots and plates. It was announced that Moshi had found the remains of the Mongol fleet, exciting widespread media interest. But in fact, none of these finds had a definite link to Kublai's fleet. Divers brought up a similar range of objects in 1982, but there was still no proof that they came from the Mongol fleet. Requests were made for local people to hand in possible relevant items found on the beaches in recent years. One such object proved to be an ancient seal found in 1974. Chinese writing on the back dated the seal to September 1277, while writing on the front in a special Mongol language known as Phags-pa recorded that the seal belonged to a senior officer, the commander of 10,000 men. This proved a definite link to the lost Mongol fleet.

During the 1980s, the maritime archaeologist Kenzo Hayashida took over excavation work, but initially finds continued to be insubstantial. A breakthrough came in 1994 when three massive wood and stone anchors were found off Takashima Island. They were still set in the bottom with attached ropes stretching towards the shore. This seemed to indicate that the ships to which they were linked had been driven ashore by a storm and wrecked. The granite in the largest anchor came from China's Fujian province, and its wood was dated to somewhere between 1134 and 1314 CE, covering the period of the Mongol attacks on Japan.

Underwater excavations in 2001 brought up a number of round pottery shells, which proved to be what the Japanese called tetsuhō, or thunderbombs. They were Chinese munitions containing gunpowder and metal fragments that were scattered when the bombs exploded. These bombs were the earliest examples of seagoing ordnance. By this time, more than 500 pieces of timber from broken ships had been found, but no large sections, let alone actual hulls. Most of the ceramics and earthenware found on the muddy sea bottom came from Chinese kilns.

In 2002, divers made a major discovery, finding artifacts close together that seemed to be all that remained of one of Kublai Khan's soldiers. A few bones were recovered, and analysis showed that they belonged to a 20-year-old Chinese man, probably from the Guangzhou area of southern China. Close by were scattered a number of red leather plates that, when stitched together, would have made a layered form of armor called lamellar. Among the plates lay a helmet, a bunch of iron crossbow bolts rusted into a solid mass, a tetsuhō, and a single bowl face down with the inscription "Wang, commander of 100," painted on its base. Wang was probably a former Song soldier now serving a new master. Indeed, most members of the Mongol invasion force of 1281 were Chinese or Korean, with Mongols making up as little as 10%.

In 2003, some larger sections of ship timber were found. The maritime archaeologist Randall Sasaki undertook a detailed analysis of all the timber pieces that had so far been recovered from the wreck site. His conclusion was that the ships of the Mongol fleet were not just destroyed because of the power of the typhoon, but because many of them had been poorly built or repaired. Kublai Khan's demand that large numbers of vessels be built as quickly as possible had led to rush jobs and poor construction. Even many of the pots and jars found among the wreckage showed poor workmanship caused by hasty manufacture.

In 2011, a partially preserved hull was found under a layer of silt. And in 2014, a more complete vessel was found. In form, the latter ship was built in a similar way to the Quanzhou ship, and both the newly discovered wrecks undoubtedly originated in China. So far, relatively little material of Korean origin has been found on the wreck sites, giving rise to speculation about whether the Korean and Chinese forces did in fact join up. It is known that many Korean ships seem to have survived the typhoon and returned home safely.

If the Yuan Emperor failed in his attempts to subdue Japan, it did not stop his encouragement of Chinese maritime activities, and trade with Japan soon resumed. In the early 1320s, a ship set off from China, bound for Japan, but it ran into a storm and was wrecked on the rocky southwest corner of the Korean Peninsula. The wreck site was found in 1975 by fishermen who reported it to the South Korean authorities. In 1976, Korean Navy divers began the excavation of the wreck. This was the first major underwater archaeological excavation undertaken in Asia. By 1989, thousands of artifacts had been found, and the ship itself was raised and moved to the nearby port of Mokpo for conservation.

The lost vessel, known as the Shinan (or Sinan) shipwreck, contained the largest collection of Yuan Dynasty celadon ceramics ever found. The ship, 93 ft (28.4 m) long and 21 ft (6.6 m) wide, had probably been built in Fujian Province, China, since it showed the presence of Bao Shokong. Seven holes in the keel, said to ensure long life, a folk custom among Fujian shipbuilders. Some 7 million Chinese coins were found in the wreck, weighing almost 27 tons, and the latest date among them was 1310. Chinese coins were used as currency in Japan. An even more precise date was provided by a wooden cargo tag that had the year 1323 written on it.

The main cargo was more than 20,000 pieces of Chinese ceramics. Many items were still intact, wrapped in paper, and cushioned in peppercorns inside well-preserved wooden boxes. One box was marked with Chinese symbols meaning "great luck," while another had the board for the Chinese game Go carved on its top. An inscription on a counterweight for a balance found in the wreck suggested that the ship might have sailed from the port of Ningbo in China. It was probably heading for Japan, since Koreans were making their own celadons in this period, and Chinese celadons were highly prized in Japan. Some Japanese artifacts were found on the wreck site, possibly indicating that some members of the ship's crew were Japanese.

Among the Chinese ceramics in the cargo were celadons from the Luan kiln in Zhejiang province, white glazed ceramics and light-colored seladons from the Jingdezhen Kiln in Jiangxi, black glazed ceramics from the Jizhou Kil in Fujian, and brown-painted white glazed ware from the Tongshan Kil in Hubei. The cargo also had items from Southeast Asia with a large amount of fragrant woods and spices, including sandalwood, medicinal herbs, cinnamon, and black pepper. It has been suggested that the vessel began its voyage in Southeast Asia before working its way northwards along the Chinese coast, picking up different ceramics at different ports before finally heading for a Japanese destination it would never reach. However, some cargo, such as the Southeast Asian items, could just as easily have been picked up at a Chinese entrepôt such as Guangzhou or Quanzhou.

The Mongol Yuan Dynasty went into decline after the 1330s and was replaced by the Chinese Ming dynasty in 1368. In maritime affairs, the early Ming dynasty is best known for the seven voyages of Zheng He between 1405 and 1433, when huge Chinese fleets visited Southeast Asia and countries around the Indian Ocean. He was said to have included giant treasure ships in his fleets, and in 2003 the dockyard at Nanjing, China, where most of them were built, was excavated. Many artifacts relating to shipbuilding were found, but nothing that could clarify the debate about the size of the ships.

Despite the fame of Zheng He's voyages, most early Ming rulers seem to have been hostile to maritime endeavors. This was partly a reflection of the traditional hostility of the scholar-bureaucrats who ran the empire to China's merchant class. The bureaucrats particularly disliked overseas trade. It brought in not only expensive luxuries, but foreign ideas that might challenge Confucian beliefs. The bureaucrats claimed that Zheng He's voyages had been hugely expensive and had brought little gain to China. They said that many of the ships and their crews had been lost. But since they destroyed all documentation relating to the voyages, we will never know whether this claim was true. Certainly, no wreck of a giant treasure ship has yet been found.

As early as 1371, the Ming rulers imposed restrictions on Chinese overseas trade, and in 1436, it was banned altogether. A ban that lasted for more than a century. Some overseas trade from China continued via smuggling networks linked to expatriate Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. But China's withdrawal from international trade was a boost to other countries in the region, notably Thailand and Vietnam.

A shipwreck that reflected this new reality was found in the 1990s by fishermen off the port of Hoi An, Vietnam. At first, they tried to keep it a secret and used undersea rakes to bring up ceramics which were illegally sold to dealers. When such items were found in the suitcase of a dealer at Da Nang airport, the secret was uncovered, and the Vietnamese government acted to take control of the wreck site. It became clear that the wreck contained a large cargo of Vietnamese ceramics, probably dating to the 15th century. The government wanted to excavate the wreck, but its considerable depth, 230 ft (70 m), presented problems. Eventually, an agreement was reached by the Vietnamese government with a Malaysian Chinese businessman who would provide salvage vessels and divers, and with the Oxford University maritime archaeologist Mensson Bond who would provide archaeological oversight.

The excavation of the lost ship took place between 1997 and 1999, uncovering the largest cargo of Vietnamese ceramics ever found. Over 200,000 pieces were recovered before the operation was terminated. Most had been made at the Chu Dau Kilns in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam. Vietnamese ceramics are hard to date because there has been relatively little study of them when compared to Chinese ceramics, and they do not have reign marks as do some Chinese pieces. Some Chinese coins were found in the wreck, with the most recent dated 1408. But Bond believed that the Vietnamese ceramics were probably created around the middle of the 15th century. A few Chinese bowls dated to around that period were found in what was probably the galley kitchen area of the ship, but they were likely the personal possessions of some crew members.

There were a number of large jars on the ship, but they were made at the Ban Rachani Kiln in Thailand. Within the hull, the cargo had been loaded with large, heavy dishes stowed at the bottom and lighter rice bowls above, all stacked on their sides, their weight resting on their rims. The gaps between them were filled with cups, small jars, and animal figurines. In one place, three circles of bowls coiled one on top of another in the shape of a cone, were found. They had probably been bound together with reeds which had long since disintegrated. On other shipwrecks, ceramic cargoes were found stowed in straw and even peppercorns and tea. However, in this wreck, apart from occasional packing pieces inserted to prevent stacks from shifting in transit, there was no evidence of the cushioning used to protect the ceramics. Perhaps it was organic material that had since decomposed.

Other than the large cargo of Vietnamese ceramics, relatively few other artifacts were found in the wreck. The galley area produced some copper cauldrons with charred bases and a set of nest weights. Scattered finds from elsewhere on the wreck included two mirror handles, an inkstick grinding table used by calligraphers, knives, buckets, a gong, and other metal wear. A human skeleton was also found, and later analysis of the bones indicated that the remains belonged to a woman of Thai ethnic origin who was about 18 or 19 years old.

The ship's hull was divided by bulkheads into a number of compartments, usually a sign of Chinese construction, but the hull planks were joined edge-to-edge with wooden pins, usually seen as indicating Southeast Asian shipbuilding. It is possible that by the 15th century, Chinese and Southeast Asian shipbuilders were copying each other to produce hybrid vessels, but it seems likely that this particular vessel was built in Southeast Asia rather than China, with Thailand as a possible construction site. One highly speculative theory is that this ship was a Thai vessel that went to China to collect a cargo of ceramics, only to find that the 1436 ban on foreign trade prevented such sales. As an alternative, the ship may have gone to northern Vietnam and collected a cargo of ceramics from there and was then wrecked off the Vietnamese coast before it could return to Thailand. There is as yet no evidence to back up this theory.

After the excavation of the wreck came to an end, the Vietnamese government took most of the best ceramic pieces to be exhibited in Vietnamese museums, but permitted the sale at auction of the rest of the recovered ceramics. This auction took place in 2000, but by this time, UNESCO and many maritime archaeologists were increasingly hostile to the commercial sale of artifacts recovered from shipwrecks. Despite their criticism, the sale went ahead. But the money brought in by the auction proved to be far less than expected and did not cover the cost of raising the artifacts from the seabed.

The Ming withdrawal from overseas trade might not have mattered but for the fact that while the Chinese turned their backs on the sea, the Europeans had built ships capable of sailing around the world. In the 1520s, the Portuguese reached the shores of China and found no significant Ming naval forces to oppose them. Other Europeans would follow, and soon a new age began for maritime Asia.

Three North European shipwrecks to 1550.

In late November in the year 1120 CE, a large white-painted ship was in the harbor of Barfleur at the northern tip of the Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy. It was a magnificent vessel capable of carrying several hundred passengers and had a crew of at least 50 men. The White Ship, as it was known, resembled the Viking longships of earlier centuries, which had brought Scandinavian settlers to Normandy and later carried their Norman descendants to invade and conquer England in 1066. With 50 men at the oars and a large square sail hoisted on its single mast, the ship was expected to make a swift passage across the English Channel despite the lateness of the season.

On board the White Ship were Prince William, the only legitimate son of King Henry I of England, and other young members of the Anglo-Norman elite. King Henry had already left the harbor in another ship bound for England. Both the passengers and the crew of the White Ship were enjoying a drunken party before they sailed. The ship's master had assured Prince William that even with a late start, his ship was so fast that it could overtake the king's ship and get to England first. When priests came to bless the White Ship with holy water to ensure it had a safe voyage, the drunken revelers would not let them on board. Not everybody at the party was happy about this. William's cousin, Stephen of Blois, claimed to have stomach troubles and left the vessel to look for safer transport.

As midnight approached, the White Ship finally left the shore. It did not get very far, striking a rock near the mouth of the harbor. With a large hole in its bow, the ship began to sink. Those on board were desperate to save Prince William, and he got away from the wreck in a small boat. However, hearing his illegitimate half-sister crying for help, William ordered the boat to return to the sinking ship. Unfortunately, many desperate people then tried to get in the boat, and it capsized. William was never seen again. In all, at least 250 people were lost in the sinking of the White Ship. There was only one survivor, a Rouen butcher, who had only gone on board the vessel to get payment for a debt.

The loss of the White Ship was to have major consequences. Having lost his son, Henry I was forced to declare his daughter Matilda the heir to the throne, and his barons reluctantly agreed to this choice. However, when Henry died in 1135, Stephen of Blois seized the throne of England and received support from some barons. A civil war between Stephen and Matilda then broke out and lasted with varying degrees of intensity for almost 20 years. Much of southern England was devastated in the conflict, and the war only ended when it was agreed that Matilda's son Henry II would succeed Stephen as King Henry II. Perhaps never had a shipwreck had such momentous and bloody consequences.

The White Ship was part of a Scandinavian shipbuilding tradition that was separate from those of the Mediterranean Sea. It may have developed from an earlier Celtic mode of ship construction which Julius Caesar had encountered as early as 56 BCE during his conquest of Gaul, France. Off the coast of Brittany, Roman ships built by Caesar's army clashed with the Celtic ships of the Veneti tribe. These vessels were large and heavily timbered and had masts carrying square sails made from leather. Only with difficulty did the lighter Roman ships overcome their Celtic opponents.

By the second half of the 1st century CE, Britain had joined Gaul under Roman rule. And it was from this period that the earliest known wreck of a North European vessel dates. In 1962, during work on the embankment of the River Thames near Blackfriars's Bridge in central London, the remains of an ancient ship were found. Peter Marsden excavated the ship in 1962 to 1963 and identified it as a Romano-Celtic vessel built towards the end of the 1st century CE and probably lost in a collision at some point in the first half of the 2nd century.

The ship, known as Blackfriars 1 (because wrecks from later centuries were also found near this site), had an estimated length of 60 ft (18.5 m) and a width of 15 1/2 ft (4.7 m). It was probably decked and had a single mast with a square sail. Instead of a keel, the vessel had two central planks running the length of the hull. To these were connected heavy timber frames to which planks were attached by tree nails, wooden pegs, and iron fasteners. This construction method, similar to later frame-first shipbuilding, was clearly a Celtic tradition, very different from the Roman hull-first construction methods used in the Mediterranean.

The step for the single mast was found a third of the way back from the bow, which was unusual. A mast with a single square sail was best placed amidships in a vessel, and a mast that was well forward was usually meant to carry a lateen sail. However, such sails did not appear in northern Europe until centuries later. So, it is assumed that the mast of Blackfriars 1 carried a square sail. The ship was probably built in southern Britain since its timbers were of British oak. At the time of its sinking, Blackfriars 1 was carrying a cargo of 26 tons of stone. This was identified as Kentish ragstone, a type of limestone found in southern England and much used as a building material in Roman London, Londinium. The ship's last voyage had probably begun in the Maidstone area of Kent. It then went down the River Medway into the Thames estuary and up the Thames until it was struck by another vessel off the waterfront of Roman London and went to the bottom. The living quarters on the ship were likely at the stern, but since this part of the wreck had been destroyed by construction work, few artifacts were found in the remains of the ship. However, it was clear that the vessel was more than just a coastal estuarine trader. An unfinished grindstone found in the bow was thought to have come from Belgium, and the ship's hull timbers had been attacked by shipworm, which can only flourish in saltwater. These facts indicated that the ship had probably been on cross-channel voyages during its career.

In the mast step was a votive coin designed to be pinned in place beneath the mast. It lay reverse uppermost so the figure of Fortuna, the Roman goddess of luck, touched the base of the mast. The bronze coin dating from the reign of the emperor Domitian was minted in Rome around 88 to 89 CE. So the ship was probably built towards the end of the 1st century. Some pottery fragments in the wreck appear to date from the 2nd century CE, and the ship was probably lost at some time in the first half of that century. Blackfriars 1 was the first evidence that the Romans in Britain did not impose their own ship designs on the region. The stormy waters of northwest Europe required a more robust vessel. So shipbuilders relied on their traditional Celtic designs.

This was further confirmed by a Romano-Celtic shipwreck found at St. Peter Port, Guernsey, in the Channel Islands between England and France. Found in St. Peter Port Harbor in 1982 by local diver Richard Keen. The wreck was excavated between 1984 and 1986 under the direction of the archaeologist Margaret Rule, famous for her role in raising the Tudor ship the Mary Rose in 1982. Only the bottom of the ship had survived, and it was clear that the vessel had burned down to the waterline before it sank. Three heavy planks served as the ship's keel, and its frames and planks were fastened in a similar fashion to those of the Blackfriars 1 wreck. It was a little smaller than the Blackfriars ship. Also like the Blackfriars ship, the Guernsey wreck had a mast step about a third of the ship's length away from the bow rather than the usual amidships position for a mast carrying a square sail.

At least part of the ship's cargo had consisted of blocks of pitch, some of which had melted in the fire. This created a layer towards the stern of the ship and helped to preserve many items from the living quarters in that area. A number of coins that were recovered allowed archaeologists to date the ship's loss to around 285 CE. Other artifacts discovered included pottery which indicated the ship's trading area: amber from Spain and Algeria, bowls from western France, and pottery from southern England. A crew of three is indicated because three examples each of bowls, drinking vessels, flagons, and cooking pots were found. Roofing tiles in the remains of a clay oven would seem to indicate that a deck house or cabin had been present at the stern of the ship. This vessel, built in the Celtic fashion, probably traded along the coasts of southern England, western France, and northern Spain. The only clearly Roman items found in its construction were two bronze bearings, which probably came from the bilge pump. Such artifacts are often found in Roman wrecks in the Mediterranean.

Yet, ships of Roman-style construction must sometimes have been built in Northwest Europe. One such is the so-called County Hall ship found in London in 1910. It is only the middle section of a vessel from the Roman period that was found during the construction of County Hall on the south bank of the River Thames, but it was built Mediterranean-style rather than in Celtic fashion. Although assembled in Britain of British oak around 300 CE, it is of hull-first construction with the planks joined by mortise and tenon joints as in Roman shipbuilding in the Mediterranean. The type of ship is unclear, but it was probably not a merchant ship. One suggestion is that it was an official government craft built according to specifications laid down in Rome and so followed Mediterranean shipbuilding practice. However, this is only speculation. The vessel itself does not seem to have had a long career and was likely abandoned not long after it was built.

The ships found at Mainz, Germany, in 1981 to 1982 during the construction of a hotel were clearly Roman vessels built to official specifications. Mainz, as Mogontiacum, was an important Roman military center and a naval base since it was situated on the frontier of the River Rhine with the Germanic barbarians. A Roman flotilla patrolled the Rhine, and the five Roman wrecks found at Mainz were part of that force, dating to the 4th century CE. Four hulls represent Mainz Type A: shallow draft and low-sided, these undecked river warships had 15 oars per side and also a mast and sail. Known as navis lusoria, they were the standard troop transports on the Roman Empire's northern river frontiers on the Rhine and the Danube.

Like the Blackfriars and Guernsey ships, these vessels had a mast set a third of the ship's length back from the bow rather than amidships. However, unlike those two wrecks, which probably had single steering oars at one side of the stern, the Mainz Type A vessels seem to have had two linked steering oars, one at either side of the stern. The crew of each vessel probably consisted of a steersman at the stern, two men to handle the sail towards the bow, and 30 oarsmen who would revert to the role of soldiers when the vessel reached its destination. The hulls of these craft were built in the Celtic tradition and fastened with iron nails. But some holes inside the planks seem to indicate that in the initial stage of construction, they were attached to a temporary mold for forming a standard shell into which frames could be inserted later. The initial mold-first technique was similar to the Mediterranean hull-first tradition and would have allowed mass production of these vessels.

According to standard plans, the single wreck described as Mainz Type B was shorter and wider than the Type A ships, but was not a cargo ship. It had a mast and probably oars as well, but many of its internal timbers had been removed in antiquity. This is the case for all five Mainz ships and probably indicates that they were abandoned rather than lost in some dramatic fashion. The function of a Type B ship is unknown, and ideas of it being a patrol ship or a state vessel to carry Roman officials are purely speculation. The remains of these ships are now in the Museum of Ancient Seafaring in Mainz, along with reconstructions of how Type A and Type B vessels may have looked in Roman times.

If we now know something of what Roman, or rather Romano-Celtic, ships were like thanks to the recovery of some of their wrecks, the shipbuilding traditions of the barbarian, Germanic, and Scandinavian tribes outside the Roman Empire are less well-known until we reach the time of the Vikings.

In the 19th century CE, the remains of some boats dating from the 4th century CE were found in a bog in the Danish-German borderlands. The vessels, along with weapons, were probably those of defeated enemies sunk in what was originally a lake as thanks to the gods for victory in battle. The largest craft, known as the Nydam boat, was 73 ft (22 m) long and 13 ft (4 m) wide and had pins for 30 oars along its sides. Dated to 310 to 320 CE, the vessel was built in shell-first clinker fashion, and the hull showed no evidence of a mast or rigging. Even without a sail, such vessels may have carried the Anglo-Saxons to invade Britain after the Romans departed in the early 5th century CE.

The Sutton Hoo ship, a 7th-century CE craft found buried in Suffolk, England, seems to be a vessel similar to the Nydam boat, or rather its ghost. The wooden planks of the ship had long since decayed, but the outline of the ship could be discerned in the surrounding soil. The clinker-built hull was 88 ft (27 m) long and 15 ft (4.5 m) wide with 29 rowing positions but no evidence of a mast or sail. However, the shape of the hull and the presence of a keel suggest that the ship may have been rigged for sailing. The rich grave goods found in the Sutton Hoo ship burial indicate the grave of a high-status, perhaps royal, individual, with the Anglo-Saxon King Rædwald of East Anglia a possible candidate.

The first Viking ships to be discovered. The Oseberg ship and the Gokstad ship were also ship burials and were both found in the Vestfold area of southern Norway. Found in 1904, the Oseberg ship was probably built around 800 CE and buried around 834. The oak-built ship was 70 ft (21 m) long and 17 ft (5 m) wide at its broadest point, with a very shallow draft. Clinker-built, it had a mast amidships to carry a square sail. There were 15 oar holes on each side, with 30 oarsmen in total. There was an oak steering oar attached to the ship's starboard side. The word "starboard" is derived from "steering board." There was a well-preserved iron anchor on board. It was about 3 and a third ft (1 m) long and weighed around 22 lb (10 kg), but alone it could not have held fast a ship of this size. So other anchors must have been on board when the ship went to sea. The ship had curved bow and stern posts with extensive decoration.

The Gokstad ship, although it was found earlier in 1880, was built later than the Oseberg ship, probably around 890 CE. Its construction was very similar to that of the Oseberg ship, but had higher sides, making it a more seaworthy vessel. The Gokstad ship was 76 ft (23 m) long and at its widest point measured 17 ft (5.1 m). As well as its mast and square sail, the ship was propelled by 32 oars, 16 per side. Some 64 round shields were found within the ship, which would have been stowed on shield racks on either side of the vessel when it was under sail. Painted alternately black and yellow, the shields would have covered the oar holes. There were 32 shields on each side, with two overlapping shields covering each oar hole. The 64 shields probably indicate the usual number of warriors in the ship, which had in effect a double crew, with half resting while the others rowed. The seaworthiness of the Gokstad ship was shown in 1893 when a replica called the Viking sailed from Bergen, Norway, to the USA across the North Atlantic Ocean. Both the Oseberg and Gokstad ships are now in the Viking Ship Museum, Oslo, Norway. And for the first half of the 20th century, they represented the archetypal Viking longships in the popular imagination.

Only after 1960 did it become clear that there was more than just one type of Viking ship, as demonstrated by the shipwrecks excavated at Skuldelev in Denmark, first identified as likely Viking vessels in the late 1950s. The shipwrecks were excavated in 1962. This was done by surrounding their site with a cofferdam and pumping out the water so that the wrecks could be examined as if they were archaeological sites on land. It was initially thought that there were the remains of six Viking ships, all built in the 11th century CE. However, Skuldelev 4 turned out to be part of Skuldelev 2, but the five ships were not renumbered. The clinker-built vessels had been sunk deliberately in the late 11th and early 12th centuries to block a channel leading towards Roskilde, which was then the capital of Denmark. To carry out this defensive task, the ships had been stripped of their fittings and then sunk by piling stones aboard them. Two turned out to be warships, while two others were clearly merchant ships. The type of the fifth ship was unclear.

Skuldelev 1 was a cargo ship of the knarr type, 52 ft (16 m) long and 16 ft (4.8 m) wide. It had been built of pine in the Sognefjord area of western Norway around 1030 but was later repaired with oak and linden in the Oslofjord area and in eastern Denmark. Skuldelev 3 was another merchant ship, probably of the byrding type, and was 46 ft (14 m) long and 11 ft (3.3 m) wide. It had a cargo capacity of 4 to 5 tons. The ship had been built somewhere in Denmark around 1040. Most Viking ships were undecked, but the merchant ships seemed to have had small decks fore and aft, with the open middle section serving as a hold containing cargo and passengers.

Skuldelev 2 was an oak-built seagoing warship, a longship, probably of the skeið type. It was approximately 98 ft (30 m) long and 12 ft (3.8 m) wide. It probably had a crew of 70 to 80 men. Dendrochronology showed that the ship was built around 1042 of oak cut down in eastern Ireland. Construction likely took place in the Dublin area, that city having been founded by the Vikings. This was one of the longest Viking ships ever found. Skuldelev 5 was a small warship of the snekkja type, 57 ft (7.3 m) long and 8 ft (2.5 m) wide, with a crew of about 30.

Repaired many times during its career, the ship had a mixture of wood types: pine, oak, ash, and alder. The ship was built in the Roskill area around 10:30, and some believe it was a local guard ship rather than a long-range warship.

Skullu, 6.37t, 11.2 m long and 8 ft 2.5 m wide, was a substantial vessel powered by sail and oar, but not a warship or an obvious merchant ship like Skoola 1. It was built in the Sugna fjord area of western Norway around 1030. It is possible the ship was originally a fishing vessel but was later rebuilt as a coastal trader.

The five wrecks are now displayed in the Viking Ship Museum in Roskill, and the museum has overseen the building of replicas of each one. When construction work was undertaken in 1997 to build a harbor by the museum to accommodate some of the replicas, further remains of old ships were uncovered. One of these, Roskill 6, turned out to be a Viking ship even longer than Skolu 2. All the replicas showed excellent seagoing qualities. And in 2007, a replica of the Scolu 2 longship called Sea Stallion from Glendel sailed from Rosskil, Denmark to Dublin, Ireland, and made the return journey the following year.

As already noted, the ships that took William the Conqueror's army to England were built in the Viking tradition. But after 1100, the warlike longships fell out of use, and the Viking merchant ship became bigger and more capacious, eventually transforming into the vessel known as the cog. This became the standard North European merchant ship of the high Middle Ages. And with the addition of wooden castles fore and aft, it could also serve as a warship.

Before 1962, information about the cog could only be gleaned from medieval documents and images on medieval seals. But in that year, the wreck of a cog was found at the bottom of the river Vaser near Bremen in West Germany. Dredging in the river brought up pieces of a wooden ship, and it was soon recognized as being centuries old. By 1965, the remains had been recovered from the riverbed and moved to the German Maritime Museum at Bremerhuffen for conservation and reassembly. The complete starboard side of the ship was rebuilt, and one-third of the port side, producing the first example of a medieval cog ever found. Dendrochronology showed that the ship was built around 1380 CE. It was 78 feet (24 meters) long and 26 feet (8 m) wide at midship and just over 13 feet (4 meters) high along the sides, with an estimated cargo capacity of 130 tons.

The ship had probably just been built and was fitting out at a quay when the river Vaser flooded. The cog was dragged from its moorings and sank in the river. It was flat-bottomed with the planking fastened to the floor timbers, a sharp turn at the bilge, and overlapping edge-fastened planking, clinker-built on the sides. The stem post and the stern post were set at sharp angles to the keel. There was a single mast amidships which would have carried a square sail. By the 14th century, the steering oar had given way to a rudder fixed to the stern post. But although the Bremen cog had the fittings to take such a rudder, the rudder itself has not been found.

The deck planking of the ship was not watertight, so water would have gone down into the hold and the bulges. This meant cargo would have to be in watertight containers, such as barrels, in the hold. The ship had a square wooden castle at the stern, providing some cover for the man at the tiller, and the ship had both a capstan and a windlass to help perform tasks such as raising the anchor, loading cargo, and raising and lowering the sail. Even a ship's toilet was preserved, designed to hang over the starboard side. Three replicas of the Bremen Cog have been built and have proved seaworthy.

The next development in merchant ships in Northern Europe was the Carrick. Still clinkerbuilt, but now larger with more substantial fore and aft castles and more masts and sails. Until the early 21st century, no substantial remains of such vessels had been found. But in 2002, during work to build an arts center on the banks of the river Usk in Newport in South Wales, the hull of a medieval ship was discovered. It soon became clear that this was a large merchant ship of the Carrick type, dated to the middle decades of the 15th century. The ship had apparently fallen over while under repair. Much had been salvaged from the hull before it was eventually abandoned, but the remaining timbers had been left in place and were eventually buried.

Dendrochronology showed that most of the timbers had been cut down around 1449 CE. The timber came from the Basque region of northern Spain, and the ship had probably been constructed circa 1449 to 1450 in the San Sebastian area. Timbers associated with later efforts to repair the ship were British-grown and dated from around 1466. The remains of a wooden cradle were found beneath the ship, with one side collapsed. Artifacts found inside the ship included coins, pottery, and plant remains, which suggested the ship had traded with Portugal in the 1450s and 60s.

The River Usk has a large tidal range, and the Newport medieval ship was apparently floated into a side channel on a very high tide and then positioned on a pre-made cradle built of oak and elm logs dated to 1468 to 1469. It seems the ship was to undergo a major refit, as evidenced by the insertion of British-grown timber into the vessel. However, before the work could be completed, part of the supporting cradle collapsed, and the ship heeled over onto its starboard side. Subsequent incoming tides flooded the hull with silt and water. After efforts to right the ship failed, attempts were made to salvage accessible timber, iron, and other equipment from the vessel. Salvaged timber could be used to build or repair other ships or in the construction of buildings. Much timber was removed from the exposed port side of the ship, but the starboard side sank deep into the mud. There it was well preserved because the mud's low oxygen content inhibited the presence of wood-boring creatures.

The ship's dimensions have been estimated at around 116 ft (35 m) long and a maximum width of 27 ft (8.2 m). The ship probably had three masts. Its estimated carrying capacity was 161 tons burden, based on the tons of wine it could carry, and this would have made it a large merchant ship by contemporary standards. The ship was clinkerbuilt with its planks secured by iron nails. The outer hull was built first, and then frames were inserted inside. The keel was made of beech, but the rest of the hull was oak. The inner hull of the ship was made up with stringers, large, long planks that gave the ship its longitudinal strength. Most of the timber used in the construction of the ship came from the Basque country of northern Spain and was cut down around 1449.

In 2006, a French petite blanche (small white silver coin) was found inserted into a cutout in the stemmost or keel joint. Minted in 1447, the coin was probably a good luck token. Its presence helps to date the building of the ship and also suggests that the ship may have been built in the Basque region of southwest France. The timber in the cradle has been dated to 1468 to 1469. So, the ship's refit may have taken place soon after that date. Such dating would seem to indicate that the ship had a working life of about 20 years. There is some evidence suggesting that by 1469, the ship may have belonged to and been under repair for the Earl of Warwick, known as Warwick the Kingmaker in England's War of the Roses. In a letter of 22nd November 1469, from the Earl to one of his officials in South Wales, authorization is given for various payments for the making of the ship at Newport, which could be interpreted as major repairs to the ship.

A number of large ships based at Newport are known to have participated during the 15th century in the long-distance trade of Bristol, then the second most important English port after London, and their voyages included many to the Iberian Peninsula, undertaken as part of the wine trade. Although the ship was bound to have been emptied before going into the repair berth and was then stripped for salvage after it heeled over, several hundred artifacts have been found in the remaining hull. These include a stone cannonball, a damaged hourglass, 13 single shoes (one of which was of an expensive type), broken pieces of Portuguese pottery, and some Portuguese coins. These finds suggest connections to the Iberian Peninsula, especially Portugal. It has even been suggested that the ship may have had a Portuguese crew. As the best-preserved medieval merchant vessel yet discovered, the Newport ship has provided much information about the construction of ships in the 15th century. What they do not do is tell us much about the cargos these ships carried. Cargos of building stone and blocks of pitch were found in the Black Friars 1 and Guernsey shipwrecks respectively, but the Skoolulu Viking vessels had been sunk as block ships. The Bremen Cog had been sunk before it was even completed, and the Newport medieval ship had been emptied to undergo major repairs. When compared to the variety of cargos found in ships lost in the Mediterranean Sea in antiquity, this is pretty poor fare.

Although the might Roman ships and some of the Viking vessels were warships, they were largely bereft of interesting artifacts. This lack of remains from lost warships is also a feature of Mediterranean wrecks during the medieval period. Since 2000, archaeological work on the wreck of the Danish warship Grips Hunden, burned and sunk off Southeast Sweden in 1495, has provided new information about warships in that period. But it is only when we come to the wreck of an English warship in the first half of the 16th century that a wide range of finds are available. The wreck of the Mary Rose not only gave us copious information about ship construction but yielded thousands of artifacts and is a true time capsule, giving a previously unobtainable view of life at sea in Tudor England.

The English King Henry V, victor of the Battle of Agincourt, ordered the construction of a number of purpose-built warships, of which the largest and most famous was the Grace Dieu, completed in 1418. The ship, of 1,400 tons, was probably the largest in Europe at that time. It had two, possibly three masts, with the main mast having a circumference at deck level of 6 1/2 ft (2 m). The ship was probably at least 130 ft (40 m) long and 49 ft (15 m) wide and carried a small number of cannons. This huge vessel saw remarkably little service, just one voyage in 1420, which ended in a mutiny, and it was then laid up in the river Hamble near Southampton. On one stormy night in 1439, the Grace Dieu was struck by lightning, caught fire, and burned down to the waterline. Its bottom timbers remain in the river, but were positively identified only in 1933. The Grace Dieu is one of the earliest wrecks to which a name can definitely be assigned.

The enormous size of the ship gave shipwrights special problems in achieving a strong watertight hull. The oak ribs were close together and fastened to the planking by oak tree nails. But it was the outboard planking that gave special strength. For although clinkerbuilt and fastened with thousands of large iron rivets, each plank comprised a sandwich of three layers of wood, giving a total thickness of 6 in (15 cm). There was further strengthening of planks and stringers, longitudinal beams within the hull. All this seemed to show that clinker ship building in the largest vessels was reaching its limits, becoming both overly complex and wasteful of materials.

However, when Henry VIII, the first Tudor monarch, decided to build his own great ships at the end of the 15th century, he initially continued with clinker ship building. His two largest warships were the Regent, with 1,000 tons and four masts, lost in the Battle of Brest in 1512, and the Sovereign, with 800 tons and three masts. The latter probably had its clinker planking replaced with lighter but stronger carvel planking around 1509. The ship was likely abandoned in a dock beside the river Thames in the 1520s. And when the bottom timbers of a large ship were found at Woolwich, London in 1912, they were thought to be those of the Sovereign. These timbers had carvel planking but still retain traces of the steps from the earlier clinker construction.

The Danish warship Gryphon, built in the 1480s, had carvel planking, the oldest such hull found in Nordic waters. One reason to switch to carvel construction was because the ship's strength was no longer dependent on a clinkerbuilt outer hull. A skeleton of ribs inside the ship provided its main strength, and so holes could be cut in the outside planking without undermining the integrity of the ship. The holes required were gunports. This would allow larger guns to be mounted deeper in the hull. As a clinker-built warship, the Sovereign carried 140 small guns, mostly light anti-personnel weapons mounted on the upper deck or in the fore and aft castles of this Carrick-type ship. After its carvel rebuild in 1509, the ship had 84 guns, with the heavier ones now placed inside the hull.

When Henry VIII came to the throne in 1509, he ordered the building of his own great ships. One of these was the Mary Rose, launched at Portsmouth in 1511. It was long thought that the hull of the Mary Rose was originally clinkerbuilt and that it was converted to carvel planking only during its substantial rebuilding around 1536. However, some have suggested that the Mary Rose was carvel-built from the first, and the 1536 rebuilding was undertaken mainly to insert a proper gun deck inside the hull with more gunports and heavier cannons. Certainly, the rebuilding increased the tonnage of the ship from 400 to 700 tons and increased the number of heavy iron and bronze guns among its armament.

The Mary Rose saw service in wars against France in 1512 to 1514 and 1522 to 1526. And the increase in its heavy guns in 1536 seems to have been caused by the growing threat from foreign enemies after Henry VIII broke with the Pope in Rome. War with France was resumed in 1544. And in 1545, a French fleet, including galleys, sailed across the Channel to attack Portsmouth. The English fleet in that port sailed out into the Solent to face the French on the 19th of July, with Henry watching from the shore. The Mary Rose, carrying Vice-Admiral George Carew, fired its starboard guns at some of the French galleys and then turned to bring its port side guns to bear. However, while the turn was being carried out, a sudden gust of wind caused the ship to heel over. Water began to pour into the open gunports on the starboard side, and the ship quickly capsized and sank. At least 450 men were on board the ship, and only about 40 were saved. Admiral Carew and the rest of the crew went to the bottom of the Solent.

Initially, it was hoped that the sunken ship could be raised, but efforts to do so were unsuccessful. The best that could be achieved was to recover some guns from the Mary Rose. The wreck was then forgotten, and much of it was destroyed by natural processes over the years. Only a large section of the starboard side survived, sinking into the mud, which protected its wood and preserved artifacts inside the hull. The wreck was rediscovered by the Dean brothers, pioneers of hard-hat diving, in 1836. They brought up some guns and other items from the wreck in both 1836 and 1840. Then the Mary Rose was forgotten once more.

In 1965, the writer and amateur diver Alexander McKee started a search for the lost ship. In the following year, its supposed resting place was found marked on an 1841 chart of the Solent, but initial exploration of the site found no trace of the ship. In 1967-68, a sonar developed by Dr. Harold Edgerton of MIT to look under the surface of the seabed found a large anomaly buried beneath the site, but efforts to investigate it had no success. Only in 1971, after winter storms had removed much of the sand from the site, was the Mary Rose finally discovered, its timbers sticking up out of the mud. Survey of the site and initial excavations now began, and public awareness of the project was increased when the Prince of Wales dived on the site in 1975. A professional archaeologist, Margaret Rule, now took an increased role in directing the work. In 1979, the Mary Rose Trust was set up, and excavations became more intense and effective. By now, it had been established that at least a third of the ship's hull on the starboard side had survived, and it was decided that efforts should be made to raise it. The precedent was the raising of the hull of the Swedish 17th-century warship Vasa from the bottom of Stockholm Harbor in 1961. But the recovery of the Mary Rose was to present special problems. The hull of the Vasa had been largely intact and sitting upright on the seabed. Only part of the Mary Rose remained, and it was deeply embedded in the muddy bottom of the Solent.

Eventually, it was decided to put a metal cradle around the Mary Rose before attempting to raise the wreck. Once this had been done, the wreck was raised on the 11th of October, 1982 and moved to a dock in the naval base at Portsmouth. Wood that has been submerged for centuries takes in a lot of water. If it is left to dry naturally, it will soon lose that water, begin to shrink, and even crumble into pieces. To stop this process, the raised hull of the Mary Rose had to be continuously sprayed with water. Then polyethylene glycol (PEG) was introduced slowly into the spray. This plastic began to fill the part of the wood previously occupied by water. This was the process pioneered in the preservation of the Vasa, and the Mary Rose received similar treatment. Unfortunately, carrying out this process takes years and is expensive. Nevertheless, it had to be done. People could still visit the ship while this process was ongoing, and a temporary museum was set up nearby, featuring many of the artifacts from the Mary Rose once they had been conserved. The PEG process finally ended in 2013, just in time for the opening of the purpose-built Mary Rose Museum, in which the ship now rests.

Between 2013 and 2018, some 1.8 million people visited the museum in Portsmouth. More than 20,000 artifacts have been recovered from the Mary Rose, ranging from George Carew's pewter plate to the skeleton of a dog (no doubt on board to hunt rats, whose remains have also been found). Despite the salvage of guns in earlier centuries, many still remained in the wreck. Some were large bronze muzzle-loading cannons, others iron breech-loading cannons in a variety of sizes. While the latter often had only two-wheeled wooden carriages, the bronze guns had the four-wheeled wooden carriages that would remain standard in most navies up to the 19th century. Ammunition for the cannons included stone or iron balls to smash hulls, bar and chain shot to tear sails and rigging, and canister shot to hit enemy personnel with dozens of sharp pieces of flint. More numerous than the big guns were the small pieces, including breech-loading swivel guns to be mounted on the upper decks and hailshot pieces, muzzle loaders firing small metal cubes and with protrusions at the side so they could be easily laid on the ship's rail.

Despite this array of guns, which make the Mary Rose an early ancestor of the later big-gun ship of the line, it is clear that combat at sea was still expected to conclude in medieval fashion. Although guns might damage an enemy ship's hull and kill its crew, the ship could only be taken by a boarding action with sailors and soldiers fighting the enemy face to face. Hence, the Mary Rose contained many close-combat weapons, including swords, daggers, pikes, bills, and longbows. Despite the fame of the medieval English longbow, no examples had ever been found before the Mary Rose was discovered. Some 172 longbows were found in the ship, including some still packed in boxes. Nearly 4,000 arrows for the longbows were also recovered, some ready for use in 24-arrow spacers. These were leather devices made to hold arrows while keeping their feathers undamaged. One was found still attached to the belt of a man who was undoubtedly an archer. New handheld weapons were also found, including a dozen or so matchlock muskets.

The bones of 179 separate people were found inside the Mary Rose, including 92 fairly complete skeletons. If the ship had around 450 men on board at the time of its loss, then the remains of almost half the crew have been found. Of this sample, all are male, mostly young adults. However, there were a few young boys aged between 11 and 13, and most, 81% of the dead, were under the age of 30. The majority were of English origin, but a few skeletons seemed to be of men from southern Europe, and one may have come from North Africa. Most of the men seemed to have been in reasonable health before their demise, but since they led tough, active lives, there was also evidence of bone fractures and arthritis. Archers were identifiable because long years of practice with the bow had caused deformation of the shoulder blades. Some of the dead were found tangled up in the anti-boarding net that had been put over the open deck between the bow and stern castles, and it was undoubtedly this net that stopped many men escaping from the sinking ship.

Eight chests of carpentry tools were recovered in good condition, while the master carpenter's personal chest was found to contain a backgammon set, a book, three plates, a sundial, and a tankard. A number of musical instruments were found in the wreck, including two fiddles, a bow, a shawm (or dulcian), an early type of oboe, three-hole pipes, and a tab drum with drumstick. These instruments were probably used for personal amusement and for encouraging sailors when they were engaged in tasks such as raising the anchor.

Inside the Mary Rose was discovered the earliest dated set of navigational instruments found so far in Europe: compasses, divider calipers, a stick used for charting, protractors, sounding leads, tide calculators, and a log reel, an instrument for calculating a ship's speed. The presence of some of these items predates previous written records of their use. For example, the first written mention of a log reel is from 1574, but artifacts from the Mary Rose prove that it was in use at least 30 years earlier.

In the barber-surgeon's cabin, an intact wooden chest was found that contained more than 60 objects relating to his medical practice. There were wooden handles for surgical tools and shaving razors, but unfortunately their metal blades had not survived. There was a copper syringe for wound irrigation and the treatment of gonorrhea and a feeding bottle that could be used to feed incapacitated patients. Elsewhere in the cabin, items such as ear scoops, shaving bowls, and combs were found. The wreck of the Mary Rose has yielded a treasure trove of artifacts relating not only to the structure and workings of the ship itself but to the personal lives of those who died when it was lost.

The Mary Rose is something of a transitional vessel. As a large North European Carrick, it is the culmination of ship construction techniques dating back to the Vikings and earlier. As an early example of a big-gun warship, it looks forwards to the ships of the line that would dominate the oceans of the world in the coming centuries. However, at the start of the 16th century, it was other types of ship, the Caravel and the Galleon, fusions of Mediterranean and North European shipbuilding styles, which would lead the European exploration and exploitation of the wider world.

Four 16th and 17th-century shipwrecks. Christopher Columbus was exhausted after making landfall at an island in the Bahamas in October 1492. He had continued his search for evidence that he had found a direct western route from Europe to Asia. He had cautiously explored the southern islands of the Bahamas and then the northeast coast of Cuba. Now on Christmas Eve 1492, his ship, the Santa Maria, was sailing along the north coast of what is today the country of Haiti. There was no clear evidence that Asia had been reached or that vast amounts of gold had been discovered. Midnight was approaching when Columbus went below to get some rest.

Columbus was not the only member of the crew of the Santa Maria who was tired. The helmsman could hardly stay awake. Once Columbus had gone below, he handed the tiller over to the ship's boy and went to get some sleep. The flagship of the first European fleet to reach the Americas since the time of the Vikings was now under the sole control of an inexperienced teenager. The night was still and the sea calm, but these were unknown waters, and giving the boy the helm was contrary to the standing orders of Columbus.

In the early hours of Christmas Day, the Santa Maria received a severe jolt as the ship ran onto a reef. The boy at the tiller gave a cry of alarm, and Columbus rushed up on deck. He angrily ordered the ship's master and owner, Juan de La Cosa, to bring round the longboat towed at the stern of the Santa Maria and put an anchor into it, hoping to catch the ship off the reef. La Cosa and other crew members got into the longboat, but only with the intention of saving their lives. They rode over to the Niña, the ship accompanying the Santa Maria, and tried to board it. They were not allowed on board and were sent back to the Santa Maria.

Although the sea was largely calm, an underlying swell was pushing the Santa Maria further onto the reef. The ship was beginning to list over to one side. Columbus ordered that the main mast be cut away and the ship lightened as much as possible in the hope of getting off the reef. However, this proved impossible. Soon the Santa Maria was lying over on one side, and its planking was beginning to spring open. Although the Santa Maria was lost, becoming the first European shipwreck in the Americas in the Age of Discovery, Columbus was able to get all his crew ashore safely, and provisions and other supplies could be recovered from the wreck.

Columbus decided to build a small fort on land, and some of the timbers from the Santa Maria were used in its construction. The fort was to be called La Navidad, the nativity meaning Christmas, and Columbus left a small number of men there when he returned to Spain to tell its rulers that he had found a westward route to Asia. When Columbus later returned on his second voyage to the Americas, he found La Navidad deserted and learned that all its inhabitants had been killed by the local people. Though there have been searches by archaeologists on both land and sea, no identifiable traces of either La Navidad or the wreck of the Santa Maria have ever been found, despite claims to the contrary. To the end of his life, Columbus continued to believe that he had reached Asia. But it was soon clear to others that he had found a new continent, America. And within a few decades, Spain had taken control of much of this new world and was ruthlessly exploiting its inhabitants and natural resources.

While Spain had been exploring westwards across the Atlantic Ocean in the late 15th century, its neighbor Portugal had long been exploring southwards along the western shores of Africa. The aim was to find a route to India so that spices and similar exotic products could be imported directly into Europe and not have to come via the Muslim-controlled Middle East. In 1498, Vasco da Gama finally reached India, and the eastern route of the European Age of Discovery came into being. Under papal guidance, Spain and Portugal had already reached an agreement, the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), which divided the world between them. Spain would control most of the lands found west of the Atlantic Ocean, while Portugal controlled the route to India around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern end of Africa.

The Portuguese would send regular fleets of merchant ships to India, and they later established trading posts in the East Indies (now Indonesia) and also at Macau in China. Many of the ships sent on these routes were lost, mostly in shipwrecks. One study gives the number of ships lost in the period 1498 to 1650 as 219. However, very few of these wrecks have ever been found. Unlike the Spanish fleets voyaging to and from the Americas, which generated detailed archives which still exist, most of the documentation relating to the Portuguese trade fleets to India and elsewhere was destroyed in 1755 as a consequence of the Great Lisbon earthquake. Nevertheless, some archives have survived, and various contemporary Portuguese chronicles give information about some of the lost ships.

Vasco da Gama returned to India with a trade fleet in 1502, and many of the ships were commanded by members of his family. He took most of the ships back to Portugal in early 1503. But a small squadron was left in the Indian Ocean under the command of his uncle, Vicente Sodré. Rather than trading, these ships attacked and plundered Arab vessels voyaging between the Red Sea and India. In April 1503, Sodré took his ships to the Kuria Muria Islands off the south coast of Oman to shelter from the southwest monsoon. The ships anchored off the largest and only inhabited island, now called Al Hallaniyah, and established good relations with the local Arabs. In May, the Arabs warned the Portuguese that a strong wind from the north was expected and advised them to move their ships to the leeward side of the island. Sodré sent two of his smaller ships to the safe anchorage, but kept the three largest ships in the old one, relying on strong iron anchors to help them survive the expected storm. The north wind duly arrived, but the storm was so powerful that both the São Pedro and the Esmeralda Sodré ship were wrecked. There were survivors from the former, but everyone on the latter ship died. After salvaging 17 cannons from the Rex, the new Portuguese commander set them on fire and sailed away.

The possible remains of these two ships were found in 1998. And in 2013 to 2015, full-scale excavations by maritime archaeologists took place. They established that the artifacts found were from an early 16th-century Portuguese wreck, thought to be that of the Esmeralda. This wreck is the earliest ship found to date from the European Age of Discovery, and it yielded 2,800 artifacts. Although there were a few remains of the ship itself, some 19 bronze breech chambers were brought up. They were intended for breech-loading swivel guns, and some of the chambers were sealed, so they may still contain gunpowder and shot. There were also four long metal barrels which probably came from matchlock arquebuses whose wooden stocks have long since disappeared. A large variety of shot and cannonballs were recovered. Among the latter were 42 large stone cannonballs that could be sourced to a quarry near Lisbon, Portugal, each of which was marked VS. These could be the initials of Vicente Sodré. It has been noted that some of the cannonballs found in the Mary Rose (lost 1545) were marked with an H, indicating that they were owned by King Henry VIII.

During the 2013 diving season, a small, damaged ship's bell was recovered. The remains of an inscription on it included an M and the numbers 498. It has been suggested that the M is from the name Esmeralda, and the numbers give the year of its construction, 1498. This is one of the oldest ship's bells ever found. Also found on the site was a bronze disc with a hole in the middle, which has on it the Royal Arms of Portugal and other markings. It is possible that this is an early mariner's astrolabe, a navigational device. Precise dating of the wreck was assisted by a unique find among the coins recovered from the wreck site. There were 13 gold and 24 silver coins found. One of the silver coins was a very rare Indo-Indian, a coin created in 1499 only for trade with India and replaced by another type of coin no later than 1504.

Another Portuguese ship that had come out with Vasco da Gama's 1502 fleet was the Flor de la Mar. This was a newly built Nao carrack, which at 400 tons was twice the size of the ships the Portuguese usually sent to India. The Flor returned safely to Portugal at the end of 1503 and went out to India once more with the 1505 fleet. However, on its return voyage, the ship was forced to remain at Mozambique to undertake repairs. It was still there when the next outward fleet arrived in 1507. That fleet's commander ordered that the cargo of the Flor de la Mar should be sent to Portugal in other vessels, while the ship itself joined his fleet. Remaining in the Indian Ocean, the ship took part in the Battle of Diu in 1509 and was in Afonso de Albuquerque's fleet at the capture of Goa in 1510 and of Malacca, now Malaysia, in 1511. The Portuguese captured immense riches at the latter place, and despite its poor condition, the Flor de la Mar was chosen to take the booty back to Portugal because of its size. Albuquerque went on the ship as well. However, on the night of 20th November 1511, the ship sank in a storm off the coast of Sumatra. Some 400 men were lost, but Albuquerque managed to escape on a raft. Despite various claims, the ship and its treasure have never been found.

In April 2008, a geologist found a copper ingot while working on the De Beers's diamond mining concession near Oranjemund, Namibia. It had an unusual trident-shaped mark on it that was later identified as the hallmark of Anton Fugger, one of Renaissance Europe's richest merchants. Such ingots were used in trading for spices in India during the first half of the 16th century, and its presence seemed to indicate that a shipwreck might be nearby. One of the advantages of finding such a wreck in a diamond mining area was that the heavy security around that area meant no treasure hunters could plunder the site. For the first time, a 16th-century shipwreck in sub-Saharan Africa could be properly excavated by archaeologists.

When the excavation started, those involved were in for a surprise. A number of gold coins were found, but they were all Spanish. This seemed strange on a trade route that was supposedly the domain of the Portuguese. Matters became clearer once the lost ship had been tentatively identified. Between 1525 and 1600, some 21 Portuguese ships had been lost on their way to India, and only one of these, the Bom Jesus, had been lost anywhere near Namibia. That ship had left Lisbon in March 1533 with the fleet bound for India but disappeared in the South Atlantic Ocean. In surviving Portuguese archives, a letter of February 1533 was found which showed that the King of Portugal had sent a knight to Cadiz in Spain to collect gold from merchants who had invested in the Portuguese fleet that was about to sail for India. This explained the presence of Spanish gold coins in the wreck and helped to confirm the lost ship's identity. Further confirmation came when some rare Portuguese gold coins were found that were minted only between 1525 and 1538.

Once Europeans had opened a direct trade to India, China, and the East Indies, they soon found that European products were of little interest to the inhabitants of those areas. The main things they would accept in exchange for their spices, silks, and porcelain were gold and silver, along with ingots of metals such as copper and tin. The Bom Jesus, outward bound for India, had lots of these items. In the first phase of excavation alone, some 5,438 artifacts were recovered, including 2,159 gold coins, 1,845 copper ingots, 109 silver coins, and 67 elephant tusks. Also found were eight bronze cannons, 14 cannonballs, five anchors, three astrolabes, and three navigational compasses, as well as tin tableware, copper cooking utensils, swords, and chains. The copper ingots alone weighed about 20 tons, and there were also three and a half tons of tin ingots. The Bom Jesus shipwreck offered a detailed look at the cargo and equipment of a Portuguese ship bound for India in the first half of the 16th century and also gives some idea of the ship's construction derived from the whole timbers that have been recovered.

While Portuguese ships were traveling the sea routes to India and China, Spanish vessels were bringing back to Europe the treasure plundered from the fallen Aztec and Inca empires of the Americas. Later would come the annual shipments of silver from the mines of Peru and Mexico, gold and emeralds from Colombia, and pearls from islands off the coast of Venezuela. Spanish treasure ships were attractive targets for Spain's enemies. But over a period of more than 250 years, only one entire Spanish treasure fleet was ever lost to the enemy. In 1628, a Dutch squadron under Piet Hein captured the Spanish ships in Matanzas Bay, Cuba. Most of the Spanish treasure ships lost on voyages from the Americas to Spain were wrecked by storms, usually hurricanes, or by navigational hazards.

After the Mercedes affair of 2007 to 2012, discussed later in chapter 8, the Spanish Ministry of Culture decided to prepare an inventory of all Spanish shipwrecks during the colonial period (1492 to 1898). An initial report in 2019, covering wrecks off Cuba, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Florida, and other parts of the North American Atlantic coast, noted that some 681 ships had been lost, 95% of them because of storms or navigational hazards. Other sources claimed that as many as 2,000 Spanish ships were lost on the treasure routes. Between 1492 and 1803, more than 4 billion pesos in gold and silver reached Spain from the Americas. In addition, 10 to 15% of the gold and silver shipped never reached Spain, most being lost in shipwrecks. These figures related to registered shipments of gold and silver, but there was also a considerable contraband trade in these items.

Although there was little the Spanish could do about the annual hurricane season in the Caribbean Sea (lasting from June to November), there was action they could take when attacks by French privateers took a toll on returning treasure ships in the first half of the 16th century. By the 1550s, the Spanish had set up a convoy system that shuttled ships to and from the Americas and achieved a reasonable degree of security from enemy attacks most of the time. All Spanish trade with the Americas was controlled by the Casa de Contratación, or Casa de las Indias, based in Sevilla. Every year, that body sent two convoys out to the Caribbean. The Tierra Firme fleet went to the northern coast of South America. It picked up treasure from Cartagena, Colombia, and then went to Nombre de Dios (later replaced by Portobelo), where it picked up treasure that came from Peru. The treasure had been brought from Peru to Panama by the South Seas fleet and then carried across the isthmus by mule to Nombre de Dios. Once fully loaded, the Tierra Firme fleet then went to Havana, Cuba, to prepare for the return voyage to Spain.

The second annual fleet, the New Spain fleet, went from Sevilla to Veracruz in New Spain (Mexico), often calling at Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo on the way. At Veracruz, the ships were loaded with silver from Mexican mines as well as Asian goods which came across the Pacific Ocean in other Spanish ships, the Acapulco-Manila Galleons. These sailed from Acapulco, Mexico, to Manila in the Spanish-controlled Philippines, where they exchanged silver for Asian products and then brought them back to Mexico. From Acapulco, the goods were carried by mule to Veracruz. Once loaded, the New Spain fleet went to Havana and then onto Spain. Initially, the two fleets sailed separately from Havana, but it soon seemed safer for them to sail in one combined convoy.

It is the New Spain fleet that has given us shipwrecks from the early days of the convoy system and has provided the earliest European shipwrecks yet found in the Americas. In early 1554, four Spanish ships, the San Andrés, the Espíritu Santo, the San Esteban, and the Santa María de la Luz, left Veracruz bound for Havana. Crossing the Gulf of Mexico, they were hit by severe storms, and only the San Andrés reached Havana. Fierce winds drove the other three ships westwards until they were wrecked around Padre Island in what is now Texas. Some 300 people survived the wrecks, and while a few sailed south in a small boat to alert authorities in Veracruz, the others attempted to walk south along the shoreline. Thirst and starvation killed many, and most of the rest fell to the arrows of hostile local people. Only two men survived to reach a Spanish outpost.

The Spanish authorities naturally sent salvage vessels to the wreck sites, but they recovered less than half of the treasure in the three ships. The wrecks were then largely forgotten for four centuries. One, the Santa María de la Luz, seems to have been largely destroyed by coastal engineering work in the late 1950s, but another, the Espíritu Santo, was found by divers in the 1960s. In 1967, Platoro, a treasure-hunting company, began work on this wreck and removed many valuable items. The state of Texas then laid claim to the find, and a lengthy legal battle ensued. While this case went on, Texas passed a law in 1969, giving the state exclusive control of any shipwrecks found in its waters. In the end, Texas recovered the artifacts found by Platoro but had to pay the company a substantial sum. Texas authorities then ordered a detailed survey of the Padre Island area, resulting in the discovery of the San Esteban, the third wreck from 1554. A team of maritime archaeologists led by J. Barto Arnold and Carl J. Clausen was then given the task of excavating the wreck, a process that took place between 1972 and 1976. This was the most comprehensive archaeological excavation of a shipwreck in the Western Hemisphere up to that time. Although little remained of the vessel's hull, the position of the finds gave an idea of its outline. Thousands of artifacts were recovered: gold, silver, and copper bars, silver coins, a brass navigator's astrolabe, and jewelry. After recovery and conservation, the items featured in traveling exhibitions in Texas, with the museum at Corpus Christi becoming their permanent home.

The 1554 treasure shipwrecks were unusual in that they occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. Most Spanish treasure ships were lost as they went along the eastern coast of Florida. This is where the loss of the ship that is often called the world's richest shipwreck took place in 1622. In September of that year, a Spanish treasure fleet of 28 ships left Havana, Cuba, bound for Spain. A few days out, the fleet was struck by a hurricane, and eight ships were lost. Some sank at sea, while others were dashed to pieces on the Florida Keys. The two most important ships, the Nuestra Señora de Atocha and the Santa Margarita, smashed onto the reefs around those islands. Only five people survived from the 550 aboard the Atocha, and 68 from the 330 aboard the Santa Margarita. The survivors were picked up by other ships in the fleet, while word was sent to Havana about the lost ships. A salvage team eventually brought up some of the treasure from the Santa Margarita, but the wreck of the Atocha, the largest ship carrying the most treasure, was not found.

In the late 1960s, Mel Fisher set out to find the Atocha. He already had experience of working on the treasure wrecks from the 1715 Spanish fleet on the east coast of Florida, and he had invented the prop-wash technique to remove sand from possible wreck sites. A search boat was securely anchored over a site, and a metal attachment nicknamed a "mailbox" was put over the propellers to direct their thrust downwards. Sand would be blown away, and divers could search for artifacts. Fisher initially concentrated his search in the upper part of the Florida Keys. Then research in the Spanish archives found a report from the Spanish officer who had worked on the salvage of the Santa Margarita. He said both that ship and the Atocha had been wrecked off the Marquesas Keys, which lay to the west of Key West at the southern end of the Florida Keys. Fisher now moved to the new area to search, but initially had no better luck.

Then in the summer of 1971, Fisher found what was believed to be one of the Atocha's anchors. This discovery was followed by some gold chains, gold and silver coins, two small gold bars, and two matchlock muskets. Every coin found had a date before 1622. A cache of silver coins was found in 1972, and almost a year later, a quantity of silver bars. Tally numbers on the bars matched those in the Atocha's cargo manifest, still preserved in the Archives of the Indies in Sevilla. In 1975, five cannons from the Atocha were found. It was clear that after the ship hit the reef, it traveled for a considerable distance, spilling out a trail of artifacts which Fisher was now following.

In 1980, Fisher found the wreck of the Santa Margarita. His Atocha artifacts had all been buried under sand, but the remains of the Santa Margarita were completely exposed. The Spanish had salvaged much of the ship's cargo in the 17th century, but Fisher still found some treasure, including gold and silver bars and coins. This find gave Fisher a welcome financial boost, as the apparently endless quest for the Atocha had been costly in terms of both time and money. Sadly, it had also cost lives, including that of one of Fisher's sons, drowned with his wife when a search boat sank.

By 1985, Fisher had been searching for the Atocha for 16 years, and many people viewed his quest as a personal obsession. He had followed the trail of Atocha's debris for miles but had still not found the main hull. Then in May, divers uncovered what appeared to be a ballast pile, indicating the likely presence of the hull. Two months later, what Fisher called the "mother lode," a large collection of gold.

And silver treasure from the main hull of the ship was found. By October 1986, Fischer's divers had recovered 956 large silver ingots, 130,000 silver coins, 115 gold bars, 315 emeralds, 70 gold chains, and 22 other gold objects, as well as thousands of other artifacts from the wreck.

Recovery work has continued on the Atocha wreck site for years, and this shipwreck is popularly believed to be the richest ever found, with recovered items said to be valued at a total of $400 million.

The search for lost Spanish treasure ships became an obsession in the USA during the 1960s and 1970s. But even back in the 17th century, it was a viable operation and led to the recovery of the biggest shipwreck treasure before Fischer's find. This success took place in 1687 and was also carried out by an American.

In 1641, a treasure fleet of more than 30 ships was struck by a hurricane in the Florida Straits. Nine ships were wrecked on the coast of Florida. The Vice Admiral's gallion, the Nestra Seenora de la Conpion, lost all its masts and began to take in water. For a week, the ship drifted southwards at the mercy of wind and current. It was eventually wrecked on an extensive reef now known as Silver Scholes or Silver Bank about 90 mi 150 km north of what is now the north coast of the Dominican Republic. Most of the 600 people on board the ship did not survive and later Spanish efforts to find and salvage the wreck failed.

However, the Spanish were not the only people to go looking for their sunken gallion. In 1681, New Englander William Fipps headed for the Caribbean with the intention of raising treasure from Spanish Rex. After some initial success, he sailed to England in 1682 in the hope of obtaining the support of King Charles II for his treasure hunting efforts. The support was forthcoming, and by 1685, Fipps was concentrating his efforts on trying to find the Conception. However, he had no luck.

Returning to England, Fipps found that Charles was dead and his brother ruled as King James II. James showed little initial interest in treasure hunting, but other powerful figures at court were prepared to back Fipps, leading to the king changing his mind. In 1686, Fipps returned to the Caribbean with two ships and stopped at Jamaica to pick up two dozen pearl divers, escapes from the Spanish pearl fisheries at Margarita off Venezuela. After a long search, the divers finally discovered the wreck of the Confettion on the silver shores. Over a period of weeks, the divers brought up 32 tons of silver, large numbers of coins, gold, chests of pearls, and leather bags containing precious gems. In all, Fipps's hall was said to be worth £250,000, which would translate into many millions in today's currency. Having presented King James and his other English backers with a fortune, Fipps was united by the king and later became governor of the Massachusetts colony. His share of the treasure made Fipps one of the richest men in America.

Although Fipps had recovered much of the treasure carried by the Confepion, it was thought that some might remain in the rank. And from the 1950s onwards, various expeditions, including one by Jacqu Kustoau, tried to find the lost ship, but without success. In 1976, American searcher Bert Weber persuaded investors to support his efforts. In the following year, he spent six months traversing the silver sho. He found 13 shipwrecks, but none of them was the Confepion.

Then Weber heard of a book published by British author Peter Earl. Earl had found the log of one of Fipps's salvage vessels in an English archive, and this gave a good idea of where the wreck was to be found. Weber now collected additional funding at a new search vessel and returned to the Silver Shoes in November 1978. He was able to pinpoint the remains of the Confepion, although coral had grown over much of the rec site, and this had to be broken through to reach the treasure. In all, Weber found 60,000 silver coins, numerous gold chains, some gold coins, and thousands of artifacts, including three astrolabes and some Ming Dynasty Chinese porcelain. The hall was valued at $10 million. Weber returned to the rec site in 1995 and recovered items worth another $1 million, chiefly more silver coins. Under his salvage agreement with the Dominican Republic, Weber had to share his treasure recoveries with that government and many of the artifacts are displayed at museums in Stomingo.

Bringing treasure from the Americas to Spain could be a long and difficult process, but surely none of it had a stranger journey than some of the treasures shipped from Kaja, Peru in 1654 and bound for Panama. The Jesus Maria de la Olympia Conception was loaded with an official cargo of 3 million pesos of silver, but probably carried at least as much again in contraband shipments. When the ship was wrecked on a reef near Chandui, Ecuador, it was the largest loss ever suffered by Spain's South Seas fleet. Naturally, the Spanish rushed to salvage what they could with much of the silver recovered and sent on to Panama. Some of what remained was salvaged by American divers in 1997 and shared with the government of Ecuador.

Silver recovered from the wreck was later loaded on the gallion Noestra Seora deas Maravas at Havana in Cuba. In total, that ship was said to be carrying 5 million pesos in treasure. It sailed with the convoy for Spain in late 1655. However, early on New Year's Day 1656, the Maravas ran into shallow water and was then rammed by another vessel in the convoy. The captain tried to save his ship, but it was wrecked on Little Bahama Bank off Grand Bahama Island. Most of the 650 people on board perished, and the wreck soon broke up. The Spanish made a determined effort to salvage the wreck, but probably only recovered a million pesos worth of treasure. Some of this had originally come from the Chandui wreck and would go to the bottom for a third time when one of the salvage vessels sank off Gorda K in the Bahamas in 1657. Even as late as 1659, the Spanish were still trying to get silver from the Chandui wreck back home. A Spanish wreck found near Jupiter Inlet, Florida in 1987 and said to be of a vessel which left Portoello in late 1659 contained a silver bar whose markings showed it had been part of the cargo first lost off Chandoui in 1654. Presumably at least some of the Chandui treasure eventually found its way to Spain.

The riches in the Maravas wreck, said to include a solid gold statue of the Madonna and Christ child, naturally attracted the interest of treasure hunters. The wreck was found in 1972 by Robert F. Marx during the last days of what had initially been a barren search expedition. He claimed to have recovered five tons of silver bars, 50,000 silver coins, 12 gold discs weighing 12 pounds, 5 kg each, 100 gold coins, many pieces of gold jewelry, hundreds of uncut emeralds, a large ivory tusk, and an interesting silver plate. The latter was engraved with the code of arms of Diego Portichuelo de Rivin, a Spanish priest based in Lima, Peru, who was on his way to Spain. He survived the shipwreck and published a book in Madrid in 1657 that included an account of the sinking. After these fines, the Bahamian government canled its salvage contract with Markx, alleging he had secretly taken away some fines to cheat the Bohemians. Markx protested his innocence and only recovered his share of the initial funds with difficulty. Only in 1988 did the Bohemian government grant another salvage company a license to work on this wreck site. They continued operations until 1992, recovering further significant finds of gold and silver bars, coins, and jewelry.

One of the main sources of cargo for the new Spain fleet was the trans-Pacific trade of the Aapulco Manila gallons. Inaugurated in 1565, the trade would last for 250 years. The ship set out from Aapulco, Mexico for Manila in the Spanish colony of the Philippines, carrying silver to buy Asian goods. The outward voyage usually involved a stop at Guam, the Spanish outpost in the Marana Islands. Once the ship reached Manila, its cargo of silver was exchanged for Chinese silks and porcelain, as well as other Asian products. For the return journey, the ship headed north from the Philippines, passing Formosa, Taiwan, and Japan before heading eastwards across the Pacific Ocean. This was one of the longest uninterrupted sea voyages at this time, often lasting 6 months or more. The ship made landfall in the Americas at a point someway north of present-day San Francisco. It then sailed down the coast of California until it arrived back at Okapulkco in Mexico. Such long and dangerous voyages inevitably led to shipwrecks with around 130 ships lost over the 250-year period. Many perished in and around the Philippines with the San Bernardino Strait a particularly dangerous area. A few were wrecked on the coast of Japan, some on Pacific islands and several on the coast of California, while others simply went missing in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. Even if shipwreck was avoided, the long homeward voyage could have terrible consequences. It was said that in 1657, a gallion bound for Aapulco was found drifting off the Mexican coast. Everybody on board had died of disease or starvation.

Gallians hoped to leave Manila before the end of July to avoid the typhoon season in the North Pacific. But as the gallions rarely reached the Philippines from Aapulco until May or June, delays were often inevitable. One group of gallions that did depart in a timely fashion were the four which left Manila in early July 1595. The smallest of these ships was the San Augustine, carrying 130 tons of cargo, including silks, porcelain, spices, and objects made of gold, silver, ivory, jade, and ebony. Unlike the other three ships, the San Augustine was not to sail directly to Aapulco once the convoy reached California. Its captain had been ordered to search the coast of California for sheltered bays that might serve as safe havens for future Manila gallions. In early November 1595, Captain Theo, the Portuguese commander of the Sanostine, took his ship into what is now called Drake's Bay, north of San Francisco. This is the place Francis Drake is said to have visited in 1579 during his voyage around the world. When the captain and most of the crew were ashore, a sudden squall swept into the bay and sank the San Augustine. Therminino now packed his men into the ship's launch and made the 2,000mi 3200 km voyage south down the coast until he reached a Spanish outpost in Mexico. Although items such as broken pottery and musk balls have been found in Drake's Bay, a serious attempt to find the wreck has yet to be made, partly because of jurisdictional disputes between US state and federal authorities.

In October 1596, the storm damaged Gallian San Felipe was driven towards the coast of Japan. Eventually, it was wrecked on a sandbank in Uraro Bay on the island of Shikoku. The local lord seized the ship's cargo and some of the survivors were sent to the shogun Toyotomy Hideoshi. Some unguarded words from one of the survivors gave the shogun the idea that the Spanish used Catholic missionaries to prepare the way for conquest. Hideoshi was already suspicious about the spread of Christianity in Japan. So this story encouraged him to carry out the first major persecution of Christians in that country. In 1597, some 26 Catholic priests, including one from the San Filipe and other Christians, were executed at Nagasaki, Japan's principal port for foreign trade.

When the San Francisco was wrecked on the Japanese coast in609, its survivors received a more cordial reception than those who had been cast ashore in 1596. Among the survivors was a former governor of the Philippines who met the shogun Tokugawa and held talks about Japanese trade with the Philippines and possible Japanese involvement in the silver trade from New Spain. In the end, no firm agreements were reached, but Ayasu offered the Spaniard a westernstyle ship built in Japan by Englishman and Shogun's adviser William Adams to take him to Mexico. The ex-governor was happy to accept the ship and made a fast passage from Japan to the Americas.

Back in 1600, Spain's long war with rebels in the Netherlands had reached Asia. Two Dutch ships aimed to attack Manila, where two gallions were loading for the return voyage across the Pacific. Although encumbered with cargo that made it hard to use their cannons, the two Spanish ships sailed out of Manila Bay on the 14th of December 1600 to confront their opponents. One Dutch ship was captured and the Gallian San Diego pursued the other. The Spanish captain rammed the Dutch ship and sent over borders. However, the collision had badly damaged the hull of the San Diego with water flooding in. The ship suddenly sank, taking most of the crew down with it while the Dutch ship escaped.

Interest in finding the wreck of the San Diego grew in the late 20th century, and at the start of the 1990s, the French underwater explorer Frank God agreed to undertake a search for the ship in collaboration with Philippine Museums. In 1992, after four weeks of scanning with both magnetometers and sonar, Godo located the wreck in 170 ft 52 meters of water near Fortune Island outside Manila Bay. During subsequent diving operations, Godo's team recovered over 30,000 artifacts, including 800 large ceramic jars from Burma, now Myanmar, 1,200 pieces of Ming Dynasty blue and white Chinese porcelain, coins, gold and silver jewelry, an ivory chest set, and all the cannons aboard the ship. After removing 150 tons of ballast, the team found that much of the lower section of the hole was still intact, and this was brought up for conservation. The ship's construction was of particular interest because many of the Manila gallions were built at Cavete in the Philippines.

Manila gallons on the homeward route to Aapulco usually passed well north of the Mariana Islands. But if they were storm damaged or otherwise in distress, they might head for Guam. One such ship was the Noestra Seenora de la Conpion in 1638. The ship had left Manila under the command of the governor's nephew, a young man in his 20s who was no sailor. After a typhoon badly damaged the ship, the commander's indecision almost led to a mutiny. Finally, it was decided to head for Guam. However, on the 20th of September 1638, when the ship was nearing the island of Saipan, north of Guam, another severe storm occurred. While the commander and his nautical advisers argued about what course to take, the ship ran onto a reef off the southwest coast of Saipan. Only a handful of the 400 people on board survived and many who reached the shore were killed by local people. A year later, after a hazardous journey, six Spaniards made it back to Manila to report the loss of the ship. The Spanish made efforts to find and salvage the wreck, but it was not until 1684 that Spanish salvers raised all but one of the 36 cannons in the ship.

In 1987, William Mathers led a diving team to Saipen intent on finding the conception. They found the impact point where the ship had hit the reef and two anchors nearby, but little else but ballast stones and ceramic shards. Then towards the end of the diving season, the team found 32 gold chains bundled together. This find encouraged the team to keep following the trail of ballast stones and other debris left by the sinking ship. Using metal detectors, divers found more than,300 pieces of gold jewelry in small sand pockets along the trail. Then the searchers reached the depth limit of their diving equipment. Mathers returned in 1990 with a remotely operated underwater vehicle, ROUV, and found a pile of 156 intact clay storage jars at a depth of 270 ft, 83 m. But the rest of the hall seemed to have sunk in very deep water.

The Spanish Empire was one of the most powerful states in the world in the 16th century, but some countries were ready to defy it. The Protestant Dutch and English were particular enemies of Catholic Spain, and in 1588, King Philip II sent a fleet to carry out the invasion and conquest of England. The Spanish Armada, numbering more than 130 ships, was one of the largest naval forces ever sent into action in Europe up to that time. Commanded by the Duke of Medina, Sedonia, the fleet was to sail up the English Channel to Flanders and then escort the Duke of Parma's army across to land in England. The fleet itself also carried many soldiers and their artillery. The English fleet, whose commanders included famous enemies of Spain such as Francis Drake, was ready to oppose the Armada. The initial clashes in the channel disappointed both sides. The Spanish wanted to close with the English ships and use troops to board and capture them, but the English ships remained at a distance. The English wanted to use their superior gunnery to break up the tight Spanish formation and capture individual ships. But although some five Spanish ships were lost in the channel fights, the Armada remained a powerful and united force. Only after the English fire ship attack near Cala did the Spanish fleet become disordered. Unable to escort Parma's army or return down the channel, Medina Sidonia ordered his fleet to return to Spain via the long route north of Scotland and Ireland. It was in following this route that more than 30 of the Armada's ships were wrecked.

Two of the ships came to grief in neutral Scotland. The Grung Griffon, flagship of the Armada's supply squadron, was wrecked on Fair Isle, which lies between the Orcne and the Shetland Island groups. The ship was from Rosto in Germany and had carried naval stores from the Baltic to the Armada's original assembly point at Lisbon, Portugal. Portugal had come under Spanish control in 1580 when Philip II asserted his claim to the country's crown. There the ship was seized by the Spanish and added to their fleet for the expedition against England. Rated at 650 tons, the Grung Griffhone carried 43 sailors and 243 soldiers. It was armed with 38 guns, but only the eight bronze cannons newly cast at Lisbon were heavy pieces. Damaged in the channel fights, the Grown Griffon became separated from the rest of the fleet, reached Fair Isle in a sinking condition, and came ashore at Stum's Helier near the southeast corner of the island on 27th September 1588. The ship quickly broke up, but most of those on board survived the wreck. The wreck was found in 1970 and in 1977 a team led by Colin Martin, an expert on Armada wrecks carried out an excavation of the site. There were no structural remains of the vessel because this was a high energy environment with powerful waves crashing against the shore, but heavier items from the lost ship had become lodged in gullies among the rocks. Two of the Lisbon made bronze cannons were brought up. They showed clear evidence of hasty production and one had a dangerously offcenter bore which would have made it almost useless. With such guns, the Spanish ships could put up only limited resistance to English attacks. Large numbers of round shot were also found on the rec side, undermining the idea that Spanish vessels had run out of ammunition after the channel fights.

The second Armada ship lost in Scotland was the Sanwand de Sicilia. The ship came originally from Ragusa, now Drovonic in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea and had been seized by Spanish authorities in Sicily so it could be added to the invasion fleet. The ship carried 63 sailors and 279 soldiers, and it had an armament of 26 guns. Damaged in the channel fights, the ship sought refuge at Tobberi on the island of Maul off the western coast of Scotland. Not long after its arrival, the ship caught fire and sank. Despite claims of sabotage by English agents, the fire seems to have been accidental. Within a few decades, stories began to circulate that the ship known as the Tobber Gallion had been carrying treasure. Serious efforts were made in the 1670s and 1730s to find the supposed treasure. There was more treasure hunting in the first half of the 20th century, and the last sustained effort was in the 1980s. No trace of any treasure has ever been found, and the sole result of all these salvage activities has been to rob the wreck site of any archaeological value it might once have possessed.

Most of the Armada wrecks took place on the northern and western coasts of Ireland, but only a few have received significant attention from maritime archaeologists. An early find was the Santa Maria de la Rosa wrecked in Blaset Sound in southwest Ireland. The ship had been built in San Sebastian, Spain by a Bosque merchant in 1587 and was probably intended for whaling off the Atlantic coast of North America. The ship was seized for service in the Armada and sent to Lisbon. Rated at 945 tons, it carried 26 guns and had on board 64 sailors and 225 soldiers of the Tercio regiment of Sicily. Already damaged in a storm soon after leaving Lisbon, the ship took further punishment during the channel fights west of Ireland. was separated from the main fleet in a storm and headed into Blascat Sound for shelter. There were already two Armada ships in the sound and their crews were horrified to watch the new arrival run onto a reef and quickly sink with only one survivor.

In 1968, Sydney Wignel, a British pioneer of underwater archaeology, launched a search for the Santa Maria. A ballast pile and some timbers were found at a depth of 116 ft, 35.5 m. But diving conditions were difficult. Wignel returned in 1969 and established that the forward section of the ship lay under 200 tons of ballast. The rest of the ship had probably broken off and sunk in deep water. Nevertheless, some interesting artifacts were found. Timbers indicated that the structure of the ship was similar to that of a Basque whailing ship lost in 1565 that had been found in Red Bay, Canada. See chapter 7. Finds included shot of various calibers, lead ingots to make small shot, the remains of musketss and arabuses, pottery, and several pieces of pewtor. Two of the latter bore the name Matute and the owner was identified as Francisco Ruiz Matute, captain of a Sicilian infantry company aboard the ship.

One of the most unusual ships forming part of the Armada was the Gallas. More strongly built and more heavily armed than the Galley, the Galas still had banks of ores that allowed it to maneuver when lack of wind immobilized pure sailing ships. The four Gallases that sailed with the Armada were around 600 tons each and carried 50 guns. Before they joined the fleet, their Latine sails used in the Mediterranean were removed and square sails were fitted as these were more appropriate for the stormy Atlantic. One of the Gallases was the Girona and on the return voyage the vessel was forced to put in at Kilibbeg's County Dunagal Ireland to make repairs. While there, the Girona was joined by survivors from two other Armada ships. Their leader was Don Alonso de Leva, a personal favor to Philip II. Many young nobles had joined him on his ship Rata Enoronada and saw action during the channel fights. Unfortunately, during the return voyage, the ship was wrecked at Blackot Bay County Mayo. Leva led the survivors to where another Armada ship, the Dukesa Santa Anna, was anchored and went on board. However, soon after the ship set sail, it was stranded at Lross Bay, County Donnigal. Leva then took the survivors from the two crews to Kilibbegs, where he took charge of the repaired Girona. All three crews, amounting to some,300 men, crammed into the Gallas, and it set out for neutral Scotland. Stormy seas then broke the ship's rudder, and it was driven onto rocks at Lacata Point, County Entrim, on the north coast of Ireland. Only a few men survived the wreck. The remains of the Jirona were found by the Belgian diver Robert Rober Stenwit in 1967 and over the next two years his team worked on the wreck site. Lacata Point is a high energy environment so no structural remains of the ship were found but many artifacts had lodged in rock gullies. These included a thousand coins and many pieces of Renaissance jewelry and nightly orders. One was the insignia of a knight of Santiago, which probably belonged to Alonso Deva himself. Another piece was the cross of a knight of Malta, which may have belonged to the ship's captain, Fabricio Spinola. Three bronze cannons were also recovered from the wreck site. Many of the finds are now displayed in the Olter Museum, Belfast.

The ship La Trinidad Valencer was originally Venetian but was seized by the Spanish at Sicily and sent to join the Armada. Rated at 1,100 tons and thus one of the larger merchant ships of the period, the Trinidad Valenca carried 79 sailors and 281 soldiers, members of the Tercio of Naples. The regiment's colonel, Don Alonso de Loison, was the senior officer on board the ship. The 42 guns on board the ship included four 40pounder siege guns intended for use in the campaign in England. Separated from the main fleet and taking on water, the ship ran into Kinugo Bay County Donnagal, went to ground and began to break up. The survivors struggled ashore only to be rounded up by English troops. Some of the prisoners were executed, others escaped, and a few, including Luzon, were kept for ransom. The wreck of the Trinidad Varancer was found in 1971 by Irish divers. Two of the siege guns were located and were found to match information in the original cargo manifest, thus identifying the ship. Colin Martin supervised excavations on the rec site from 1971 to 1984 and a third siege gun was found in 1986. A two- wheeled gun carriage for the Venetian guns aboard the ship was found. Such carriages were unwieldy and made it harder to reload the guns during a sea fight. The four-w wheeled gun carriages used by the English were superior in this respect. Other military equipment found included musketss and aquabuses, pikes, helmets, powder flasks, swords, tents, and gunnery instruments. Musical instruments were also found along with pottery and pewtor table wear. Many of the recovered items are on display at the Tower Museum in Derry, London Derry.

Although the wrecks of the Armada tell us much about the Spanish role in sea warfare in the late 16th century, until recently not a single shipwreck from their English opponents had been found. When Drake returned to England in 1580 after his voyage around the world, Queen Elizabeth I decreed that his ship, the Golden Hind, should be preserved for posterity. For 70 years, the ship remained on display at Depford near London and was probably the world's first museum ship. However, sometime around 1650, the decayed relic was finally broken up. Remains of Elizabeth and ships must be sought elsewhere.

In 1980, a fisherman working near Alderney, the most northerly of the Channel Islands, brought up what appeared to be an old musket entangled in the lines of his crab pots. The local diving club examined the site and found several cannons lying on the sea bottom in 88 ft, 27 m, of water. Strong currents made diving difficult. But over the years, club divers, advised by the maritime archaeologist Menson Bound, brought up many artifacts from the rec site. Timbers were found scattered around the site, but the most significant piece found was the rudder, which was raised in 1995. Other ship fittings discovered included a sounding lid, a pump handle, two lead scuppers, a dead eyee, and pieces of cordage. Also found were two disc weights, both stamped with the guild hall dagger and the crowned royal cipher of Elizabeth I. These items indicated that the vessel was not lost before 1588. The ship probably carried six to eight iron cannons and various types of shot were found, including starshot, barshot, and ballshot. Pieces from more than 35 matchlock musketss were recovered. one with a pinttel on the underside of the forstock, indicating that it could be mounted on a ship's rail. Accessories included two powder flasks and more than 20 small conicle powder containers known as apostles, which were hung from a bandelier across the solders's chest. Other military finds included swords, rapiers and daggers, ceramic incendiary grenades, and a range of body armor, including and Bergenet helmets, and peace cut breast plates and back plates. Among the personal possessions found were shoes, spoons, tobacco pipes, a razor, a comb, and manicure items. The pottery found was mostly of North European origin. A pewtor bowl that was recovered was inscribed with the name a divorce or a deorce. The ship was probably English, being either a small warship or an armed military transport. The most likely candidate is an unnamed English vessel noted in contemporary records as being cast away about alderney in 1592 while employed as a dispatch carrier and military transport for an English army then active in France. The English troops had been sent to assist French Protestants in their struggle against France's Catholic League which was aided by Spanish troops.

While the English and Spanish battled each other on land and sea, other conflicts were taking place further north in the Baltic Sea area. The power of Denmark, once dominant in the region, was beginning to decline, and Sweden was starting to exert itself as a major regional power. In the first half of the 17th century, Sweden's king, Gustavos Adulus, Gustaf II, Adolf, won great fame as a soldier, but he was well aware that Sweden also needed an effective fleet if it was to dominate the Baltic. In 1626, Gustavos Adulus ordered Dutch ship rights resident in Sweden to construct a heavily armed flagship for his fleet. The ship was called the Vasa and it was to be richly decorated to reflect the glory of the king and the growing power of Sweden. The Vasa was said to have carried 72 cannons on two gun decks, but in the end only 64 were fitted. The ship was to have a crew of 145 sailors and 300 soldiers. It would be one of the largest vessels of the period, but it became clear during construction that the ship had stability problems when stability tests performed by groups of men running back and forth across the upper deck were carried out on the almost complete Vasa in the summer of 1628. They had to be stopped because of fears the ship might capsize. Despite this worrying event, no official was ready to report the problem to the king.

On the 10th of August 1628, the Vasa began its first voyage. A short trip from central Stockholm where it was built to a naval base further out in the Stockholm archipelago. Hundreds of people, many in small boats, came out to admire the new ship. It was a calm day with only a light breeze. The Vasa had its gunports open as it was to fire a salute as it left Stockholm Harbor. A strong gust of wind caused the ship to heal to one side, but it quickly recovered. Soon afterwards, a stronger gust of wind pushed the ship over once more. Water now began to pour into the open lower gunports on one side. The ship began to fill with water and then sank, hitting the bottom of the harbor at a depth of 105 ft, 32 m. Fortunately, boats were on hand to rescue survivors, and only 40 people were lost with the ship. Gustavas Adulus ordered an immediate salvage effort, but an early attempt to raise the lost ship, which was lying on its side, only succeeded in pulling the hull upright while pushing it deeper into the muddy bottom of the harbor. In 1663 to 1664, Swedish salvers, using a diving bell, managed to recover most of the cannons from the ship. After that, the Vasa was largely forgotten.

In the 1950s, the Swedish engineer Anders Francine began to look for old wooden shipwrecks in the Baltic. The water of the Baltic Sea is cold, dark, and has relatively low salinity. This makes it an unattractive habitat for wood boring creatures such as the teroto navalis or shipworm, which do so much to destroy wooden hulls. In 1956, Francine found the wreck of the Vasa at the bottom of Stockholm Harbor and began to organize a project to raise the hull, which came to enjoy royal and government support. Divers placed lifting cables under the hull and slowly it was lifted towards the surface in stages. Finally, on the 24th of April 1961, the Vasa returned to the surface for the first time in almost 350 years. The hull of the Vasa was taken to a dock where its contents could be excavated and conservation work could begin. When wood saturated with water dries out, it can crumble into dust. So, the Swedes pioneered the process of slowly replacing the water with polyethylene glycol, PEG. In this way, the wood could dry but would retain its structure with the plastic replacing the water. The process took many years, but the hull was preserved. In 1990, it became the main exhibit of the new purpose-built Vasa Museum in Stockholm. The Vasa is the only surviving 17th century ship, and since 1961, it has been visited by more than 35 million people. making it the most popular museum in all of Scandinavia.

Although only three cannons remained in the hull of the Vasa, all the gun carriages for cannon were present, and large quantities of shot and gunpowder were found. A vast range of personal possessions of the officers and sailors were found, including a back gammon set, as well as barrels of supplies, much cordage, and rigging items. On its short and ill- fated voyage, the Vasa had hoisted only four sails, which have long since rotted away. But the other six sails for the ship were discovered intact in a storage compartment in the hull, along with rigging spares and the carpenters's large tool chest. Around a dozen skeletons were found inside the hull. After the hull was brought up in 1961, underwater excavation of the wider wreck site took place in 1963 to 1967 and brought up more items from the ship. These included pieces of the hull that had fallen off over the years, particularly from the beak head at the bow and the stern castle. These fallen items included hundreds of the wooden sculptures that had once decorated the outside of the ship, principally at bow and stern. Conserved, painted, and gilded, they have now been restored to the hull. Divers also recovered the ship's anchors and the skeletons of at least four people. The last object brought up was the ship's longboat almost 39 ft 12 m long which was found lying parallel to where the hull had been. It was probably being towed by the Vasa when the ship sank.

Despite the loss of the Vasa, the Swedes continued with their efforts to build a powerful navy in the 17th century. In 1665, construction began in Stockholm of a new flagship for the Swedish Navy to be known as the Kronan. Built under the direction of an English shipwright, progress was initially slow and the ship was not completed until 1672. By contemporary standards, the ship was huge. At more than 2,000 tons, it had a crew of 500 sailors and 350 soldiers. The ship was to have 126 cannons on three gun decks, but in fact only 105 were mounted. Like the Vasa, the Kronan was to have splendid decorations, particularly on the stern, but they were not to be as extensive as those on the earlier ship. The 850 men aboard the Cronin were equivalent to the entire population of a middlesized Swedish town in the late 17th century. It would be a miniature society and was lost under the sea in one moment of disaster in 1676.

In the 1670s, Sweden was at war with Denmark and its Dutch allies. In its initial years of service, the Kronan had no trouble in coping with rough seas, but the Swedish fleet had little success against its enemies. In early 1676, King Charles XI 11th of Sweden dismissed Admiral Stenbach as commander of his navy and replaced him with Lawrence Croitz, a treasury official with no naval experience. He would have to rely on the advice given by naval officers on his flagship, the Cronin. The war continued to go badly for Sweden at sea. The Danes captured the island of Gutland in April 1676. And in the following month, the Danish Dutch fleet had the better of an encounter with the Swedish fleet near the island of Bourneholm. On the 1st of June 1676, the Swedish fleet closed with the Danish Dutch fleet in a strong gale off the northern tip of the island of Oland. Carrying too much sail and with gunports open, the Cronin made a sharp turn in rough seas. Water flooded in through the lower gunports on one side, and the ship began to capsize. As it did so, fire somehow reached the forward gunpowder store, and an explosion ripped apart the already doomed ship. Much of the forward part of the starboard side of the hull was destroyed and the sinking ship came to rest lying on its port side on the sea bottom in 85 ft 26 m of water. Of the 850 men on board, only about 40 survived and fleet commander Croitz was not among them.

Between 1679 and 1686, some 60 cannons were raised from the wreck using a diving bell. But after those efforts, no further salvage was attempted. Continuing his search for further shipwrecks after finding the Vasa, Anders Francine went looking for the Cronin. He finally found the wreck in August 1980. And every year since then, Swedish divers have visited the site with Kalmar County Museum overseeing their excavations. This has been one of the biggest maritime archaeological projects in the Baltic, second only to the Vasa. More than 30,000 artifacts have been brought up from the area, ranging from heavy bronze cannons to small eggshell fragments. One of the first finds was a small table cabinet with nine drawers containing navigational instruments, pipe cleaning tools, cutlery, and writing implements, and this item probably belonged to an officer. As a flagship, the Cronin would have carried substantial sums of money. Some 300 gold coins have been found in the wreck, but these were probably the personal property of Fleet Commander Croitz. Almost 15,000 silver coins were also brought up, and these probably represent the contents of the fleet paychest. Musical instruments, including a trumpet and three violins, were found, as well as one officer's personal provisions hamper. Found in 1997, the woven basket contained tobacco and expensive imported food stuffs and spices, including ginger, plums, grapes, and cinnamon quills. Some clothing, particularly that of officers and their servants, is well preserved and gives information about clothing manufacturer in the late 17th century that cannot be derived from contemporary paintings and drawings. Extensive human remains were found in the wreck, and many of the bones have deep lacerations. Most likely these were caused by the explosion, but one suggestion is that officers slashed at panicking crew members with swords as the ship healed over.

The search for wellpreserved wooden shipwrecks in the Baltic goes on. And in 2011, it was announced that the wreck of the Swedish warship Mars, lost in 1564, had been found near the island of Irand. The ship, one of the largest of its time, was the flagship of King Eric I 14th of Sweden's fleet. It caught fire, exploded, and sank during a battle with Danish warships aided by ships from Nubec in Germany. The wreck is said to be well preserved, and underwater excavation of the wreck site should reveal new information about naval warfare in the Baltic in the mid6th century.

One purpose of naval warfare in the early modern period was to break into previously closed global trade routes. With the treaty of Toresas, the Spanish and the Portuguese had divided the trade of the world between them. The rising Protestant naval powers of England and the Netherlands were no longer willing to accept this Catholic claim to control world trade. In particular, around 1600, both the Dutch and the English set up their own East India companies, which intended to trade with India, the East Indies, and China. The Dutch soon drove the Portuguese out of most of their outposts in the East Indies and set up their main base at Bavia, now Jakarta, on the island of Java. The Portuguese had been content to follow the Arab monsoon trade routes across the Indian Ocean, but a Dutch sea captain called Brower pioneered a new route to the East Indies in 1611. After outwardbound ships had passed the southern tip of Africa, they headed south until they picked up the westerly winds known as the Roaring 40s. These powerful winds pushed ships eastwards across the southern edge of the Indian Ocean in record time until a point was reached when the ship turned north and headed for Bavia. Although much quicker than the monsoon route, the Brower route was difficult to use because as yet navigators had no reliable way of establishing longitude. It was all too easy to miss the best point at which to turn north and end up wrecked on the western shores of the heretofor unexplored continent of Australia.

One such unlucky ship was the Betavia lost in 1629. The ship had been built in Amsterdam in 1628 as the new flagship of the Dutch East India Company, Dutch initials VOC, and set out on its maiden voyage to its namesake city in the same year. The senior merchant and overall commander was Francisco Pelzart, who was on bad terms with the ship's captain, Arian Yakobs. Also on board was a junior merchant called Uranimus Cornelius who was apparently fleeing the Netherlands because of his unorthodox religious views. Cornelius and Yakobs seemed to have plotted a mutiny against Pelsart and after the ship passed the Cape of Good Hope, it separated from the rest of the convoy. The Bavia followed the Brower route but passed too close to the western shores of Australia. In June 1629, the ship ran onto a reef in the Hutman Abbrolos, a chain of small islands off the coast of Western Australia. About 40 of those on board went down with the ship, but the rest made it to a small island. Pelzart, Yakobs, and a small group of men set out on the long journey to Bavia in the ship's longboat, promising to send help once they landed there. Cornelius was now determined to take control of the remaining survivors. First, he sent a small group of soldiers under Vivahigh to look for water on another island, but did not leave them a boat in which to return. Cornelius and his supporters then took control of the other survivors and to reduce the burden on his limited food supplies. He began to order the murders of all those who he regarded as useless mouths. In all, about 125 men, women, and children were killed. A few people escaped to Heisa's island and told him of the slaughter. Cornelius then decided to kill Heisa's people, but during the battle, Pelzart returned in a rescue ship. Heis reached it first and told of the crimes committed by Cornelius. Pelzart arrested Cornelius and his gang. A trial was quickly held and a guilty verdict delivered. Cornelius and six of his men were hanged while two men found guilty of lesser crimes were marooned on the coast of Australia. As the rescue ship made its way back to Bavia, they were never seen again.

The wreck of the Bavia was discovered by Australian fishermen in 1963 and artifacts began to be brought up. In 1972, the Netherlands government gave up all claims to Dutch shipwrecks in Australian waters, and a more orderly excavation of the wreck site took place under the control of the government authorities of Western Australia. The portside stern timbers of the ship, some cannons, an anchor, and the stones intended for the construction of a gateway in Bavia were raised from the rec site. Most of the ship's cannons and anchors were left on the seabed to be visited by sports divers as an early example of an underwater wreck museum. Artifacts from the Bavia are on display in the Maritime and WA shipwrecks museums in Fremantle, Western Australia. The Bavia had carried a large amount of silver to purchase spices and other exotic products. valued at 250,000 gilders. The treasure was put in 12 chests, each containing about 8,000 silver coins. Tazart recovered 10 of the chests, but two remain missing. He was also said to have brought four bags of jewels onto the ship when it first set out, but their fate is unknown. At least half a dozen VOCC ships were wrecked on the western coasts of Australia in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Another area where such ships came to grief was the southern coast of Africa where a number of Portuguese India ships had preceded them. In December 1646, the VOC ships Nia Harlem and Schedum left Betavia bound for the Netherlands. On the 22nd of March 1647, the Nia Harlem was wrecked in Table Bay, South Africa, but most of the crew and cargo were saved. Some survivors and cargo were transferred to the Skum along with another VOCC ship, the Elephant, but there was not enough room for all. The captain of the new Harlem ordered a junior merchant, Lender Tansen, to stay behind with 60 men to guard the remaining salvaged cargo until the next VOCC homeward fleet called Table Bay. Jansen built a wooden fort called Sandenburgg to protect his men and the cargo. But he soon came to enjoy good relations with the local Koi people. The next Dutch fleet only arrived in 1648, but it was able to take Jansen's party and their cargo back to the Netherlands. Jansen was asked by VOC officials to submit a report on the suitability of Table Bay as a permanent outpost for the company. He prepared a favorable report and it was accepted by the company. In 1651, the Amsterdam Chamber of the VOCC sent 90 settlers led by Yanfarbec to Table Bay. Landing in 1652, they established what would become Cape Town and began White Settlement in South Africa.

The early voyages of England's East India Company also led to shipwrecks in Australia and South Africa. Indeed, the Wreck of the Trial off the northwest coast of Australia in 1622 is the country's earliest known shipwreck. Built in 1621, the ship set off on its maiden voyage to Bantam in Java soon afterwards, following the outward Brower route. Because of navigational confusion, the trial was eventually wrecked on a reef near the Mabelloo Islands. Some 93 lives were lost in the wreck, but 44 survivors managed to reach Bantam in two small boats. What was thought to be the wreck of this ship was found in 1969. And although an excavation carried out by maritime archaeologists in 1971 could not definitely identify the lost ship, it is generally considered

To be the trial. The first English East Indiaman wrecked on the coast of southern Africa was the Joanna or Johanna in 1682. The ship had already made five round trips to Indian ports and Bantam in Java for the East India Company in the decade before its loss. The Joanna left England in February 1682 bound for Surat in India. It carried the usual large cargo of silver needed to buy Indian goods. In June 1682, thanks to navigational error, the ship was wrecked near Cape Agoulas, South Africa. 10 lives were lost in the wreck, but 104 people got ashore and eventually reached Cape Town, where they were well treated. The Dutch commander at the Cape, Simon Vandersteel, sent a salvage team led by Olaf Berg, a VOCC employee, to find the wreck. Berg did so and returned with a large quantity of silver coins and barrels of wine and beer. The wreck of the Joanna was then forgotten until 1982, the 300th anniversary of the ship's loss, when the wreck site was found by South African divers. They recovered 23,000 silver coins and some silver ingots.

English treasure ships did not have to be lost as far away as South Africa or Australia. The most famous one in the 17th century was lost somewhere off Land's End in Cornwall. This was the Merchant Royal or Royal Merchant. During a period of Anglo Spanish Amity, the ship had been permitted to trade with Spanish colonies in the Caribbean for several years. Laden with money and goods, the Merchant Royal was on its way back to London in 1641, accompanied by another English ship, the Dover Merchant. The ships paid a visit to Kadis in Spain during their return voyage. While they were there, a Spanish ship intended to carry money to the Spanish army in Flanders was destroyed by fire. Seeing a chance for further earnings, Captain Limbry of the Merchant Royal offered to carry the treasure to Antwerp on his way back to London. The Spanish agreed, and the two English ships left Cuddies. Somewhere in the western approaches to the English Channel, possibly near Land's End, the ships were struck by a storm on the 23rd of September 1641. The Merchant Royal began to take on water and eventually sank, taking 10 of the crew to the bottom. Captain Limbry and the other 40 crew escaped in the ship's boats and were picked up by the Dover Merchant. If contemporary estimates of 300 to 400,000 pounds as the value of the lost treasure are accurate, then that translates into many millions in today's currency. Understandably, many efforts have been made to find the wreck of the Merchant Royal, but so far it remains elusive.

While England's merchant ships were venturing to ever more distant places, the Royal Navy was being expanded at home with new and larger ships. The Prince Royal, 1610, was the first warship to have three gun decks, and the second such ship, the Sovereign of the Seas, 1637, carried more than 100 large cannons. None of these great ships were lost in shipwrecks. But that fate befell some of the smaller 17th century English warships, and their remains have provided interesting information for maritime archaeologists. One such was the Swan, a small warship built in 1641 and carrying 12 iron cannons cast by John Brown, who produced the more numerous bronze cannons for the Sovereign of the Seas. In 1642, most of the English Navy supported Parliament rather than the king at the outbreak of the Civil War between them, but the Swan remained under royal control. However, in 1645, when the ship was anchored off Dublin, Ireland, and its captain was ashore, the unpaid crew mutinied and went over to the parliamentary side after being promised regular pay.

By 1653, the Civil Wars in the British Isles were drawing to a close with the parliamentary side led by Oliver Cromwell victorious. However, some royalists still held out in the western highlands and islands of Scotland. A small squadron from Cromwell's fleet was sent to subdue the Royalist McClean of Dart Castle on the island of Mull and this force included the Swan. On the 13th of September 1653, a storm blew in and sank the Swan near the castle, apparently drowning most of its crew. The wreck was found in 1979, but it was only in the first half of the 1990s that a major excavation of the wreck site took place, led by Colin Martin. Among the artifacts found were decorative wood carvings of a distinctly royalist kind. Clearly, they dated from when the ship had originally been built and had not been removed after the ship joined Cromwell's Navy. Other finds included pottery, pewter, part of a pistol lock, and many wooden items. Some concretions were brought up and x-rayed. One had an ornate sword hilt inside, and another contained the intact movement of a pocket watch. In 2003, one of the ship's cannons was raised and proved to be a 4-pounder iron drake cast by John Brown. This was believed to be the only surviving example of this kind of cannon.

Cromwell died in 1658 and his republican regime did not long survive him. Charles II was restored as king in 1660 returning from exile in the Netherlands. To commemorate this event, the city of Amsterdam gave the king a yacht, the Mary, the first yacht to be sent to a country outside the Netherlands. Although the Mary was to be the first in a long line of royal yachts, King Charles soon tired of this vessel, and it passed to the Royal Navy for general service. Many years later, in 1675, the Mary, which mounted eight bronze cannons, was on a voyage across the Irish Sea, having left Dublin bound for Chester. On the 25th of March, the ship ran into fog and was then wrecked on the Scaries, a group of rocks off the coast of Anglesey in North Wales. Some 39 of the 79 passengers and crew on the ship were rescued before the ship broke up. In 1971, the wreck was discovered by amateur scuba divers. Some wished to loot the wreck site, while others favored a scientific excavation. This dispute was one of the incidents that encouraged Parliament to pass the Protection of Wrecks Act in 1973. This gave legal protection to designated wrecks, and the Mary was one of the first wreck sites to receive this status. In the meantime, Peter Davies of Liverpool University and Merseyside Museums had organized a diving expedition that brought up more than 1500 artifacts from the Mary. Four of the eight bronze guns had been taken by looters, but they were eventually recovered and rejoined the other four guns brought up by the excavators. Other items recovered included gold lockets, rings, silver items, candlesticks, and the captain's plate, spoon, and fork. The remains of two individuals were also found in the wreck.

During its brief supremacy, the Cromwellian regime added many ships to England's navy. One was the Dartmouth, a small frigate originally mounting 22 guns, later increased to 36. The ship was built at Portsmouth in 1655 by master shipwright John Tippets. He had learned his trade in Denmark, where Dutch shipbuilding techniques were employed. This background would be confirmed from parts of the ship's hull, later found by underwater archaeologists. The Dartmouth fought in both the Second (1665 to 1667) and Third (1672 to 1674) Anglo-Dutch Wars, against Barbary Corsairs in the Mediterranean in 1676 to 1677, and against the French and supporters of the deposed King James II, known as Jacobites, in Irish waters in 1689. In 1690, the now old and much repaired Dartmouth was part of a squadron sent to subdue Jacobite supporters in the western highlands and islands of Scotland. These included the McLeans of Duart on Mull. In October, the Dartmouth anchored in the Sound of Mull, but when a severe storm blew in, the ship's anchor cables parted and it was wrecked on rocks near a small island. Most of the crew died, including the captain, Edward Pottinger, who had recently complained about the poor condition of his ship, including its anchor cables. The wreck was found in 1973 and identified when a ship's bell inscribed Dartmouth 1678, the date of a major refit of the ship, was recovered. Colin Martin then directed several seasons of excavations by divers. The aft part of the lower starboard side, including a section of the keel, was found largely intact. It showed evidence of composite skeleton and shell construction, a Dutch characteristic, as well as unconventional repair techniques apparently intended to reinforce an aging and partly rotten hull. Artifacts recovered included navigational and surgical instruments, tools, nautical and domestic equipment, and items of weaponry. There were 20 iron guns of various calibers.

Another period of English naval renewal was the 1670s when naval administrator and diarist Samuel Pepys suggested an enhanced building program to keep up with the growing navies of France and the Netherlands. One result of this proposal was the ordering of 20 new third-rate 70-gun warships in 1677. One of these, the Anne, was built at Chatham by Phineas Pett and launched in 1678. In the summer of 1690, the ship, commanded by Captain John Trelawny, was part of the Anglo-Dutch fleet that fought Admiral Tourville's French fleet off Beachy Head on the south coast of England. The French defeated their opponents with the Dutch losing at least six ships and the English one. The Anne, having been dismasted in the battle, seemed doomed to fall into French hands. Instead, it was run aground near Winchelsea and burned to avoid capture. Sometime later, most of the guns were salvaged from the wreck. By the 19th century, it was well known to local people that the timbers of the Anne's hull were visible at low tides. Only in the 1970s did people try to excavate the ship. In 1974, relic hunters started to use excavation machinery on the sand-filled hull, but then local authorities stepped in. After a short archaeological survey, the Anne was declared a protected wreck site under the 1973 Act. A few artifacts had been found, including iron cannonballs, cast iron grenades, and musket balls, along with domestic items such as a spoon, a pewter plate, and clay pipes. There were hopes that a major excavation could be made on the wreck, allowing its construction to be compared to that of the Dartmouth, lost in the same year, but so far this has not happened.

The naval victory at Beachy Head marked the high point of a French naval revival directed by King Louis XIV and his minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert. This policy had included a colonial component leading to exploration by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, in North America in the 1680s. His first efforts had begun at the end of the previous decade. In 1679, La Salle built a small ship named L'Érion at or near Gaugua Island on the Niagara River. It was the first sailing ship of any size to go onto the upper Great Lakes. On the 7th of August 1679, the vessel carrying La Salle and 33 others set out on its maiden voyage. The Griffon traveled across Lake Erie, Lake Huron, and then into Lake Michigan, crossing uncharted waters where only canoes had gone before. The ship reached an island in Lake Michigan, now thought to be near Green Bay, Wisconsin, where local people had gathered to sell furs to the French. La Salle disembarked and on the 18th of September sent L'Érion, crewed by six men, back towards Niagara with a large cargo of furs. The ship was never seen again. Called by some the holy grail of shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, the search for the wreck of L'Érion still continues. In 1898, it was claimed that it had been found near Manitoulin Island, Lake Huron. While in 2001 and 2013, claims were made for sites in Lake Michigan. But none of these claims have ever been confirmed. La Salle went on to become the first European to go down the Mississippi River to its mouth on the Gulf of Mexico in 1681. A year later, he claimed the whole Mississippi basin for France, naming it Louisiana. La Salle then returned to France and encouraged Louis XIV to establish a French colony at the mouth of the Mississippi that would solidify French claims to the area which was previously held by Spain. La Salle wanted to return to New France (Canada) with a small ship that could be broken down into pieces for carriage across country to the Mississippi. Once rebuilt, the ship would go down the river and establish a French colony on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. As France drifted into war with Spain, Louis XIV insisted on a quicker and more direct route to the proposed site for the colony. La Salle would sail from France straight to the Gulf of Mexico.

In July 1684, La Salle left La Rochelle with four ships: the 36-gun warship L'Aimable, the store ships Le Prince and Saint-François, and the barque La Belle, which had previously been the ship which was to be dismantled and rebuilt on the banks of the Mississippi. The ships carried almost 300 people, including 100 soldiers, six missionaries, eight merchants, about a dozen women and children, and artisans and craftsmen. Soon after reaching the Caribbean, the Saint-François was captured by a Spanish privateer while the other three ships went on into the Gulf of Mexico. Owing to poor charts and navigational difficulties, the expedition sailed too far to the west. In early 1685, La Salle reached Matagorda Bay in what is now Texas, some 400 miles (644 km) west of the Mississippi Delta. La Belle entered the bay easily, but Le Prince ran aground. Fortunately, most supplies were taken off the ship before it sank. Soon afterwards, L'Aimable left to return to France. La Salle now had only one ship left, La Belle. A colony called Fort St. Louis was established by La Salle some miles inland from the coast, but he was determined to reach the mouth of the Mississippi. He set out by land to find it, but soon had to turn back. In his absence, a storm had sunk La Belle. Without a ship, the colony seemed doomed. In 1687, during another effort by land to find the Mississippi, La Salle was killed by his own men in a mutiny. The following year, the colony of Fort St. Louis was destroyed by hostile local people. Hearing rumors of La Salle's expedition, the Spanish had sent patrols along the coast. One found the wreck of La Belle in 1687 and salvaged some items, including five cannons and two swivel guns.

Only in the 1970s did people start looking for the wreck of La Belle. In 1978, a magnetometer survey was carried out in Matagorda Bay and an area of interest was identified. However, lack of funding stopped state-backed efforts to find the lost ship until 1995. A second magnetometer survey was done with the advent of GPS, allowing more precise surveying. Possible wreck sites were found and divers were sent down. They found a bronze cannon and raised it to the surface. On the cannon were the arms of Louis XIV and of the Count of Vermandois, an illegitimate son of Louis who held the appointment of Admiral of France and died in 1683. This was considered to be circumstantial evidence that the wreck of La Belle had been found. The historical importance of the find and the difficulty of diving in the bay's dark waters led the state of Texas to fund the construction of a coffer dam around the wreck, like the one the Danes had built around the Skuldelev wrecks in the 1960s. Once the coffer dam had been built, water was pumped out and the wreck could be excavated as if it were on dry land. The excavation took place in 1996 to 1997 and revealed that much of the bottom of the ship's hull had survived with boxes and casks still in place in the hold. This would give a picture of the supplies needed to found a colony. There was a wide range of weaponry, including three bronze cannons, one iron swivel gun, several boxes of muskets, many casks of lead shot and gunpowder, some ceramic hand grenades, and several sword handles. There were also items for trade with the local people: thousands of blue, white, and black glass beads, brass finger rings with Catholic religious symbols, brass pins, brass hawk bells, wooden combs, and a barrel of iron axe heads. Tools and supplies for the colonists, such as smelting crucibles, a cooper's plane, a shovel, rope, and long bars of iron stock, were also recovered, as were a wide variety of ship's hardware and rigging components. One complete human skeleton was found, a middle-aged male with signs of arthritis. The hull was eventually raised and began its long conservation treatment with PEG followed by freeze-drying. The La Belle artifacts began to appear in various Texas museums in 2014, and the hull is now in the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin. One problem was that soon after the excavation of the wreck began, the French government laid claim to La Belle as a French royal warship. Since the USA accepts the principle that warships remain the property of the commissioning state, no matter where their wrecks might be, Texas had to prove Louis XIV had given the ship to La Salle. The state was unable to do this. While the French produced documents showing that Louis XIV had only loaned La Belle to the explorer. At the end of the 1990s, the US government accepted the French claim. A 2003 agreement gives ownership of the ship and its contents to the Musée National de la Marine in Paris, but day-to-day control is granted to the state of Texas for 99 years.

Although the French expedition to the Gulf of Mexico had ended badly, this did not stop France and other European powers increasing their efforts to explore and exploit the wider world. An effort that would intensify in the 18th and 19th centuries. As European ships ventured further and further across the globe, those which were wrecked left their remains in ever more distant places.

Five 18th and 19th century shipwrecks. In April 1708, Commodore Charles Wager, commander of the Royal Navy Squadron at Jamaica, passed on some good news to the Admiral Ty in London. A Spanish treasure fleet was assembling at Portobelo on the Caribbean side of Panama. It was said to be carrying 11 million pieces of eight. Wager gathered four warships and set out for Portobelo. The Spanish learned of Wager's approach and some officials advised that the treasure fleet should remain at Portobelo and not attempt to reach Cartagena on the coast of what is now Colombia. However, the fleet commander, José Fernández de Santillán, Count of Casa Alegre, eventually decided to risk the voyage to Cartagena. He had three warships, the San Jose, the San Joaquín, and the Santa Cruz, escorting 14 merchant ships. The gold and silver treasure was mostly carried in the warships, with between 7 and 11 million pesos in the San Jose, 5 million pesos in the San Joaquín, and a much smaller amount in the Santa Cruz. On the 7th of June 1708, the Spanish convoy reached the Isla de Baru and anchored. On the afternoon of the following day, Wager's four warships appeared. His flagship, the Expedition, immediately attacked the Spanish flagship San Jose. After more than an hour's fighting, the magazine of the San Jose suddenly exploded, sinking the ship and killing all but 11 of the 600 people on board. The San Joaquín had fled the scene of action, but during the night, Wager captured the Santa Cruz after a brief fight. On board were 13 chests of silver coins and 14 silver ingots, said to be worth a total of £60,000. Wager's share of this treasure would make him a wealthy man, but it was only a small sum in comparison with the vast treasure lost when the San Jose exploded and sank. On the morning of the 9th of June, the San Joaquín was in sight, trying to reach Cartagena. Wager sent two of his vessels to capture the Spanish treasure ship. But after a short exchange of fire, the ship escaped into Cartagena Harbor. Wager would later insist on court martials for his two captains who had failed to take the San Joaquín, believing they had made insufficient efforts to capture the enemy vessel. Wager is said to have remarked, "A man who will not fight for treasure will not fight for anything."

The wreck of the San Jose lay in 2,000 ft (610 m) of water, well beyond the possibility of salvage in the 18th century. Only in the late 20th century did treasure hunters begin to take an interest in the possibility of recovering the lost treasure. In the 1980s, the American company Sea Search Armada (SSA) claimed to have found the wreck, but the Colombian government refused to allow it to attempt a recovery in a dispute over the terms of a salvage contract. SSA sued the government in the Colombian courts, and the case dragged on for years. In 2007, the Supreme Court of Colombia ruled that any treasure found should be divided equally between SSA and the government. However, in the meantime, the Colombian government had declared its sole ownership of the wreck. In late 2015, the Colombian government claimed that it had discovered the true site of the wreck of the San Jose using the Remus 6000 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), operated by employees of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the American body that had been involved in finding the wreck of the Titanic. Photographs were released that showed bronze cannons engraved with dolphins, which were said to identify the wreck as the San Jose. Estimates of the potential value of the treasure that might be recovered rapidly escalated, reaching a peak of $18 billion, which would make the San Jose the richest shipwreck ever found. In 2019, the Colombian government signed a recovery contract with a salvage firm, only to stop the recovery process soon afterwards in a dispute over contract terms. SSA continues to sue the Colombian government, claiming a share of the wreck, while the government of Spain has also filed suit to recover its lost treasure. At the time of writing, no gold or silver is known to have been recovered from the wreck site of the San Jose.

Wager stopped the 1708 treasure fleet from reaching Spain. In fact, during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701 to 1714), very few treasure ships successfully completed the voyage from the Americas to Spain. This meant that a substantial backlog of treasure built up in Spain's American Empire. Once the war was over, a fleet was collected at Havana, Cuba, to carry this accumulated wealth across the Atlantic Ocean. On the 24th of July, 1715, a convoy of 12 ships under the overall command of Captain General Juan Esteban de Ubiña sailed from Havana. They were said to be carrying more than 12 million pesos worth of registered and contraband treasure. Six days later, off the east coast of Florida, the convoy was struck by a hurricane. One ship escaped destruction. Three sank at sea, and the remainder were wrecked at various points along the Florida coastline. More than a thousand people were drowned, including Ubiña, but a similar number made it ashore, although some died later. Salvaged boats were sent to alert the Spanish authorities to the disaster. One went north to the Spanish outpost at St. Augustine, Florida, and another went south to return to Havana. The Spanish authorities soon dispatched vessels to rescue the survivors and begin salvaging treasure from the wrecks along the Florida coast. By the end of the year, much gold and silver had been recovered, although some was lost when pirates raided the salvage workers' camp. Then, winter storms covered the wrecks with sand, and further salvage was not possible.

In 1948, a building contractor named Kip Wagner was walking along the beach near Sebastian Inlet, Florida, when he found seven Spanish coins. Over the next 10 years, his beachcombing yielded hundreds of gold and silver coins. None were dated later than 1715, and they were grouped in four different areas, which seemed to indicate four different shipwrecks. The next step for Wagner was to look for coins in the waters off the beaches. And at the end of the 1950s, he assembled a group of amateur scuba divers to carry out this search. Soon they found hundreds of silver coins and wedges of solid silver on the seafloor. The divers, now formed into the Real Eight Company, worked three different wreck sites. But the richest seemed to be at Sebastian Inlet, and this was thought to be where Ubiña's flagship was wrecked. In 1963, divers from California, led by Mel Fisher, came to join Wagner's team. In May 1964, Fisher found 3,500 gold and 6,000 silver coins, some gold discs, and a number of gold chains, medallions, rings, and other pieces of jewelry. Valued at $5 million, this was the most valuable collection of treasure recovered from a shipwreck in the USA up to that time. Such a find could not be kept secret, and soon hundreds of amateur treasure seekers were descending on Florida. The Florida state authorities also began to reconsider their attitude to treasure hunting. Previously, the divers had worked under salvage contracts that gave the state 25% of the value of recoveries, with the rest going to the divers. Florida now tried to claim all treasures found in its waters, but would eventually be defeated in a long legal case. Also, there were complaints that the treasure hunters were ruining the wreck sites for proper archaeological excavation. Florida now ordered that maritime archaeologists should accompany the wreck divers in their activities, but their initial impact was limited. The Florida Treasure Rush waned in the late 1960s as far as the wrecks of the 1715 fleet were concerned. In 1969, Fisher moved south to search for the Atocha Gallion, and Wagner's Real Eight Company went out of business in 1973. However, salvage work has continued on the 1715 wreck sites up to the present day with lucrative finds being made in some years. For example, in 1993, jewelry and gold objects worth several million dollars were recovered from the so-called cabin site, including a gold pendant containing 250 diamonds. In 2015, it was claimed that gold coins worth $4.5 million had been recovered from the 1715 wreck sites. In 1987, one of the 1715 shipwrecks, said to be that of the Urca de Lima, became the first wreck in Florida's underwater archaeological preserves. Another Spanish treasure fleet was lost off the Florida Keys in 1733, but much of the treasure was salvaged.

In 1750, three ships on their way back to Spain were wrecked on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. These wrecks were some of the farthest north on the North American coast, on a similar latitude to the island of Bermuda where Spanish treasure ships were also wrecked, including the San Pedro, lost in 1594 and found by Teddy Tucker in 1955. Yet, the largest cache of Spanish coins so far recovered from a shipwreck in the Americas had nothing to do with the treasure fleets that headed home past Florida. After the end of the American War of Independence in 1783, the colony of Louisiana, then ruled by Spain, was in economic difficulties. The Spanish authorities decided to boost its prospects by redeeming all paper currency with silver coins, which would be sent from Mexico. In 1784, the ship El Cazador left Veracruz carrying 450,000 silver coins. It was bound for New Orleans. The ship never reached its destination, sinking in a storm in the Gulf of Mexico with no survivors. In August 1993, an American fishing vessel was trawling about 50 miles (80 km) south of the coast of Louisiana when its nets snagged on an obstruction. When the damaged nets were finally recovered, they were found to contain hundreds of silver coins. Although the wreck lay deep, salvage operations soon began, and in the first season, three and a half tons of coins were recovered along with other artifacts. In 1994, another 2 1/2 tons of coins were recovered. In 2002, some 15 tons of coins were brought up, as well as other objects. The Spanish treasure fleet system finally ended in 1790. Spanish merchant ships could now visit the Americas without having to join official convoys, while treasure shipments to Spain were sent in warships as and when required.

Treasure hunters have long been obsessed with finding the wrecks of Spanish ships returning from the Americas, but ships lost while outward bound from Spain have excited less interest. One of the most important items in outwardbound cargos was quicksilver, mercury. This was a vital ingredient for the smelting process which extracted silver from silver ore. In 1724, the Spanish ships Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe and Consolación de Dios sailed from Cadiz, Spain, bound for Havana, Cuba, and then on to Veracruz, Mexico, where the ships would deliver 250 tons of quicksilver to be used in the Mexican silver mines. After calling at Aguadilla in Puerto Rico, the ships reached the northeast corner of the island of Hispaniola, now in the Dominican Republic, where they were struck by a hurricane. The ships tried to ride out the storm by anchoring in Samaná Bay, but it soon became clear that their anchors would not hold. By dawn on the 24th of August, 1724, the Consolación had drifted onto a reef and been wrecked. Fewer than 40 of those on board survived, seven of whom spent a month stranded on a mast projecting out of the shark-infested waters, surviving on rainwater and the contents of any passing store barrels to stay alive. The Guadalupe ran aground on a sandbank and 500 of the 650 people on board got ashore safely. They then had to endure a 200-mile (320 km) trek through the jungle to reach Santo Domingo, where they told the authorities about the wrecks. Rescue boats were sent to Samaná Bay and found the mast-head survivors of the Consolación. Salvage operations were begun with cannons, quicksilver, and other cargo recovered from the Guadalupe. The main hull of the Consolación had now slipped into deep water and could not be reached by the salvors.

In 1976, the government of the Dominican Republic gave Karibbe Salvaged SA a license to search for the two quicksilver ships lost in Samaná Bay. The remains of the Guadalupe were soon found, but only a limited range of items had been left by the original Spanish salvors. A year later, the company went looking for the Consolación. Its wreck was found less than 8 miles (13 km) from the Guadalupe, and it yielded mercury, pearls, gold jewelry, and the well-preserved remains of the hull. Also found were intact glassware, ceramics, and pewter. All finds were divided equally between the salvors and the government of the Dominican Republic, with the latter exhibiting its share in museums in Santo Domingo. In the early 2000s, Dominican authorities, assisted by Indiana University, created an underwater museum using items recovered from the Guadalupe.

As noted earlier, the Spanish salvors of the 1715 fleet off Florida lost some of their recoveries to pirate attacks. Pirates and other scavengers were drawn to the area from all over the Caribbean and the east coast of North America. One such individual was Samuel Bellamy, a British sailor then resident in New England. Bellamy was not able to get any of the treasure from the Spanish wrecks. So he found another way to get riches by becoming a pirate himself. The 10 years after the end of the War of Spanish Succession in 1714 are often regarded as the climax of the so-called Golden Age of Piracy, which had begun with the Caribbean Buccaneers in the middle of the 17th century. One base for these pirates was New Providence (now Nassau) in the Bahamas, and one of the leaders was Benjamin Hornigold, with whom Bellamy initially served. Hornigold refused to attack British merchant ships, so his pirate crew replaced him with Bellamy, who was ready to seize the ships of any nation. In late February 1717, Bellamy, with two pirate ships, spotted a likely target in the Windward Passage between Cuba and Hispaniola. This was the Whydah Galley, recently built in London and on its maiden voyage in the triangular Atlantic trade. It had taken trade goods from England to West Africa, where they were exchanged for around 500 African slaves, as well as gold, including jewelry, and ivory. The slaves were sold in the Caribbean, and products such as sugar, indigo, rum, and logwood were loaded for the voyage back to England. Then the ship ran into Bellamy. After a three-day chase, the pirates eventually caught up with the Whydah and forced it to surrender. Bellamy decided to take the new prize as his own ship. Additional cannons were put on board the Whydah along with a pirate crew of 150 men. Bellamy then set off northwards, apparently bound for New England, and captured further merchant ships along the way. At some point, Bellamy took even more cannons aboard his ship, either to provide ballast or to be available to rearm captured ships. On the night of the 26th of April, 1717, Bellamy ran into a severe storm off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and the Whydah was wrecked near Wellfleet on the Cape. Bellamy and nearly all his crew were drowned, with only two survivors, and an estimated 4 1/2 tons of gold and silver along with 60 cannons went to the bottom. Hearing of the shipwreck, the governor of Massachusetts sent Captain Cyprian Southack to collect any valuable salvage, but he found that the local people had already plundered whatever wreckage had reached the shore. Most of the remains of the Whydah soon disappeared beneath the sands off Cape Cod. The ship was gone, but Southack, who was also a cartographer, later noted the place where it was wrecked on a map of Cape Cod. More than 250 years later, this map helped treasure hunter Barry Clifford in his search for the lost ship. He found what he believed was the wreck in 1984, and this identification was confirmed the following year when a ship's bell inscribed The Whydah Galley 1716 was brought up. This was the first ever pirate shipwreck found whose identity had been proved beyond doubt. Quantities of gold and silver coins and other items were found. But unlike other treasure hunters, Clifford decided to keep most of the recoveries together rather than sell them off piecemeal. He had his own conservation laboratory to preserve items and his own museum in Provincetown on Cape Cod in which to display them. A traveling exhibition was also put together and went around the USA.

One of Bellamy's pirate contemporaries was Edward Thatch or Teach, who became much more famous under the name Blackbeard. He was another associate of Hornigold who later went out on his own. On the 28th of November 1717, Blackbeard captured a French slave ship called La Concorde near the island of Saint Vincent in the West Indies. Having sold the slaves, Blackbeard decided to make the prize his new flagship, boosting its armament to 40 cannons and renaming it Queen Anne's Revenge. The origins of the name are unclear. Possibly Blackbeard had Jacobite sympathies and was commemorating Queen Anne, last of the Stuart monarchs, and opposing the new Hanoverian rulers of Britain. Blackbeard moved north along the eastern seaboard of North America in the following year. And in May 1718, his pirate squadron blockaded Charleston, South Carolina, demanding ransom and supplies, including a medical chest. British authorities now offered pardons to pirates who would give up their evil ways, and this offer appealed to Blackbeard. On the 10th of June 1718, his ship Queen Anne's Revenge ran aground when entering Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina. It seemed like an accident, but some historians have claimed it may have been deliberate. In this scenario, Blackbeard wrecked his own ship so that he could break up his pirate band, keep more of the loot for himself, and then accept a pardon. Before the Queen Anne's Revenge sank, Blackbeard moved much of its contents to another vessel and then sailed away and obtained his pardon. However, the lure of piracy was too strong, and Blackbeard soon returned to his old ways. In November 1718, British warships found his pirate ship in Ocracoke Inlet, North Carolina, and Blackbeard was killed in the ensuing battle.

In 1996, a private company, Intersal, was surveying waters off the coast of North Carolina, looking for one of the Spanish treasure ships wrecked there in 1750. The searchers found a wreck, but it was not Spanish. It seemed more likely to be Blackbeard's pirate ship, Queen Anne's Revenge, and over the next few years, artifacts were brought up, including many cannons. In 1998, Intersal reached an agreement with the state of North Carolina about excavating and exploiting the wreck. Although there was still no definite identification of the wreck as Blackbeard's ship, the wreck site was placed on the US Register of Historic Places in 2004. Thousands of artifacts have been brought up during the excavations. The wreck clearly has too many cannons for a merchant ship of its size, and depth markings on part of the stern seem to be made in French foot measurements, indicating the ship's French origins. Other items, such as coins and jewelry pieces, dated from the period 1700 to 1715. The balance of probability is now that this is Blackbeard's ship. And in 2011, the state of North Carolina formally accepted that the wreck is indeed Queen Anne's Revenge. Unfortunately, legal disputes between the state and the salvage company caused recoveries to cease in 2015.

Both the Whydah Galley and the Queen Anne's Revenge were captured slave ships that were turned into pirate vessels. Little evidence of their earlier slaving activities remained in the wrecks. So far, only one shipwreck has been found that yielded clear evidence of having transported African slaves. In 1972, divers working for Mel Fisher in his search for the Atocha Gallion west of the Florida Keys came across the remains of an old shipwreck. Two anchors and a cannon were found on the first visit. The divers returned the following year and found other items, including billows, iron shackles that were used to restrain slaves. Once it was realized that this was a slave ship rather than a treasure ship, the fines were raised and the divers left the site. Between 1983 and 1985, Henry Taylor, working as a subcontractor for Fisher's company, excavated the wreck site with the assistance of the archaeologist David Moore. The lost ship was identified when a bronze ship's bell inscribed The Henrietta Marie 1699 was found. The date on the bell probably represents a refitting of the ship, since it is known to have made a voyage from England to West Africa, then to Barbados and back to England in 1697 to 1698. In 1699, the ship set out on its second triangular voyage, going first to New Calabar on the Guinea coast of West Africa. Although it was a ship of only around 120 tons, the Henrietta Marie loaded around 200 slaves. The slaves were sold at Jamaica in May 1700, and then a cargo such as sugar, cotton, and dyewoods was loaded for the return voyage to England. After passing through the Yucatán Channel to round the western end of Cuba, the ship was then wrecked on New Ground Reef near the Marquesas Keys, approximately 35 miles (56 km) west of Key West, Florida. There were no survivors. The wreck of the Henrietta Marie has yielded more than 7,000 objects and more than 30,000 glass beads, the largest collection of artifacts known from a slave ship. Parts for more than 80 billows were found, and since each set restrained two slaves, that means at least 160 Africans were held on board. Items found included trade goods, such as the beads left over from bargaining for captives, items acquired in Africa other than slaves, including an elephant tusk, and gear belonging to the ship and crew. Some parts of the ship's hull have survived. Two copper cauldrons were found on the wreck site. The largest was probably used to prepare a mush or gruel to feed the slaves. Since it was not needed on the voyage back to England, it was being used to store chains. The smaller cauldron was divided into two chambers and was probably used to prepare food for the crew. In 1993, the National Association of Black Scuba Divers left a memorial plaque on the wreck site to commemorate the sufferings of the African victims of the transatlantic slave trade. In 1995, the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key West prepared an exhibition about the slave ship and the slave trade, which toured the USA for a decade. A new exhibition went on tour in 2019.

If Spanish treasure ships remained one target for those looking to recover riches from the bottom of the sea, East Indiamen also continued to attract treasure hunters. However, these salvors were now usually acting under contract to the companies that owned the lost ships and could expect only a negotiated share of the spoils. Diving bells continued to be a popular means of carrying out salvage operations. But in the first half of the 18th century, so-called barrel divers enjoyed a period of popularity. These were men who literally went underwater inside strengthened barrels with a glass vision slit near the top and holes through which their arms protruded so that they could gather up salvaged items. The air inside the barrel would usually only last 30 minutes. After that, the diver would have to return to the surface to put fresh air inside his barrel. Barrel divers could rarely go more than 60 ft (18 m) deep. Nevertheless, they were to enjoy some success. In 1715, John Lethbridge invented a barrel diving apparatus. In 1720, he met Captain Jacob Rowe, who had patented a somewhat similar apparatus made of metal rather than wood. Rowe secured a contract from England's East India Company to salvage its ship Vlissingen, which had been wrecked on the island of Mayotte on the Cape Verde Islands in 1719. The ship had been outward bound on its maiden voyage, carrying silver bars and coins worth £40,000. Rowe apparently took Lethbridge on the salvage expedition in 1721, and they enjoyed considerable success in their operations. Half of the silver was recovered along with 868 slabs of lead, 64 iron guns, and 11 anchors. In all, goods worth over $20,000 were brought back to England. Although this was less than a tenth of the fortune Fips had recovered from the Conception in 1687, it was much more than any English treasure hunting expedition had recovered from a wreck in the intervening 35 years. After this success, Rowe and Lethbridge had a disagreement and went their separate ways.

Lethbridge went to work for the Dutch East India Company (the VOC). In the early 18th century, this company sent twice as many ships east as the English East India Company and six or seven times as many as the French company. In 1724, the VOC dispatched the Slot ter Hooge on a voyage from the Netherlands to Batavia in Java. The ship carried four tons of silver ingots and four chests of silver coins. Its voyage proved to be short, with the ship being wrecked on the small island of Porto Santo, some 40 miles (64 km) northeast of Madeira. Only 33 of the 254 people on board survived. Lethbridge carried out salvage work on the wreck in 1725 and 1726, recovering half the treasure. This was despite the fact that the wreck lay in 60 ft (18 m) of water, at the outer limit for barrel divers. Pleased with Lethbridge's success, the VOC next sent him to South Africa. In 1722, a storm had sunk 11 ships in Table Bay, six of which belonged to the VOC. Lethbridge worked on some of the wreck sites between 1727 and 1729, but after some initial recoveries of silver bars and coins, finds became less common. In the mid-1730s, Lethbridge went to the Cape Verde Islands to work on another VOC wreck, and since he was in the area, he did further work on the Vlissingen. Much to his delight and that of the English East India Company, Lethbridge brought up more silver from the wreck. In 1736, Lethbridge had a plaque made with an inscription which said that during the past 20 years, he had dived on the wrecks of four English men-of-war, an English East Indiaman, two Dutch men-of-war, five Dutch East Indiamen, two Spanish galleons, and two London galleys, on many of them with good success. In 1743, the VOC lured Lethbridge out of retirement to try to recover treasure from the Hollandia, one of their ships which had recently been lost on the Isles of Scilly. Lethbridge mounted a salvage operation, but was unsuccessful. When the wreck was found in 1971, it lay at least 100 ft (30 m) down, too deep for a barrel diver.

After his split with Lethbridge, Captain Rowe had gone to the Caribbean in 1722 to 1723 looking for wrecks, probably the ships lost in the 1715 Spanish fleet disaster on the coast of Florida. He had no success and gave up treasure hunting for a few years. In 1727, Rowe was hired to look for the supposed treasure in the Spanish Armada ship that was wrecked on Fair Isle, north of Scotland. He worked on the wreck site in the summer of 1728, but found nothing of value. Then he received an offer to work on a VOC ship that had recently been wrecked off Western Scotland. Some VOC ships sailed outward via the English Channel, but others used the route that passed north of the British Isles. One such was the Aethelred, but it ran into a storm and in March 1728 was wrecked on the island of Barra at the southern end of Scotland's Outer Hebrides. None of the more than 200 people on board survived. Like most outwardbound East Indiamen, the Aethelred had been carrying silver bars and coins, which a Scottish syndicate now sought to recover. Rowe was hired to dive on the wreck and in just 4 days in September 1728 his associate William Evans and another diver brought up £20,000 worth of silver. In the end, most of the treasure was recovered. However, the VOC had sued in the Scottish courts for the return of its treasure and won a favorable judgment in 1729. The silver was not finally returned until 1732, with payment for the salvage work deducted.

In the summer of 1729, Rowe had set out on a new treasure hunt in Scotland. This time searching for the supposed riches in the Spanish Armada wreck at Tobermory on the island of Mull. He spent two years on a very thorough and destructive excavation of the wreck hull, but found little of value. Despite this, fantasies about the Tobermory treasure would lure other salvors to the wreck site for the next 250 years. After 1731, Rowe seems to have given up barrel diving, although he may have been approached to work on the Princess Louisa, an East Indiaman wrecked on the island of Mayotte on the Cape Verde Islands in 1743. If so, he did not win the contract, while the English salvage firm that did so failed to achieve much on the wreck site. Only in the 1990s was the lost ship found and excavated by the Portuguese company Aquonotus, which recovered 60,000 silver coins, 20 cannons, three anchors, bars of iron and lead, and some ivory tusks. Barrel diving seems to have died out after 1750, with more efficient diving bells being preferred for underwater salvage.

The Braithweight family, London pump manufacturers, found a more efficient way to pump air into diving bells and decided to undertake salvage work in the 1780s. After recovering a few cannons from the wreck of HMS Royal George, lost off Portsmouth in 1782, the Braithweights moved on to Gibralar.

During the siege that had taken place in the recent American war, Spanish floating batteries had been sent against the fortress of Gibralar in 1782, only to be destroyed by the defenders. The Braithweights sent down diving bells onto the rec sites and recovered a large number of cannons. Some went to the local British authorities who passed them on as gifts to appease the rulers of the Barbarie Corsair states in North Africa.

In May 1787, the East India Hartwell left England bound for China, but Captain Edward Fiat soon found himself facing a mutiny among the crew. This was suppressed, but Fiat decided to stop off in the Cape Verde Islands to land the principal mutineers. However, owing to a navigational error, the heartwell was wrecked on the island of Boa Vista in Cape Verde. Most of those on board were saved, but silver worth 53,000 went down with the ship.

The East India Company made a contract with William Braithweight to recover the lost treasure, but the first salvage efforts in 1787 and 1788 brought up only small amounts of silver dollars. The 1789 season was more successful with silver coins worth around 20,000 pounds brought up in only two months. These salvage operations became wellknown in the Atlantic maritime community and pirate salvers came from as far away as the West Indies to try to get some of the loot.

Usually the Braithweights were escorted by a British warship during their operations, but in 1790 the warship was slow to appear, leading to the Braithweight salvage ship having to drive off a pirate salvage vessel in an exchange of cannon fire. Although some pirate solvers did manage to raise treasure from the rec site, the Braithweights recovered 5,000 silver dollars, 2,000 pigs of lead, and 47 blocks of tin during their operations in 1790.

After their successful salvage of the Hartwell, the Braithweights seem to have left the salvage business. However, after the East Indian Earl of Abbergi was wrecked near Portland on the south coast of England in 1805, John Braithweight sent a bid to the East India Company to salvage the ship and his tender was accepted. In the spring of 1806, Braithweight recovered all the silver valued at 70,000 from the wreck and then went on to recover cannons and cargo, a process that went on into 1807. It was a successful and thorough salvage operation that has left modern scuba divers little to find on the wreck site.

Treasure was the lure for salvers of East India men. But the stories of such wrecks which lived on in the popular imagination did not involve lost silver. In his short story, The Long Voyage, published in 1853, Charles Dickens mentioned a number of shipwrecks of which two involved East India men. Both wrecks took place in the 1780s, yet they were still remembered more than half a century later.

The first was the wreck of the Grovener, which was returning from India when it was wrecked off the coast of Pondand, South Africa. On the 2nd of August 1782, the ship was thought to be at least 200 m, 320 km off the South African coast. But Captain John Coxin was guilty of serious navigational errors. In fact, the Groner was near land and soon ran ground before being driven ashore and broken into pieces.

The survivors, 17 passengers and 70 crew, looked to Coxin to lead them to safety, but his navigation was no better on land than it was at sea. Believing the Dutch settlement at Cape Town was only 250 mi, 400 km away, he led the survivors on a trek towards it. In fact, Cape Town was 400 m, 650 km away. Most of the survivors died of starvation and only 18 reached Cape Town.

Several sailors had taken refuge with local tribal groups and survived. Europeans were uneasy that some white women from the wreck had also taken refuge with the tribes. And several years later, a Dutch expedition found three white women in an African settlement, two of whom were alleged to have come from the Groner. Despite the usual stories, modern divers have found no treasure on the wreck side of the Groner.

The other wreck mentioned by Dickens was that of the Hallwell. In late 1785, the ship commanded by Captain Pierce sailed from London with more than 240 passengers, troops, and crew on board. Among the passengers were Captain Pierce's two daughters, and the captain intended to retire after this voyage.

In early January 1786, the ship entered the English Channel at the start of its voyage to India, but almost immediately ran into bad weather. It began to take on water, and several masts went over the side. On the evening of the 5th of January, the Hallwell was being driven towards the southern coast of England, with St. Albin's Head on the coast of Dorset in sight. Anchors were put down, but they did not hold for long. Early on the morning of the 6th of January, the ship was wrecked between Peveral Point and St. Alban's Head.

Captain Pierce remained with his daughters, and they were drowned along with most of the officers and passengers. There were 74 survivors, mostly sailors and soldiers. King George III later came to visit the site of the wreck. This pathetic tale of self-sacrifice was quickly immortalized in a number of paintings and prints. Even in Victorian times, the story of the lost captain and his daughters had an appeal that transcended thoughts of treasure.

Of course, Spanish treasure ships and the rich East India men made up only a small proportion of shipwrecks in the 18th century. Fishing boats and ordinary merchant ships made up most of the lost vessels, and their anonymous remains dot the seafloor. Only occasionally can the story of an ordinary merchant vessel lost in a shipwreck be told in any detail.

One such is the General Carlton of Whitby, England, which was wrecked on what is now the Baltic coast of Poland in 1785. The ship had been built at Whitby in 1777 and was named after the British general who had repulsed the American invasion of Canada in the previous year. The ship was similar in design to the Ural of Pembroke, the Whitby built ship that became Captain James Cook's exploration ship HMS Endeavor. The General Carlton was intended for the Baltic trade, bringing timber, tar, iron, and other products from that area to England.

In 1779, the General Carlton was probably in the convoy returning from the Baltic under the escort of the frigot HMS Cerapus. The convoy was intercepted off Flambor ahead in September 1779 by a Franco-American squadron under the American naval commander John Paul Jones. The merchant ships escaped the attackers, but the Serapus was captured by Jones just as his own ship, the Bonom Richard, sank. A recent Franco American expedition claims to have found what may be its wreck.

In 1780, the General Carlton was taken into government service, but remained on its old route, now carrying timber from the Baltic to the naval dockyards at Depford and Portsmouth. In 1782, the ship went in a convoy to Jamaica and on its return voyage in January 1783 was lucky to survive a severe storm in the North Atlantic. With the end of the American War in 1783, the General Carlton left government service as a transport. In 1784, it made voyages to Norway and in the following year to Baltic ports.

In September 1785, the General Carlton was at Stockholm in Sweden, where it loaded a cargo of iron bars and barrels of pine tar, apparently bound for London. Heading south in the Baltic Sea, the ship encountered a severe storm. The captain, William Hustler, decided to seek shelter in the Bay of Dansik. But on the 27th of September, 1785, his ship was driven ashore and wrecked on the coast of Pomerania. Of the 18 men on board the ship, some survived and some perished, although the numbers in each category are unclear, but it is known that Hustler himself was drowned.

In the mid 1990s, sports divers found a wreck off the coastal village of Depki in Poland and notified the Polish Maritime Museum in Gdinsk, formerly Dansik. Balar Oski led a team to examine the wreck. One of the first items recovered was the ship's bell inscribed General Carlton of Whitby 1777. In 1995 and 1996, the Polish team brought up more than 700 artifacts from the rec site. Many were in surprisingly good condition, preserved by Baltic seawater and a layer of sand and tar from the cargo spread across the remains of the ship.

Of particular interest was a unique collection of 18th century seaman's clothes, including shoes, stockings, britches, jackets, gloves, and hats. Among the latter was a round woolen hat in almost perfect condition, saved that the bands of colored wool had faded after more than two centuries on the seabed. Some of the stockings were probably made in the ship's home county of Yorkshire, while a pair of mittens were made in a style peculiar to Latvia, suggesting purchase in the port of Ria. A collection of pewtor buckles may have been the master's personal trade goods intended for sale in London.

Other items recovered included a metal fire hearth stove on which the crews meals were cooked and a number of fire blackened chamber pots which seemed to have been used as makeshift cooking containers. In wartime the ship had carried up to 10 cannons and although these were removed at the piece some swivel guns were still carried one of which was recovered. Firearms were also found, including a fine blunderb pistol, which probably belonged to Captain Hustler. Some paper items have survived, including the remains of a protection certificate against being seized by the Royal Navy's press gangs in wartime. This was inside a tin container, but its cover is missing, as is the part of the document giving the seaman's name. Even several years after the end of the American War, one seaman was still keeping it with him.

As the years passed, local people came to believe that the lost ship had not been carrying a mundane cargo of iron and tar, but was transporting treasure for Katherine the Great of Russia. This was clearly a myth, but such a treasure ship had been lost in the Baltic Sea some years before the General Carlton came to grief.

In 1771, the collection of a deceased Dutch merchant and art collector was auctioned at Amsterdam. Agents forina Catherine bought a number of paintings and may have purchased other valuable art objects. The purchased items were to be shipped to St. Petersburg, Russia in the Dutch vessel Fra Maria, a regular trader between Amsterdam and the Russian capital.

At the beginning of October 1771, the Dutch ship reached the southwestern coast of Finland, which was then ruled by Sweden, and ran onto a reef. The vessel was refloated, but seemed to be sinking. Some of the cargo was salvaged, but soon afterwards the ship sank, taking Catherine's paintings and other treasures to the bottom. Russian government officials demanded that the Swedes immediately salvaged the vessel, but the onset of winter prevented this. When the Swedes searched for the wreck in 1772, they could not find it. Only in 1999 was it discovered with the hull still in excellent condition. A few items were brought up to confirm the identity of the lost ship, but since then the Finnish authorities have not permitted further work on the rec site.

The 18th century saw the rise of Britain's Royal Navy to world maritime dominance, but although it engaged in frequent wars with its foreign rivals, its ships were always in more danger from storms at sea than enemy cannons. In late November 1703, one of the worst storms ever to hit the British Isles took place. More than a dozen Royal Navy ships were lost, as well as more than 40 merchant ships, with hundreds of seaman drowned.

Several of the ships lost had been anchored in the Downs, the anchorage between the Kent Coast and the offshore Goodwin Sands. Five ships were driven onto the Goodwin Sands and wrecked. HMS Restoration, 70 guns with all 387 men on board lost. HMS North umberland, 70 guns with all 220 on board lost. HMS Sterling Castle, 70 guns with 206 lost and 70 saved. HMS Mary, 60 guns with 268 lost, including Admiral Basil Bowmont and only one survivor. and the bomb vessel HMS Mortar with all 65 on board lost. Some sources say the mortar was wrecked on the Dutch coast. In all, more than 1,000 lives were lost in this one area.

The wreck site of the Sterling Castle was found in 1979 when Shifting Sands uncovered the ship's remains. Some 200 artifacts were raised, including a bronze Dutch cannon cast in 1629, which probably came into English hands during the Anglo Dutch Wars of the 17th century. In 1980, moving sands rearied the wreck, and it did not reappear until 1998. Excavations took place in the following years with the deteriorating state of the wreck's hull adding to the urgency. In 2000, a cannon still attached to its wooden carriage was found. And in 2002, evidence was uncovered that the ship may have had a steering wheel instead of a whip staff, as such wheels were being introduced at the time of the ship's loss.

A wreck thought to be the North umberland was found in 1980. The discovery of the ship's bell, dated 1701, and pewtor plates marked JG and thought to belong to the ship's captain, James Greenway, confirmed the identity of the lost ship. Other wrecks in the vicinity may be the remains of the other ships lost on the Goodwin Sands in the Great Storm of 1703.

Admiral Bowmont was not the only English admiral thought to have been lost in the 1703 storm. HMS Association 90 Guns, the flagship of Admiral Sir Cloudsley Shovel, was driven out into the North Sea and appeared to have been lost. In fact, after narrowly avoiding being wrecked on the Dutch coast, the ship had been driven right across the North Sea and eventually reached the port of Goththingberg in Sweden. Lengthy repairs were needed before the association could return to an English port.

Admiral Shovel had avoided a fatal shipwreck in 1703, but he would be less lucky. Four years later, in late September 1707, a British fleet returning from the Mediterranean left Gibralar. There were 15 ships under Admiral Shovel, still in HMS Association, and the fleet encountered bad weather for most of their voyage north.

On the 21st of October, the fleet came into soundings, that is, depth soundings showed that they were moving into the shallower waters of the continental shelf in the western approaches to the English Channel. A break in the weather allowed calculation of latitude, and observations appeared to show the fleet was 200 m, 320 km, west southwest of the Isisles of Silly. Then bad weather closed in once more, and the fleet could only proceed on an estimated course.

On the evening of the 22nd of October, 1707, Shovel's fleet suddenly found itself among reefs off the island of St. Agnes in the aisles of Silly, and the ships began to run ground. Some got off again, but four were lost. Shuffle's flagship HMS association in which all aboard probably 800 people died. HMS Eagle 70 guns in which a similar number all died. HMS Romney 50 guns in which 290 died and there was only a single survivor. And the fire ship HMS Firebrand in which 28 of 40 crew were lost. In all, between 1,400 and more than 2,000 men were lost in a naval disaster to match that on the Goodwin Sands in 1703. The principal causes were bad navigation and defective compasses.

Shovel's body was recovered and at the insistence of Queen Anne was buried in Westminster Abbey. Royal Navy divers found the wreck of HMS Association in 1967, and various items were recovered from it over the next few diving seasons, including more than 2,000 coins. The finds were auctioned off at sales in 1969 and 1970, with what was claimed to be Admiral Shovel's chamber pot fetching 270. The dispersal of the artifacts found on the association wreck site was a serious concern for maritime archaeologists and it was one of the factors leading to the passage of the UK's protection of wrecks act in 1973. The wreck of HMS Firebrand was found in 1982 and items brought up included guns, anchors, and the ship's bell. The wreck site of the eagle is said to be known, but the Romney remains elusive. It has been suggested that it has been covered by wreckage from a later disaster, the sinking of the German passenger ship Schiller in 1875 when 335 people died.

Another British admiral to lose his life in a shipwreck was Admiral Sir John Balcon in 1744. His flagship HMS Victory, 100 guns built 1737, sank in a storm in 1744 in the English Channel while returning from Portugal. Everyone on board, more than 1,000 men, perished, making this the largest loss from one Royal Navy ship before the World Wars of the 20th century. It was long thought the ship was lost to the north of the Channel Islands, but when its wreck was finally found in 2008, it lay more than 60 mi, 96 km, away in the English Channel.

One of the reasons for the loss of the Victory in 1744 was said to have been the heavy hull construction used in the building of Royal Navy ships in the 1730s. French and Spanish ship builders produced better designs for their navies and it was a French warship captured in 1747 Leon that was said to be one of the models for the British ship that would become the backbone of the Royal Navy for almost the next hundred years. Leon was built at Roshford in 1744 to a new design for a large seaorthy 74 gun ship. In 1747, the ship was captured by the British at the first battle of Cape Finister. On inspection, the vessel impressed its capttors, and the construction of two copies began at British shipyards. However, the War of the Austrian Succession came to an end in 1748, and the orders were cancelled.

Only in 1757, in the early years of the Seven Years War, did the Royal Navy order the construction of copies of what was now HMS Invincible, beginning production of a long line of similar 74 gun ships. The Invincible itself was lost to shipwreck soon afterwards. In February 1758, it was part of a squadron assembled at Portsmouth and about to sail for North America. The ship ran onto a sandbank, hold itself on its own anchor, and then sank. Many guns and other items were salvaged soon after the loss, but afterwards the wreck site in the Solent was soon forgotten. A fisherman found the wreck in 1979, and excavations took place during the 1980s. Much of the ship's stores were found to be still intact.

Artifacts recovered included rigging blocks, lines, bosen's tools and stores, navigational instruments, and the mess kits of the crew. The latter included the square wooden platters from which the crew ate, which gave rise to the expression, a square meal. Some 50 intact barrels of gunpowder were found along with a number of tampions used to plug the mouths of cannons to keep moisture out. Wooden cartridge cases loaded with charges of gunpowder were also found along with a 14 ft 4.2 meter roll of slow match, a fuse used to fire the cannons covered with red wool and with a feed hole so gunners could pull out a length.

Details of the whole construction of the invincible showed some of the advances in French ship building in the mid- 18th century. Wood had been replaced by iron for fittings such as braces and knees that supported the heavy weight of the gun decks. In addition, some of the iron knees had a nut that could be tightened if the knee worked loose because of heavy seas or vibration from gunfire.

In the year after the loss of the invincible, Admiral Sir Edward Hawk inflicted a major defeat on the French fleet of Admiral Conflon Bay on the northwest coast of France. It was late in the year, November 1759, and Conflon took his ships into Kberon Bay in the hope that stormy seas and the bay's many reefs would discourage a pursuit by Hawk. The British admiral was undaunted and followed the French. In the ensuing action, half a dozen French ships were captured or destroyed. However, after the battle was over, two of Hawk's ships of the line were wrecked. They were a contrasting pair. HMS Resolution 74 guns had only been built in 1758, while HMS Essex 64 guns had originally been built in 1679, but had been rebuilt several times in the following 80 years. The two wrecked ships were burned when Hawk withdrew from the bay. Once again, shipwreck had been more dangerous to the ships of the Royal Navy than their enemies.

Hawk's flagship at the Battle of Kberon Bay was the first rate HMS Royal George 100 guns built 1756. Like most large warships, it had been laid up after the war ended in 1763. It was only in 1777, after the start of the American War of Independence, that the ship was reactivated and became an admiral's flagship once more. In August 1782, that admiral was Richard Kempenfeld. His ship was anchored in the Soent off Portsouth as part of a fleet under Admiral Lord How, which was about to set off to take supplies to the besieged fortress of Gibralar.

On the morning of the 29th of August, 1782, the Royal George had nearly all its crew of 800 men on board, as well as hundreds of other people, including prostitutes, traders, selling goods to the crew, and the wives and children of sailors. These additional people would be put ashore once the ship had orders to sail. The ship was being healed over to port so that repairs could be carried out on the starboard side of the ship's hull. to obtain the required list, cannons on the starboard side had been moved to the center of the ship.

While this process was going on, a barge came along the low port side and began to transfer casks of rum onto the ship. This further destabilized the ship and water began to slop into its open lower gunports. The ship's carpenter became concerned about the increasing list and asked the officer of the watch to take action. After that officer refused to do so twice, the carpenter went directly to the ship's captain, Martin Wagghorn, who agreed to take action to restore the ship's stability. However, it was too late. The Royal George began to capsize. For a moment, the rum barge halted its progress, but then the barge was pushed underwater by the sinking ship.

Around 900 people drowned in the sinking of the Royal George, including 300 women and 60 children. Some 255 people were saved, including 11 women and one child. Admiral Kempenfeld was among those who drowned, but Captain Wagghorn survived. At the court of inquiry into the loss, it was decided not to blame the crew. Instead, it was alleged that the ship's hull was in poor condition and suffered constructional collapse when the Royal George was healed over.

For several years after the disaster, efforts were made to salvage the Royal George. A number of cannons were brought up, but a plan to raise the ship itself was soon abandoned. The wreck was not entirely forgotten, as it still contained many cannons and posed a hazard to navigation. However, it was not until the 1830s that any action was taken. Brothers Charles and John Dean, using the first airpumped diving helmet, which began a century of hard hat diving, started work in 1834. Over the next two years, they recovered 40 bronze and iron cannons, for which they received salvage payments from the Board of Ordinance.

During these operations, local fishermen asked John Dean to look at an obstruction that kept snagging their nets. He found the remains of the Mary Rose lost in 1545 and brought up some artifacts. In 1839, Colonel Paisley of the Royal Engineers was ordered to complete the removal of the wreck of the Royal George. Over several years, he smashed up the hull with explosives, recovered another 30 cannons, and found other items, including the surgeon's brass instruments. By 1843, the whole of the keel and bottom timbers of the ship had been raised, and the site was declared clear.

The Royal George was the most famous ship lost by the Royal Navy during the American War of Independence. But in terms of numbers of ships that perished, the hurricanes of 1780 and 1782 inflicted worse damage. In October 1780, a series of storms swept across the islands of the Caribbean and are said to have killed more than 20,000 people. The British naval squadrons in the area suffered significant losses with two ships of the line, six frigots, and three Brig sloops sunk and other ships badly damaged.

There were few survivors from the lost ships. When the frigots HMS Laurel and HMS Andromeda were wrecked near Martinique, their few survivors were captured by the French. Since they were victims of storms rather than the operations of war, the marquee deu insisted on returning them to his British opponents. As the French and the Spanish also suffered losses in the hurricanes, the sinking of so many Royal Navy ships did not seriously affect the naval balance of power in the Caribbean.

As a generally unsuccessful war for Britain drew to a close in 1782, Admiral Sir George Rodney won back some glory by defeating the French fleet of Admiral Degrasse in April near the scents, small islands between Martineique and Guadaloop. Degrass and his flagship Vid Deep Pari 110 guns were forced to surrender along with other French ships of the line. The captured ships were eventually taken to Jamaica and it was from there that a British convoy commanded by Admiral Sir Thomas Graves set out for England in August 1782.

The convoy consisted of the French prizes, a large number of British merchant ships, and an escort of British warships with graves using HMS Ramlles, 74 guns as his flagship. The French prizes were in poor condition, and leaks forced one to return to Jamaica and another to head for Halifax, Nova Scotia. On the 17th of September, 1782, near the Grand Banks off Newfoundland, the convoy was struck by a hurricane.

Graves's ship, the Ramlles, was soon in difficulty. Guns were thrown overboard, masts cut down, and pumping done continually for three days. But in the end, the ship could not be saved. Graves and the crew were taken off by merchant ships on the 21st of September, and the last man to leave, Captain Sylvius Mariardi, set the ship on fire. The flames soon reached the magazine, and the ship blew up. The remaining French prizes soon founded with the Vita Pagri. Degrasse was not on board, taking all but one of the 800 men on board to the bottom. Seven merchant ships also sank.

And another Royal Navy ship lost was HMS Centaur, 74 guns, under Captain John Englefield. For days, Englefield and his crew had tried to keep the Centaur afloat, but eventually it founded. Some 600 men died, but Englefield and 11 other survivors got away in a boat. They had almost no food and water and had to rig up a blanket as a sail. After 16 days a drift, the boat eventually reached the island of Fel in the Azors with only one of the survivors having died during the voyage. At a court marshal in 1783, Engelfield was acquitted of any negligence in the loss of his ship. Some years later, he would be sitting as a judge on another naval court marshal to try the mutineers from HMS Bounty.

Another story in which shipwreck played an important part. In 1789, the armed ship HMS Bounty arrived in Tahiti in the South Pacific to pick up a cargo of breadf fruit plants, which had been suggested as a new food for slaves in the Caribbean. Loaded with the plants, the ship departed Tahiti. But the lure of the pleasures enjoyed on that island proved too much for some of the crew. Led by Fletcher Christian, the men mutinied and set Captain William Bllye and some loyal sailors a drift in an open boat before returning to Tahiti.

Fortunately, Bllye had been given navigational instruments and some supplies. In an epic 47-day voyage, he navigated his boat 3,618 nautical miles, 6,700 km, to the Dutch outpost on Teamer. Bllye returned to England, and the Admiral Ty immediately ordered the frigot HMS, captained by Edward Edwards, to go to the Pacific and hunt down the mutineers. Midshipman Thomas Hayward, who had endured the longboat journey with Bllye, was sent with Edwards to identify them.

Reaching Tahiti in March 1791, Edwards rounded up 14 mutineers, but there was no sign of Christian, the other mutineers, or the bounty. Christian and the other mutineers, along with some Tahesian men and women, had gone to settle on the remote Pit Karen Island, burning the Bounty after all stores were unloaded. The wreck was found in 1957.

Leaving Tahiti in May, Edwards then spent three months scouring the islands of the Southwest Pacific for the remaining mutineers, but did not find them. At one point, the Pandora passed the island of Anikoro, and what appeared to be smoke signals were seen. Assuming the mutineers would not want to advertise their presence, Edwards ignored them. If he had gone to investigate, he might have solved the mystery of a missing French expedition. In 1788, the K de Laaruse was exploring the Pacific. After he visited the new British penal colony in Australia, he and his two ships were never seen again. They had been wrecked on Vanikoro in a storm, and there were some survivors who later died. It is just possible there were still a few alive on the island when Edwards passed by. The wrecks of the French ships were finally found in 1826.

Finally, Edwards gave up his quest and headed westwards on his homeward voyage. On the 29th of August, 1791, the Pandora ran a ground on the Great Barrier Reef off Northeast Australia. The frigot sank the following day, claiming 35 lives, 31 crew, and four mutineers. Around 100 men survived, including 10 mutineers. Captain Edwards led them on a long ocean voyage in four open boats, finally reaching Teamer in midepptember.

When the mutineers finally reached England, four were acquitted at the court marshall and six were found guilty of mutiny, although only three were hanged. Thomas Hayward eventually got back to England in September 1792. Promoted to lieutenant, he joined the frigot HMS Damede and in August 1795 that ship was wrecked off the coast of Salon, now Sri Lanka. But all the crew survived. In 1796, Hayward became commander of the Brigloop HMS Swift. And in 1797, he was on route from Macau, China to England with a convoy of merchant ships when the fleet was hit by a typhoon in the South China Sea. The Swift was lost with no survivors. Hayward was 29 years old and in his short life had survived a mutiny, two historic open boat voyages, and two shipwrecks before perishing in a third.

As for the Pandora, the wreck was found by Australian searchers in November 1977 and was soon declared a protected site under Australia's Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976. Unlike most wrecks on the Great Barrier Reef, the Pandora had sunk largely intact, and some 30% of the hull was found intact beneath a covering of sand. It is one of the best preserved old shipwrecks in Australian waters. The Queensland Museum excavated the wreck on nine occasions between 1983 and 1999, bringing up hundreds of artifacts. This is the most thorough archaeological excavation of an Australian shipwreck that has yet been achieved.

From 1793, Britain was at war with revolutionary and then Napoleonic France for more than 20 years, except for a short period in 1802 to 1803. During this long struggle, the Royal Navy lost 33 ships of the line, ships of 64 guns or more, almost 2/3, 21 ships of which were wrecked or foundering at sea. One loss which had an interesting consequence was that of the second rate HMS impregnable, 98 guns in 1799. The ship was heading for Portsmouth, and in his determination to reach that port as soon as possible, the sailing master ran the impregnable onto Chichister Scholes on the south coast of England. Wave action drove the ship even further onto the shores, and it was declared a total loss.

No crew perished, and the hull was stripped of all guns and stores before being sold for breaking up. To replace the impregnable by building a new ship of that size would take too long. So another solution was proposed. The first rate HMS Victory 100 guns built 1765 had been the flagship of Admiral Sir John Jervis at the Battle of Saint Vincent in 1797. But when the ship finally returned to England, it was found to be in poor condition. It was to be converted into a hospital ship for French and Spanish prisoners of war. However, after the loss of the impregnable, the Admiral Ty decided that the Victory should be completely refitted to replace the lost ship. Although repairs cost three times the original estimate, the Victory emerged as a renewed and powerful ship of the line that would be Admiral Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalogar in 1805 and still survives in Portsouth dockyard today.

The largest single loss to the Royal Navy caused by shipwreck in the French Wars took place in December 1811. Two ships of the line were returning from the Baltic when they ran into storms in the North Sea. HMS St. George, 98 guns, the flagship of Admiral Robert Reynolds, and HMS Defense, 74 guns, were wrecked on the coast of the Judand Peninsula in Denmark on Christmas Eve. The next day, HMS Hero 74 Guns was wrecked near Tissel on the Dutch coast. In the loss of these three ships of the line, just over,900 sailors died, including Admiral Reynolds. The number of dead was four times the number of British sailors killed at the Battle of Trafalogar in 1805.

Moving sands exposed the wreck of the St. George in 1981 and numerous artifacts were recovered with many now displayed in the Strandings Museum St. George at Torsminda, Denmark. Some seven of the 33 ships of the line lost in the French Wars were destroyed accidentally by fire, often leading to the explosion of the ship's magazine. In 1795, HMS Boone, 98 guns, caught fire and exploded off Portsmouth, but most of the crew were unharmed. In 1800, HMS Queen Charlotte, 100 guns, the flagship of Admiral Lord Keith, caught fire off Levo, Italy, and was destroyed. The ship's captain and 672 members of the crew died, but fortunately, the admiral was on shore at the time of the fire.

Four British ships of the line were forced to surrender when they encountered superior French squadrons while sailing alone. Only one British ship of the line was captured in a battle between fleets. This was HMS Hannibal 74 guns, which was lost at the battle of Aljerus in 1801. Even then, however, the ship was only lost because it ran ground near Spanish gun batteries and was later forced to surrender to a French warship.

Although ships of the line were the principal units of the Royal Navy, probably the most famous wreck of a British warship during these wars against the French was that of the humble frigot HMS Luteine in 1799. Originally a French warship built in 1779, the vessel was captured during the short-lived British occupation of Tulon in 1793, it was refitted as a fifth rate frigot with 36 guns in 1795. After the French occupation of the Netherlands, much continental business moved from Amsterdam to the German port of Hamburg. In 1799, there was an economic crisis in Hamburg, and London merchants wished to ship gold and silver bars and coins to shore up the credit of the merchant houses there. The Royal Navy was asked to provide a ship to carry the precious metals, and Captain Lancelot Skinner of HMS Luteine was assigned that mission.

Officially, it was meant to carry treasure worth £140,000, but there were also private treasure shipments on board the ship carried by merchants or their agents. And it was later claimed that insurers paid out £300,000 for losses in the wreck. Although bound for Cooks Haven, the Luteine was hit by a violent storm while crossing the North Sea in October 1799 and driven towards the Dutch coast. The ship was eventually wrecked on a sandbank north of Fleand. There were only two survivors from those on board and both died soon after being rescued.

The Dutch claimed the wreck as booty of war and in 1800 and 1801 salvaged treasure said to be worth 56,000. Then the evershifting sands off the Dutch coast buried the wreck site. In 1821, the Dutch government made an agreement to allow a Dutch salver to search for the remaining treasure. It is this document that claimed that Luteine was carrying precious metals worth 1.6 million, a figure that has attracted treasure hunters ever since. The British complained about this agreement, and soon the Dutch government passed its claim to half of any treasure found to Britain. The British government in turn passed the claim to a half share to Lloyds of London which had met many of the insurance claims arising from the wreck.

The Dutch Salver's search found little sign of the wreck and it was only in 1857 that local fishermen reported that the wreck site was clear of sand. In salvage operations over the next 3 years, gold and silver bars and coins worth 44,000 were recovered. Also raised was the ship's bell, which now hangs in Lloyds of London. One mystery is that the bell is inscribed Sanjon rather than luteine. By 1860, the sands were covering the wreck site once more, but since then, many efforts have been made to recover further treasure. In the 1930s, a large dredger was brought in to work on the site, but found little. There may still be treasure remaining under the sands, but it is certain that the archaeological value of the wreck site has long since been destroyed by treasure hunters.

As Britain battled against Napoleonic France, a new conflict erupted in 1812 between Britain and the USA. This was not just conducted at sea, but on the Great Lakes of North America, where British and American squadrons sought to rest maritime control from each other. Many of the ships involved were former merchant ships that had been hastily converted into warships, and the wrecks of two such vessels, USS Hamilton and USS Scourge, have been preserved in amazingly good condition at the bottom of Lake Ontario.

The Hamilton was originally the American merchant schooner Diana purchased by the US Navy in 1812, while the Scourge was a seized Canadian merchant schooner originally named the Lord Nelson. During the winter of 1812 to 1813, the two ships were refitted to carry 8 to 10 cannons. In 1813, they were part of Isaac Chy's American squadron, disputing the control of Lake Ontario with a British naval force. Early on the morning of the 8th of August 1813, the American squadron was hit by a sudden squall and the two schooners capsized and sank very quickly. It was thought they had carried too many guns for their size and this made them unstable. Of a joint compliment of 61 officers and men in the two ships, 53 crewmen perished.

In 1973, searchers working for the Royal Ontario Museum located the T-Rex using a magnetometer, a finding confirmed by a sidescan sonar survey in 1975. The sonar images showed the Hamilton lying undisturbed and upright in 300 ft, 91 m of water. The Scourge was found a quarter of a mile away, also in near-perfect condition. Later exploration of the vessels by remotely operated vehicles, ROVs, confirmed their identity and amazing state of preservation. In 1982, the US Navy transferred its rights to the Rex to the city of Hamilton, Ontario, and a foundation was set up to carry out further investigation work. Together with the USA's National Geographic Society, the foundation undertook a full photographic and video survey of the two wrecks.

The Hamilton's armament was still in place, and the ship's boat remained attached to the davits on its stern. The figurehead of the goddess Diana was well preserved at the bow, and small arms and cutlasses lay on the deck. Other boarding weapons were stowed at the stern and in racks beside the guns. In 1990, Robert Ballard, discoverer of the Titanic, and Margaret Rule, who had led the Mary Rose team, carried out a new survey of the two wrecks. This was a 3D mapping project that used an electronic still camera linked to a computer to produce a highresolution photo mosaic of the site and a computerenerated model. The idea of raising the two wrecks has long since been given up, and it is now largely a question of regular monitoring since the wrecks are within reach of mixed gas scuba divers. Every effort must be made to preserve these unique relics of the War of 1812.

By the time peace returned in 1815, Britain's Royal Navy was undoubtedly the world's dominant one. However, peace meant a rapid reduction in its size to save money, and with fears of invasion gone, the public awareness of the Navy soon declined. To keep the Navy in the public eye, the Secretary of the Admiral Ty, Sir John Barrow, sent out many naval expeditions to explore the unknown parts of the globe. The Arctic and Antarctica were particular favorites for such expeditions, and successful naval explorers could expect considerable public acclaim. However, the most famous of these voyages of exploration brought its leader and his men not fame, but death.

In 1845, Sir John Franklin was appointed by the Admiral to lead an expedition to the Canadian Arctic with the intention of making the first voyage through the Northwest Passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. He was given two bomb vessels, HMS Arabus and HMS Terror, to carry out this task. As bomb vessels were intended to carry heavy mortars, they had strongly built hulls. HMS Terror had taken part in the bombardment of Baltimore in 1814. This made them very suitable for exploration in icebound seas and Arabus and Terror had carried the expedition commanded by James Clark Ross around Antarctica in 1840 to 1843. For Franklin's voyage, the ships were further strengthened and given small steam engines taken from locomotives that could drive propellers when lack of wind prevented the use of sails. Ships on this kind of exploration might find themselves locked in the ice for long periods, and the Franklin expedition carried enough supplies to last several years.

Franklin in Arabus sailed north with terror and the two ships were last seen entering Baffin Bay in August 1845. By 1848, people began to wonder what had become of Franklin and his 128 men. The Admiral T sent out ships to try and find Arabus and Terror, but without success. Franklin's wife, Jane, became a tireless sponsor of search expeditions, both official and private, to the Canadian Arctic. Between 1848 and 1866, there were around a dozen such efforts, with several ships lost, and a picture of the fate of Franklin and his men began to emerge.

In 1853, John Ray of the Hudson's Bay Company found some relics and gathered stories from the local Inuit people. It became clear that after the ships had been trapped in the ice for a long period, during which Franklin and others died, the remaining men tried to march southwards towards the Canadian mainland. None made it, and some of the skeletons were found. Ry saw signs that in their desperation, the last few survivors had resorted to cannibalism. This was not the heroic story the British public wanted to hear, and Rey was heavily criticized.

Lady Franklin continued to support efforts to find out what had happened to her husband and his men. But while traces of the expedition's tragic fate were found at some places on land, the lost ships were not found. In the late 20th century, new efforts began to find Franklin's lost ships and other ships lost while searching for him. In 1980, a team led by Joseph B. McInness found the wreck of the Bark Bred Albbane. It was a supply ship hired to support one of the Royal Navy's search expeditions that had been crushed by ice and sunk near Beachy Island in 1853. The wreck lay 500 m 800 km north of the Arctic Circle and was the most northerly shipwreck found up to that time. The ship lay largely intact on the seafloor 330 ft 100 m down with two of its three masts still standing.

In 1981, McKinnis carried out a photo survey of the wreck using an ROV. And in 1983, the ship's wheel was brought to the surface. Another search ship lost in 1853 was HMS Investigator, crushed by ice and sunk near Banks Island in the Bowfort Sea. In 2010, a team from Parks Canada found the wreck lying in 26 ft 8 m of water. The hull sat upright, but all three masts had fallen down.

Interesting as the wrecks at the Bredelbane and the investigator might be, the main focus had always been to find the Arabus and Terror. From 2008, Parks Canada and its partners made a determined effort to locate Franklin's lost ships. Initially enjoying little success, teams finally found the wreck of HMS Arabus in 2014, partly thanks to stories handed down among the Inuit. The ship lay in 36 ft, 11 m, of water in Wilmont and Crmpton Bay, west of the Adelaide Peninsula. The hull seemed to be well preserved, and the recovery of the ship's bell confirmed its identity.

In 2018, a survey of the wreck of the Arabus found worrying signs of deterioration due to natural forces. Part of the upper deck had become detached, probably caused by a storm swell. This situation made excavation of the wreck site more urgent, and this work took place in 2019. The team concentrated on an area that would have been the lower ranking officer's cabins and storage areas. In a pantry area, they found plates stacked sometimes 13 high. Large serving dishes, plate warmers, strainers, and even an accordion.

In other areas, an intact toothbrush was found, as well as clothing such as a woolen mitten, the leather sleeve of a coat, and a shoe. 12 strands of hair were recovered from a wooden hairbrush. And it may be possible to analyze the hair for DNA or markers of stress and diet. Also found was a lead stamp bearing the name Ed who was steward to the ship's captain. In a drawer otherwise filled with sediment, the team found a deteriorated tin box containing epilelettes from a naval lieutenant's uniform. They may have belonged to Lieutenant James Walter Fairholm. In 2016, it was announced that the wreck of HMS Terror had been found off the south coast of King

William Island in the middle of Terror Bay at a depth of 69 to 79 ft, 21 to 24 m. The wreck was in excellent condition with decks and interior spaces largely intact. The ship's identity was confirmed by the wide exhaust pipe from the outer deck that came up from the steam engine inside the hull. The wreck of the terror is 45 mi 72 km north of the wreck of the Arabus and 62 mi 100 km south of the place where historians previously believed both ships had been lost. This would seem to indicate that at least some members of the Overland party returned to the ships and sailed them further south for a time.

In August 2019, Parks Canada's team carried out 3D mapping of the terror wreck and sent an ROV to search interior areas. The terror is in better condition than Arabus, and many items remain intact and undisturbed. Unbroken blue and white china is still on shelves near the mess table, while glass bottles are sitting upright in the storage rooms. The ROV showed the desk of Francis Croer, Franklin's second in command and captain of the terror. Its closed drawers may just contain sediment, but the possibility of the survival of documents cannot be ruled out. The door to Croer's sleeping quarters was shut. There is still much to be learned about the fate of Franklin's expedition from the wrecks of his ships, and work on them will continue.

The 19th century not only saw an increase in exploration but a massive increase in the movement of people by sea. Some crossed the ocean willingly, others unwillingly. In 1807, Britain abolished the slave trade and encouraged other countries to follow its lead. However, it still continued enforced trafficking of other passengers, transporting convicts across the world. American independence meant that Britain could no longer send convicts to the former 13 colonies. Instead, a fleet was sent to the southern hemisphere to set up a convict settlement in Australia, arriving in what would later become Sydney in 1788. After that, ships carrying convicts regularly made the voyage to Australia.

One such vessel was the Waterlue, built at Bristol in 1815. The 400 ton ship made one voyage for the East India Company in the early 1820s, but after 1829, it was regularly used to transport convicts to Australia. Between 1829 and 1838, the ship made six convict voyages, four from England and two from Ireland, carrying around 200 prisoners on each trip. In 1842, although the ship was now old and in poor condition, it was once again chartered for a convict voyage to Australia. On the 1st of June 1842, the Waterloo left sheerness in England bound for Hobart in Van Demon's land, now Tasmania. Aboard the ship, in addition to the crew, were 219 male convicts, 30 soldiers to act as guards, five women, and 13 children.

After reaching the South Atlantic, the ship's surgeon, Dr. Henry Kelsol, persuaded Captain Henry Edgar to put in at Cape Town, under British rule since 1806, to obtain fresh provisions because some of the people on board were suffering from scurvy. The ship anchored in Table Bay on the 24th of August, and two days later, a strong gale blew in from the north. On the 27th of August, the Waterlue's anchors gave way, and the ship made distress signals. Next day, ever stronger winds drove the Waterlue and other ships towards the shore. The surgeon ordered that the prisoners should be freed from their irons. The ship was driven ashore. Its masts came down and its hull was smashed to pieces within two hours. The Waterloo's captain had been ashore when the ship was lost as was the commander of the troops. Some 189 people died in the shipwreck. 143 convicts, 15 soldiers, 17 women and children, and 14 crew. There were 113 survivors made up of 76 convicts, 16 soldiers, a soldier's wife, and 18 crew. The convicts who survived were later sent on to Hobart, arriving in November.

By the 1840s, the system of convict transportation was coming under criticism, not least from the increasing numbers of free settlers who were going out to make Australia their home. Convex ships became less common in the 1850s, but the last one would not sail until 1867. Although the flow of free settlers steadily increased, the long outward voyage from the British Isles was not without its perils.

The British ship Qataraki or Katarak had been built in Canada in 1840 specifically for the immigrant trade. Registered at Liverpool, the 700 ton ship set out in 1845 for Melbourne, Australia. It sailed from Liverpool on the 20th of April under the command of Captain Christopher Finley, carrying 369 immigrants and 41 crew. The voyage out was largely uneventful, although one sailor was lost overboard. By the time the ship was nearing its destination, five babies had been born on board and six others had died.

As the Qataraki entered the Bass Strait between Tasmania and the Australian mainland on the morning of the 4th of August 1845, it ran into a severe storm. The ship was soon wrecked on a reef off Fitz Maurice Bay on King Island and rapidly went to pieces. Only eight members of the crew and one male immigrant managed to reach the island. They would be isolated there for 5 weeks before finally being rescued. Around 400 people died in this shipwreck, the worst death toll ever for a shipwreck in Australia.

Although the number of ships carrying immigrants to Australia and New Zealand steadily increased during the 19th century, this movement of people was relatively minor when compared with the ever growing flow of immigrants from Europe to North America across the North Atlantic Ocean. This flow increased even more as a result of the great potato famine in Ireland in 1845 to 1848. Although the majority of Irish people fleeing the famine went to the USA, it is worth remembering the sufferings endured by those who went to Canada as well.

In April 1847, the British Brig Exmouth of Newcastle under the guardship of Isaac Booth Master left Londereerry in the north of Ireland bound for Quebec in Canada, carrying more than 200 immigrants. The ship soon ran into a storm and Captain Booth became confused about its position. Eventually, he saw a light that he believed to be on Tory Island off Northwest Ireland, which would mean his ship was heading out into the Atlantic. Unfortunately, the Xmouth had been driven northwards by the storm, and the light was in fact on the island of Isa, one of Scotland's inner heedes. Early on the morning of the 26th of April, 1847, the Xmouth smashed into the cliffs of Isa and rapidly went to pieces. There were only three survivors, all members of the crew. There was some dispute over the number who died. Some claimed 241 Irish immigrants were lost, but an official return at the time listed 220 dead. 74 male immigrants, 62 female immigrants, 63 children, nine infants, three cabin passengers, and nine crew, including the master. Local people eventually recovered 108 bodies, mostly women and children, who were buried in a mass grave on Iowa.

In the following month, May 1847, two ships carrying Irish immigrants, approached the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada, bound for Quebec. One was the Miracle, which had sailed from Liverpool, carrying 400 immigrants. The ship ran into a storm and was wrecked off the Magdalene Islands. Captain Elliot and his crew managed to get most of the passengers ashore, but around 70 people died when boats capsized or hit rocks. 20 passengers had already died of fever during the voyage, while a further 30 died after they got ashore. 281 survivors were later taken to Picto, Nova Scotia, so the total death toll from the ship was probably around 120.

The other immigrant ship, the Carrick of Sunderland, was able to proceed somewhat further up the St. Lawrence River before coming to Grief. carrying around 200 immigrants from Siggo in Ireland. The ship was wrecked on the night of the 19th to 20th of May 1847 on a shaw 60 mi 96 km east of Cape Rosier on the southern shore of the St. Lawrence. Only 22 of the 200 immigrants survived, but all the crew except for one boy reached safety. In these three shipwrecks in April to May 1847, around 500 Irish immigrants perished.

Immigration to escape the famine continued, and in April 1849, the Brig Hannah of Marryport, of which Curry Shaw was master, left Nuri and Warren Point in Ireland, bound for Quebec. There was a crew of 12 and about 180 immigrants aboard the ship. As it came into the St. Lawrence River on the 27th of April. The ship began to encounter ice flows and two days later it struck ice which smashed a hole in the hull. Captain Shaw and his two mates took the only boat and fled the sinking ship, leaving the rest of the crew and the passengers to their fate. The sailors helped the immigrants to get off the ship and onto the ice flow, although some passengers were lost overboard in the process. The Henna sank 40 minutes after hitting the ice. The crew and passengers were left on the ice for many hours, leading to further deaths before passing ships rescued them. Some 49 people were said to have died in the shipwreck, and around 130 were rescued. Captain Shaw never seems to have been prosecuted for his callous actions.

But soon new standards of conduct for those involved in shipwrecks would be set after the loss of a ship off South Africa in 1852. The ship was HMS Birkenhead which had been built in 1845 as an iron hauled paddle steamer frigot but was later converted into a troop ship. In January 1852, the vessel left Portsmouth, England under the command of Captain Robert Salammon to carry soldiers to South Africa to take part in the latest war against the OSA people. Colonel Alexander Satan was the senior army officer on board. On the 23rd of February, the Birkenhead docked briefly at Simonstown near Cape Town and then sailed eastward on the 25th of February bound for its final destination of Algoa Bay. There were said to be around 640 people on board, mostly naval crew and soldiers, but also including some women and children.

Captain Salammon took his ship on a course that stayed close to the South African coast. And early on the morning of the 26th of February, the Birkinhead struck an uncharted rock near Danger Point, today near Kspai Western Cape. The ship was put a stern, but as it withdrew from the rock, water poured into the hull, and over a hundred soldiers were drowned in their births. The remaining soldiers came up on deck and were formed into ranks by Colonel Satin. The women and children went first into the few lifeboats available, and the soldiers remained in their ranks as the ship began to break up barely 20 minutes after striking the rock. Some soldiers managed to swim the 2 m, 3.2 km to the shore, but most drowned, died of exposure, or were killed by sharks. There were only 193 people saved from the wreck. 113 soldiers, six Royal Marines, 54 naval seammen, seven women, 13 children, and a single male civilian. Captain Salammon and Colonel Satin were not among the survivors.

It was said that King Frederick William IV of Prussia was so impressed by the conduct of the soldiers on the sinking Burken Head that he ordered an account of the shipwreck should be read out to his regiments as an example of bravery and discipline. Certainly the story of the Birkinhead put the idea of women and children first into the public mind. For the rest of the century and into the next, the conduct of those involved in the wrecks of passenger ships would be judged against this famous example.

As so often happens with shipwrecks, there were soon stories that the Birkenhead was carrying treasure. It was alleged that an army payroll of 240,000 in gold coins weighing about three tons had been secretly put aboard the ship. Over the years, there have been various attempts to find this probably mythical treasure. An effort in 1958 brought up anchors and some brass fittings, but no gold. In 1986 to 1988, a combined archaeological and salvage excavation of the wreck site turned up only a few gold coins, which had probably belonged to the crew and passengers. Rumors of treasure and the shallowess of the wreck at 98 ft, 30 m, have resulted in the wreck site being badly disturbed.

If most immigrants still traveled in sailing ships in the first half of the 19th century, steam ships were becoming the preferred option for wealthier passengers, particularly on the North Atlantic route. By the 1850s, the two main rivals on that route were Britain's Cunard line, founded by Canadianborn Samuel Cunard and America's Collins line, run by Edward Knight Collins. The paddle steamers crossing the North Atlantic promised speed and luxury to wealthy passengers, but they could not always guarantee safety. The first loss was the British steamship President, which disappeared in a storm after passing Nantucket on the New York to Liverpool run in 1841. There were no survivors.

Steamship losses became more common in the 1850s and were to have serious consequences for the Collins line. In September 1854, the Collins Line paddle steamer Arctic left Liverpool for New York. The ship was carrying around 240 passengers, including Edward Knight Collins's wife and two children and around 150 crew. The captain was James C. Loose, and he was accompanied by one of his sons. On the 27th of September, the Arctic was about 60 mi, 96 km, southeast of Cape Race, Newf Finland, and proceeding through banks of fog. Suddenly, a schooner appeared out of the fog and struck the starboard side of the Arctic. Initially, Captain Loose was more concerned about the condition of the schooner, the French ship SS Vesta, than about his own ship, for the bow of the Vesta had been smashed. However, the Vesta was a ship of very modern construction with an iron hull and an auxiliary steam engine that would drive a propeller when required. Most importantly, its hull was divided into compartments. Despite the smashed bow, bulkheads kept out the sea, and the ship would eventually reach St. John's Newfoundland safely.

The Vesta's iron bow had punched a large hole in the Arctic's wooden hull, and water poured into a hull that had no compartments to stem its flow. Loose soon realized that it was the Arctic, and not the Vesta that was in danger of sinking. He tried to head for Newfoundland, but speed only increased the flow of water into the hull. It was now clear that the Arctic would sink, and panic gripped both passengers and crew. The ship had only six lifeboats, and the crew took possession of most of them. Despite Luc's efforts to restore discipline, there was no women and children first rule in this case. Eventually, the ship sank and nearly all those still on board drowned. Two of the lifeboats made it to Newfoundland and other survivors were picked up by passing ships. More than 300 people had died while the 60 or so survivors were all men and twothirds of them were from the crew. All the 80 plus women and children on board died. Captain Loose survived, but his young son died, as did Mrs. Collins and her two children. There was considerable popular anger in the USA about the conduct of the crew of the Arctic, but no court of inquiry was ever held into this tragedy, nor were any members of the crew prosecuted.

Despite his grief at the loss of his wife and children, Collins soon ordered a new ship to be built to replace the Arctic. But only a few years later, his company was to suffer another loss at sea. In the early months of 1856, ships on the North Atlantic route reported unusually large amounts of ice coming down into the sea lanes. Many ships sustained damage, and four American ships simply disappeared. One was the Collins Line Paddle Steamer Pacific. After leaving Liverpool in late January 1856, the ship was never seen again. On a winter passage, it only carried about 45 passengers, but it still had a crew of around 140 on board. So, a total of around 185 lives were lost. This loss proved to be a death blow to the Collins line, which finally closed down in 1858, leaving Kunard as the dominant line on the North Atlantic route.

It was generally assumed that the Pacific had been sunk by ice, probably by hitting an iceberg. And this was also believed to be the reason for the loss of the American sailing Clipper ship's Driver, outwardbound from Liverpool with 370 passengers and crew, and Ocean Queen, outwardbound from London with 123 passengers and crew. There were no survivors from these ships. Only in the case of the American sailing ship John Rutlledge were details of its loss known because a single American sailor William Nye survived. The ship had left Liverpool on the 16th of January 1856 bound for New York. Aboard were 140 crew and passengers, the latter mostly Irish immigrants. On the 20th of February, the John Rutled struck an iceberg off Newf Finland's Grand Banks and began to sink. Most of the passengers and crew got away in the ship's five boats, but four of the boats were never seen again. There were 13 people in the fifth boat, but by the time it was seen by a passing ship on the 29th of February, only William Nye was still alive. In all, more than 800 people had died in the loss of these four ships in the first two months of 1856.

One of the events encouraging movements of people by sea in the mid-9th century was the discovery of gold in California in 1848. Some of those rushing to California went by sailing ship around Cape Horn. But soon a route via the Panama Ismas and using steam ships became popular because of the much reduced journey time. Steamers from the east coast of the USA went down to Cologne on the Caribbean side of the ismas. Then passengers went by mule and later railway across land to Panama City on the Pacific Ocean. Then steamers took them north to California. Gold from California was soon being shipped to the east coast of the USA on this route. In return for subsidies to support these services, the US government insisted that the steamers on this route be commanded by US naval officers.

In early September 1857, the American paddle steamer SS Central America, commanded by US Naval Officer William Lewis H. Hunden left Colon bound for New York. The ship had 578 passengers and crew on board and among its cargo carried 10 tons of gold from California. After a call at Havana, Cuba, the ship headed north and on the 9th of September ran into a hurricane off the Carolas. The Central America began taking on water, but as long as its engines continued to work, it might survive the storm. On the 11th of September, the engines broke down and the ship was totally at the mercy of wind and waves. Next day, two ships were seen nearby and Captain H. Hearnden evacuated 153 passengers, mostly women and children, to them. Before more could be moved out, the ship sank, taking H. Hearnden and more than 400 others to the bottom along with the gold. The non-arrival of the gold in New York contributed to the economic crisis and depression in the USA that year, but H. Hearnden's conduct in putting women and children first was widely applauded by the American public. Two ships of the US Navy would be named in his honor, as was the town of H. Hearnden in Virginia. Two years after the captain's death, his daughter Ellen married Chester A. Arthur, who later became the 21st president of the USA in 1881. The wreck of the Central America was located in 1988 by Tommy Thompson, and much of the gold was recovered, leading to a controversy that is still ongoing. See chapter 8.

California was not the only place where gold was discovered in this period. Gold was also found in Australia and this boosted the number of passengers sailing down under. The lucky few made rich by gold discoveries often brought their wealth back to Britain and many such people were on board the British ship Royal Charter when it left Melbourne in 1859 bound for Liverpool. The ship was a sailing clipper with an auxiliary steam engine, and it carried at least 480 passengers and crew on this voyage. There was an official consignment of gold carried as cargo while many of the passengers carried their own gold with them.

On the 25th of October 1859, the Royal Charter passed Holy Head on the island of Anglesy off the north coast of Wales. Liverpool, its final destination, was not far away, but stormy weather was blowing in. Off Point Lionus, the Liverpool pilot, tried to board the ship, but high seas prevented him. During the night of the 25th to 26th of October, the winds began to reach hurricane force and their direction shifted from east to northeast and then to northnortheast, driving the Royal Charter towards the coast of Anglesy. Late on the 25th of October, the ship anchored, but in the early hours of the next morning, first one anchor chain broke and then the other. The ship's masts were cut down to reduce drag from the wind, and its steam engine was unable to make any headway against a storm of hurricane proportions. Indeed, it was the worst storm to hit the Irish Sea area in the whole of the 19th century. The Royal Charter was inexurably driven towards the land. At first it grounded on a sandbank, but then the rising tide forced the ship onto rocks at a point just north of Mayfrey at Port Alert on the north coast of Anglesy. Huge waves began to smash the ship's hull to pieces. One of the crew, a Maltese called Jose, also known as Joseph Rogers, managed to swim ashore with a line, and a few people managed to get ashore. Most people who tried to swim were killed by being battered against the rocks. In the end, only 21 passengers and 18 crew survived the wreck. Over 400 people died, making this the worst ever shipwreck on the coast of Wales. Some 140 bodies were recovered and buried nearby at St. Galgo's Churchgo. Despite the almost equal numbers of crew and passengers who managed to survive, there were accusations that the crew had put saving their own lives first, and the local villagers who tried to rescue people from the ship were accused of stealing gold from corpses, an accusation they fiercely denied.

The lost ship attained a certain immortality by giving its name to the storm which destroyed it. Some 133 ships, mostly small, were sunk by the Royal Charter storm, and another 90 were badly damaged. More than 800 people died, the majority in the Royal Charter Wreck. The destruction encouraged Britain's meteorological service to improve its forecasting of very bad weather, and from 1860, gale warnings were issued when exceptionally bad weather was expected. The Royal Charter was extensively salvaged in the months after its loss, and all the gold carried as cargo was recovered. Nevertheless, gold that had been carried by passengers can still occasionally be found even today. In 2012, the largest gold nugget ever found in Britain was discovered in waters near the wreck site. It almost certainly came from one of the passengers. The shattered remains of the ship, mostly just iron bulkheads, plates, and ribs, lie in only 16 ft, 5 m of water and attract visits from scuba divers when the recside is not covered with sand.

The Australian gold rush was comparatively short-lived, but California continued to produce gold for decades. In July 1865, the American paddle steamer brother Jonathan left San Francisco on a voyage northwards to Portland, Oregon, and Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. There was much gold on board, including shipments by the US government, consignments by Wells Fargo, and gold carried by passengers. The ship soon encountered stormy weather, and this continued after the brother Jonathan paid a visit to Crescent City near the northern border of California. Eventually, Captain Samuel Dwolf decided to return to Crescent City. But as he neared that port on the 30th of July, 1865, his ship struck a rock and began to sink. Efforts were made to launch lifeboats, but only one reached the shore, carrying only 19 survivors. 11 crew, five women, and three children. More than 200 people were lost in the wreck, making it the worst shipwreck on the USA's Pacific coast up to that time. Stories of the gold on the ship naturally attracted treasure hunters. Yet for a century and more, no sign of the wreck was found. In 1993, a company called Deep Sea Research, DSR, made another search and seemed to be having no more luck than their predecessors. Then it was realized that all previous salvage efforts had been concentrated around the rock the ship had struck. But it was known that sinking ships could travel for considerable distances once underwater. By extending its search area, DSR finally found the wreck of the brother Jonathan some 2 mi 3.2 km away from the rock. In 1996, the first gold coins were recovered and the hall soon exceeded 1,000 coins. In addition, hundreds of artifacts were also recovered from the wreck site. Then the state of California stepped in and claimed ownership of the wreck. A long court case followed and in the end, the state was given only a small percentage of the recoveries. In 1999, DSR sold the gold coins it had recovered at an auction in Los Angeles and received a total of 6.3 million for them.

Another gold shipment lost in 1865 was aboard the American Paddle Steamer Republic. These gold coins and some silver ones were being sent to New Orleans to inject some hard currency into the local economy after the end of the American Civil War. This was similar to the shipment of silver coins the Spanish had sent in the Kazador to New Orleans after the end of the American War of Independence. Neither shipment of coins reached its intended destination. The republic had left New York on the 18th of October 1865, bound for New Orleans, and carried passengers and $400,000 in coins, mostly in gold $10 and $20 pieces. On the fifth day of the voyage, the ship ran into a hurricane off the coast of Georgia and struggled against strong winds and huge waves. Eventually, the engines of the Republic stopped working and the ship began to take in water. It finally sank on the afternoon of the 25th of October, 1865, but all the passengers and crew got away in four lifeboats and a makeshift raft. They were picked up by passing ships two days later, and only a few of the survivors had died. Although the Republic had gone down in deep water well out to sea, by the end of the 20th century, technology had been developed that could explore at depth and salvage finds. In 2003, Odyssey Marine Exploration of Tampa, Florida, found the Wreck of the Republic 100 miles, 160 km, southeast of Savannah, Georgia, in about 1,700 ft (500 m) of water. A salvage effort recovered a third of the cargo of gold and silver coins said to be worth $75 million. 14,000 artifacts were also brought up from the republic, including cabin trunks containing clothes and books in surprisingly good condition.

Although primarily a land war, the American Civil War produced several notable shipwrecks. Because the Confederate States were industrially inferior to those of the North, they were forced to adopt technological innovations in the hope of gaining an advantage in the struggle. One such was the ironclad warship. When it was clear that the Confederates would capture the US naval dockyard at Norfolk, Virginia, the Union forces burned all vessels that could not be removed. One of them was the frigot USS Marmac. However, the latter was not totally destroyed, and the Confederates used its hull as the basis for building an ironclad warship called the CSS Virginia. looking like a floating battery but powered by steam. The ship's wooden sides were covered with iron plates with gunports cut through them. The ship also had an underwater iron ram.

On the 8th of March 1862, the Virginia left Norfolk to challenge the blockading Union warships in Hampton Roads. First, it attacked USS Cumberland, ramming the enemy vessel. The ram broke off, but the Union ship sank with a loss of 121 lives. Next, the Virginia bombarded USS Congress, which was run ground and burned. It seemed nothing could withstand the Confederate ironclad. However, Union forces had been aware that the Confederates were building this new type of warship for some time and had begun construction of their own ironclad in response. USS Monitor was the prototype of a fleet of ironclad turret ships. It was designed and built by Swedishborn inventor John Ericson at Brooklyn Navyyard. Called by some a cheese box on a raft, the ship had an iron hole with very little freeboard, but a large iron turret mounting two 11in guns. The monitor was completed shortly before the Virginia went on its rampage and was immediately sent south to face its Confederate foe.

On the 9th of March 1862, the Monitor and the Virginia fought a 4-hour battle in Hampton Roads that ended in a stalemate with neither ship able to sink the other. Nevertheless, the Virginia retired to Norfolk and made no further attempt to attack the Union blockading squadron. Two months after the battle, Union forces moved to retake Norfolk. So, the Confederates destroyed the Virginia to avoid it falling into enemy hands. For the rest of 1862, the Monitor remained in the Hampton Roads area, supporting Union operations on land. In late December 1862, the ship was ordered to join the Union blockading squadron off Charleston, South Carolina, and set out under tow from USS Rhode Island. The pair ran into a storm off Cape Hatteris, North Carolina, and the monitor was soon in difficulty with waves washing over its low hull. It finally sank early on the morning of the 31st of December, 1862. Most of the crew were taken off by the Rhode Island, but 19 sailors went down with their ship. The wreck of USS Monitor was found in 1973 lying in 210 ft 64 m of water off the coast of North Carolina. In the following year, the US Navy undertook a photographic mapping of the wreck. The hull was lying on top of the turret. In 1975, the wreck and the area around it was designated the USA's first national marine sanctuary by the federal government. In 1977, a submersible was sent down to get a closer look at the monitor. It found a small brass marine lantern 26 ft 8 m from the wreck. This was probably the red distress lantern that hung from a flag staff when the ship sank. The lantern and a loose iron plate were brought up. Two years later, divers left a submersible to carry out a test excavation of the wreck site. They looked at Captain John Bankhead's cabin and also the remains of the ward room and the engine room. In 1983, another expedition recovered the monitor's unique fourfluke anchor. Later visits brought up loose artifacts, more hall plating, and the ship's four-bladed propeller. It now became clear that the wreck was beginning to deteriorate. So the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, Noah, and the US Navy with support from US Congress mounted major recovery expeditions in 2000 and 2002. These raised the ship's 30 ton steam engine and its 160 ton turret. The skeletons of two of the Monitor's lost sailors were found inside the turret. The turret and engine are now undergoing conservation at the Mariners Museum, Newport News, Virginia.

Another innovation the Confederates adopted was the submarine. The aim was to produce a submersible craft capable of sinking Union warships that were blockading southern ports. Despite the South's industrial inferiority to the North, such a submarine was built. But in sea trials, it sank several times, killing most of those on board. One of those who perished was HL Hunley, who had financed the project. After being raised and put back into service for the third time, the submarine was named CSSHL Hunley in honor of its deceased sponsor.

On the 17th of February, 1864, the submarine, commanded by Lieutenant George E. Dixon sailed out from Charleston, South Carolina to attack Union warships blockading that port. The Hunley was powered by members of its crew manually rotating a shaft connected to its propeller, and at its bow was a long spar with an explosive device at its tip. The Hunley approached USS Hosatonic, placed its explosive device against the ship's hull, and detonated it. After the explosion, the Union warship sank in only six minutes while the attacking submarine never returned to port. This was the first time a submarine had successfully sunk a ship.

In 1995, an expedition supported by American author Clive Kustler found the wreck of the Hunley, although E. Lee Spence claimed to have identified its resting place as long ago as 1970. It lay in 30 ft, 9 m of water, completely buried in sediment and was only 980 ft, 300 m from the remains of its victim, the Husatonic. A more detailed survey of the wreck and a test excavation took place in 1996. Then it was decided that the best course was to raise the submarine and it was brought to the surface in August 2000. The remains of the eight crewmen were found inside the hull. It had been previously assumed that the Hunley had attached an explosive charge to the enemy's hull, then withdrew to set off the charge by pulling a lanyard. However, when the Hunley was raised, a 16 ft 4.8 m long spar was found attached to the bow with the remains of a copper casing holding the explosive charge at its tip. Clearly, the charge had exploded once it touched the target ship's hull. The remains of Lieutenant Dixon were found in his command position at the bow. Clothing was still clinging to his bones, and in the pockets were found some of his possessions, including a gold pocket watch with a Masonic order fob and chain, a silver and antler horn pocketk knife, and a diamond ring tucked into his vest pocket. The most poignant artifact was found in his trouser pocket. After the Civil War, a woman called Queenie Bennett claimed to have been Dixon's wartime sweetheart. She had given him a gold $20 piece as a keepsake, and at the Battle of Shiloh, it had deflected a bullet that might have killed him. Such a coin was found in Dixon's pants pocket. It was dented and carried the inscription, Shiloh, April 16th, 1862. My Life Preserver, GED. The bodies of the Confederate crew were buried in Charleston in 2004, and the hull of the Hunley is undergoing long-term conservation. Some wreckage from the Husatonic remains off Charleston. And it has been suggested that the reason the ship sank so quickly was because the small charge placed against its hull by the Hunley set off a further explosion in a magazine in the ship's stern. This further explosion may have caused the attacking submarine to sink as well.

The ironclads and submarines constructed by the Confederates certainly caused alarm to their Union opponents. But it was the commerce raiders the Confederate Navy sent out into the oceans of the world that did the most material damage. The most famous of these ships was the CSS Alabama, built in England in 1862. The ship was sent outside that country to receive its armament. Between 1862 and 1864, under the command of Captain Raphael Sims, the Alabama captured more than 60 Union merchant ships, most of which were destroyed and sank a small Union warship. In June 1864, the ship put in at Sherborg, France, and news of its arrival reached USS Kirarge, which was nearby. The Union warship went to Sherborg and on the 19th of June, the Alabama came out to do battle. In the ensuing encounter, the Confederate raider was sunk by the Union warship. In October 1984, a French mind sweeper discovered the wreck of the Alabama in 190 ft, 58 m of water, 7 nautical miles, 13 km off Sherborg. In 1989, an agreement was negotiated between the USA and France about the excavation of the wreck and the ownership of fines. Of particular interest were the ship's guns. The largest, a Blakeley 7in 100 pounder, was mounted on a pivot carriage on the forward part of the ship. Its loading had been interrupted by the order to abandon ship, leaving a live shell in the barrel. The gun was raised in 1994. Among the more domestic items found in the wreck was the captain's porcelain flush toilet. The remains of the ship's wheel still displayed the Alabama's motto on a brass striped. God helps those who help themselves.

English shipyards did not just produce Confederate commerce raiders. Far more numerous were the steamships produced to run the Union blockade and bring supplies to Confederate ports. Based in offshore neutral ports in Cuba, the Bahamas, and Bermuda, such vessels were fast enough to outrun most Union warships. Although they originally carried a wide variety of scarce goods, by 1864, the Confederate government had ordered that the blockade runners should only carry essential items such as arms, ammunition, and other military equipment, food, and medicines. However, recent work on the wreck of a blockade runner off Bermuda has shown that other cargo was still being carried as well.

Launched at Liverpool, England early in 1864, the paddle steamer Mary Celestia later went to Bermuda and made a number of runs through the Union blockade to reach Wilmington, North Carolina. On the 26th of September 1864, the ship again left Bermuda, initially carrying a local pilot to guide it through the surrounding reefs. Off the south coast of the island, some of those on board complained that the pilot was taking the ship too close to shore. He dismissed such complaints, claiming superior knowledge, but the Mary Celestia then ran onto a reef and was wrecked. Some said the ship's loss was caused by the pilot's overconfidence. Others hinted that he had been bribed by Union agents to wreck the ship. Most of the cargo was salvaged soon after the wreck. Being in only 55 ft, 16.7 m of water and just 600 yards, 548 m from Bermuda's south coast, the wreck of the Mary Celestia has long been popular with scuba divers who can see the ship's boilers, paddle wheels, and other remains. It seemed the wreck had nothing new to reveal. But in 2011, winter storms removed much of the sand that had covered the bow section, and new items came to light. Intact and unopened bottles of wine were found, along with bottles of perfume and cologne. Clearly, these luxury items had not been part of the official cargo, but were intended by crew members for friends in the South, or for sale on the black market there. When one of the bottles of wine, vintage 1853, was opened, its contents were found to be largely undrinkable. There was more luck with one of the bottles of perfume. Its contents were analyzed and reconstituted by the island's perfumery, and it was soon put on sale as Mary Celestia perfume.

Neither ironclads, submarines, commerce raiders, nor blockade runners could save the Confederacy from eventual defeat. with General Robert Ele. Lee surrendering to General Ulissiz Srant at Appamatics in April 1865. Among those overjoyed at the end of the war were Union prisoners of war held at camps in the South. Those who came from Midwestern states went to Vixsburg on the River Mississippi so that they could board river steamers that would take them home. One of these ships was the sidewheel steamboat Sultana. Built in 1863, it pied the Mississippi on a regular service from St. Louis to New Orleans in the following 2 years. The ship had 85 crew and its passenger limit was set at 376 people, although on occasion it had carried larger numbers of Union troops.

Captain James Cassmason of the Sultana met Union officers at Vixsburg and agreed to carry around 1,400 released Union prisoners of war northwards up the river. However, when the Sultana was loaded, a much larger number of freed prisoners came aboard. Officially, when Captain Mason left Vixsburg on the night of the 24th of April, 1865, his ship was carrying 2,137 people. But it has been claimed that the vessel was in fact carrying many more. In any case, the Sultana was grossly overloaded. On the evening of the 26th of April, the Sultana reached Memphis, Tennessee, and after a short stop, it departed near midnight. The Mississippi was experiencing its spring flood, and the Sultana had to force its way northwards against a strong current, straining its boilers. Around 2:00 a.m. on the 27th of April, when the ship was just 7 miles 11 km north of Memphis, its boilers exploded and set the ship on fire. Hundreds died immediately while others leapt into the cold waters of the river and perished later. The blazing vessel drifted southwards, then hit the western bank of the Mississippi and sank. Official estimates of the dead varied from,00 to,500, although some people believed many more were lost. Around 900 people survived the sinking, but Captain Mason and most of his officers were not among them.

In 1982, what were claimed to be the remains of the Sultana were found on the Arkansas side of the Mississippi, about 4 miles, 6.4 km from Memphis. The blackened wooden deck planks and timbers were found at a depth of 32 feet, 9.7 m, under a soybean field. The course of the Mississippi has changed many times since the disaster. So, it is not surprising that the remains of the wreck were found on land about 2 mi, 3.2 km away from the modern course of the river. The death toll of the Sultana disaster makes it the worst shipwreck in US history. Yet, at the time it occurred in April 1865, it received comparatively little notice. The Civil War was over. President Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated, and the deaths of more than 1,000 people seemed a small loss compared to a conflict that had killed hundreds of thousands of Americans.

Six 20th and 21st century shipwrecks. Violet Jessup had been here before. The sinking ship, the rush to the lifeboats. But some things were different. The ship was going down in the daytime under a warm Mediterranean sun. Four years earlier, it had been a cold, still night in the middle of the North Atlantic. In 1912, Violet Jessup had been a stewardist on the ill- fated Titanic. In 1916, she was a Red Cross nurse on the Titanic's sister ship, the Britannic. Converted into a hospital ship, the Britannic was on its way to pick up British wounded when a sudden explosion sent it to the bottom. It was the largest ship to be sunk in the First World War.

Captain Bartlett hoped to beach his sinking ship and kept the engines running. Unfortunately, two lifeboats were launched while the ship was still underway. Jessup was in one of them. The boats were quickly swept towards the stern and then smashed by the still turning propellers. 30 men died, the only fatalities of the sinking, and other people were injured, including Jessup, who suffered a head wound, but was pulled to safety. Bartlett now stopped the engines so that the rest of the crew and army medical staff, more than 1,000 people, could get away safely in the lifeboats. Once this had been done, the captain again tried to beach his ship, but it was too late. Some 55 minutes after the explosion, the Britannic sank to the bottom of the Caya Channel between Cape Sun on the Greek mainland and the island of Caya.

Violet Jessup had been born in Argentina to Irish parents. On her father's death, the family returned to Britain and she later followed her mother to work as a stewardist on passenger liners. In 1911, Jessup had been aboard the Olympic, the sister ship of both Titanic and Britannic, when the ship collided with the cruiser HMS Hawk near Southampton. Both ships survived. To have been on all three of the White Star Lines Olympic class passenger ships when they suffered maritime disasters with two of them sunk was a unique record. However, it did not discourage Jessup from returning to her role as a stewardist on passenger liners after the end of the First World War.

As for the Britannic, its loss was attributed to either a torpedo fired by a German submarine or a mine laid by one. The most likely cause were mines laid in the area by U73 on the 21st of October 1916, a month before the Britannic was sunk. Interest in the ship's fate largely ceased on the end of the Great War, and it was only in 1975 that the wreck was discovered by Jacqu Kustoau. He and his team dived on the Britannic in the following year, and Kustau speculated that the ship had been sunk by a single torpedo. Interest in the wreck increased during the 1990s, with Robert Ballard surveying it in 1995. Lying on its side 400 ft 122 m beneath the surface, the wreck of the Britannic was too deep to be reached by ordinary scuba divers, but was accessible to experienced technical divers. In 2003, an expedition to the wreck found mine anchors nearby, and it is now generally accepted that the ship was sunk by a mine laid by U73. The wreck of the Bratannic is in a better condition than the much deeper wreck of its sister ship Titanic. And in 2020, the Greek government seemed ready to open the wreck to all suitably qualified divers rather than requiring them to have an official permit.

The Britannic and the Titanic were products of ever improving maritime technology. In the second half of the 19th century, the iron, later steel, steamship came to dominate the trade routes of the world. Even immigrants could now expect to be carried across the North Atlantic in steam ships. The volume of the immigrant trade steadily increased, and even the biggest transatlantic liners could find space for immigrants able to pay more than on other ships. Ship building improvements, such as more compartments within the ship's hull, seemed to promise greater safety. However, serious accidents could still happen, as shown by the last great maritime disaster of the 19th century on the North Atlantic route.

On the morning of the 4th of July 1898, the French passenger steam ship Lab Burugonia was heading eastwards across the North Atlantic some 70 mi 112 km south of Sable Island, Nova Scotia. Despite dense fog, the ship was proceeding at full speed. Suddenly, the British iron hauled sailing ship Cromardish appeared out of the gloom and ran the side of the Burgona. The sailing ship survived with only a crushed bow, but the French ship sank within half an hour of the collision. More than 500 passengers, including most of those in first class and crew, including almost all the ship's officers, perished. Of the 173 survivors, fewer than 70 were passengers. Overall, only 13% of the passengers survived, but 48% of the crew did.

Statistics seemed to confirm wild stories that the crew had stormed the lifeboats and later refused to let passengers who were struggling in the water get aboard the boats. When members of the crew reached New York City, they required police protection from angry mobs.

However tragic it was, the Lab Borgonia disaster seemed to belong to an earlier age. Passenger ships were now said to be bigger, stronger, and safer than ever. Modern technology added a further safeguard with the invention of wireless telegraphy by Gulme Maronei in 1897. Now, a ship in distress could call for help, and other ships would soon come to its assistance. Although adoption of this new technology was slow at first, its successful use during the sinking of the Republic in 1909 received worldwide publicity.

In January 1909, the White Star Line's ship Republic left New York City bound for Mediterranean ports. Captain William Silby was in command and there were 742 passengers and crew aboard. Early in the voyage on the 23rd of January, when the Republic was south of the island of Nantucket off the New England coast, a thick fog was encountered. Suddenly, the Italian passenger ship Florida, carrying immigrants to the USA, appeared out of the fog and rammed the British ship amidships. Although smaller than the Republic, the Florida suffered only a damaged bow, while the other ship suffered considerable damage and began to sink, albeit slowly. Jack Bins, the young Maronei wireless operator on the Republic, sent out the CQD distress signal, which was acknowledged by shore stations and nearby ships. Another White Star ship, the Baltic, responded to the signal, but struggled to find the Republic in the fog. In the meantime, Captain Silby evacuated most of his passengers and crew to the Florida. Eventually, the Baltic found the sinking ship and took on board the Republic's passengers from the Florida and most of that damaged ship's passengers as well. Sealby remained on his ship while efforts were made to tow it towards land. But on the 24th of January, the ship sank stern first, with the captain the last man to leave. Only six people had died in the initial collision, three from each ship, while all the rest of the passengers and crew had been rescued safely thanks to the use of wireless telegraphy.

At 15,378 tons, the Republic was the largest ship ever to have sunk up to that time. But only a few years later, a ship three times as large would be lost in the North Atlantic. As seems customary, no sooner had the Republic sunk than there were stories in circulation that the ship was carrying a shipment of gold. However, the wreck was not located until 1981. It was lying upright 50 mi, 80 km, south of Nantucket Island in about 270 ft, 82 m of water. Dives were made on the wreck, but although a number of artifacts were recovered, no gold was found.

If the loss of the Republic showed how passengers and crew could be saved by modern technology before the year 1909 was over, the sea would show it retained its capacity to claim new victims. In 1908, the ship Waratah had been delivered to the Blue Anchor Line to carry passengers and cargo between Britain and Australia. It completed one voyage to and from Australia. And on the return leg of its second voyage, the ship reached Durban in South Africa in late July 1909. The Waratah left Durban on the 26th of July and was due to arrive in Cape Town 3 days later. The ship was last seen by another vessel on the 27th of July. And on the following day, a severe storm blew in. The Waratah and its 211 passengers and crew never reached Cape Town, and no trace of the ship was ever found despite considerable search efforts. At the resulting court of inquiry, some passengers and crew who had been on the ship's maiden voyage claimed that the vessel was top-heavy and slow to right itself in stormy seas. Other passengers and crew from the first voyage claimed to have noticed nothing unusual about the ship's seakeeping abilities. Most likely the ship had capsized in the storm, but the reason why is unclear. As a result of this disaster, the Blue Anchor Line sold its remaining ships and went into liquidation in 1910. The wreck of the Waratah has still not been found.

The disappearance of the Waratah was unusual, but the prompt response to the Republic's wireless distress signal seemed to reassure passengers that new technology was improving safety, at least on the North Atlantic routes. This was also apparently guaranteed by the rapidly increasing size of passenger ships. When White Star's new liner Olympic went into service in 1911, it was at 45,324 tons, the largest ship in the world. It was a title held for only a year or so, for when the Olympic's sister ship Titanic was completed in 1912. It was the new largest ship at 46,328 tons. The Olympic class ships were all built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast, Ireland. And after its remarkably short sea trials, one day the Titanic headed for Southampton to begin its maiden voyage in April 1912. The ship, under Captain Edward Smith, left Southampton on the 10th of April 1912 and made calls at Sherbourg, France and Queenstown, now Cobh, Ireland, to pick up further passengers and mail before heading out into the North Atlantic bound for New York City. On board were more than 2,200 passengers and crew. Among the passengers were Bruce Ismay, managing director of the White Star Line, and Thomas Andrews of Harland and Wolff, the ship's designer.

As night fell on the 14th of April, the Titanic was more than 300 m, 482 km, southeast of Newfoundland. There had been wireless alerts from other ships that large amounts of ice, including icebergs, were drifting across this area, but Captain Smith decided not to slow down until ice was in sight. Unfortunately, the night was cold, still, and moonless, with no waves likely to alert lookouts when they broke against icebergs. Thus, when at 11:40 p.m. the Titanic's lookouts did suddenly spot a large iceberg ahead, it was already very close, and the officer of the watch had little time to react. The Titanic turned to port, but a collision could not be avoided. The iceberg ran along the ship's starboard side, doing intermittent damage to the hull plates rather than causing a long gash, as was later believed. A head-on collision would have been better, since the stem was one of the strongest parts of the ship, and even if the bow had been crushed, as long as the forward bulkhead had held, the ship was unlikely to have been in much danger of sinking. Instead, the damaged hull plates began to allow water into a number of compartments. The Titanic was designed to stay afloat with four compartments flooded, but now six were taking in water. Smith consulted Andrews and received the grim news that in less than 3 hours the ship would sink.

Shortly after midnight, Smith ordered the Maronei wireless operators John Phillips and Harold Bride to send out distress signals. Initially, they used the CQD distress call, but then shifted to the new international distress signal SOS. The position they gave for the Titanic was in fact erroneous, with the officer who prepared it putting the ship more than 13 miles, 21 km, to the west of its actual position. This was to cause problems for people who later searched for the wreck. If other ships had been nearby, the Titanic's passengers and crew might have been saved, as those of the Republic had been 3 years earlier. Unfortunately, although a number of ships responded to the distress call, few of them were nearby. The Mount Temple of Canadian Pacific was 50 mi, 80 km, to the west, but that position was on the other side of the barrier of ice into which the Titanic had blundered. The only hope was a ship 58 mi, 93 km, away to the south. This was the Cunard liner Carpathia, commanded by Captain Arthur Rostron. But even at its best speed, the ship would take 4 hours to reach the position the Titanic had given. Rostron set out on his mission of mercy. But Smith and Andrews, now joined by Ismay, knew that the Titanic would sink before the Carpathia arrived. Yet, as wireless messages flew back and forth, the Titanic's officers could actually see the lights of another ship only miles away. This was the Californian, under Captain Stanley Lord. And, catering the ice barrier, Lord had decided to stop his ship for the night, preferring to move through the ice in daylight. The ship had only one wireless operator, and he had gone off duty shortly before the Titanic sent out its distress signal. Captain Smith ordered distress rockets to be fired in the hope of attracting the attention of the nearby ship. Captain Lord on the Californian was informed of these rockets bursting in the sky, but he refused to believe they were a call for help and took no action. Both the American and the British inquiries into the sinking of the Titanic were to condemn Lord's inaction.

With no response from the Californian and the Carpathia bound to arrive too late, all Captain Smith could do was to get passengers into the lifeboats. The Titanic had only 20 lifeboats, 16 on davits and four collapsible, which was actually more than the legal requirement. And even if fully loaded, they could take only a little over half the people on board the ship. Smith told his officers to begin loading the lifeboats and to observe the women and children first rule. The loading was rather haphazard and a number of boats left the ship with only a handful of people in them. Most of the crew and the male passengers in third class were kept below until almost the last minute because of fears that the lifeboats might be swamped. Another problem was that despite its large crew of almost 900, the Titanic had only about 50 able seamen on board who were capable of lowering boats and then taking charge of them in the water.

Some 2 hours and 40 minutes after the collision with the iceberg, the Titanic finally sank. Those people left on board went into the sea, and most were drowned or killed by hypothermia within 20 minutes. Only a handful were picked up by the lifeboats or found wreckage onto which they could climb. Around 4:00 a.m. on the 15th of April, 1912, the Carpathia reached the scene of the sinking and picked up the survivors, 492 passengers, 37% of those on board, and 214 crew, 24% of those on board. An estimated 1,517 people had died in the loss of the Titanic, including Captain Smith and Thomas Andrews. But Bruce Ismay had saved himself by jumping into one of the last lifeboats to be launched. While the Carpathia headed for New York City to land the survivors, other ships came to retrieve bodies. Some 330 were found, but 125 were buried at sea because they were too mutilated or decomposed to be identifiable. Just over 200 bodies were landed at Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada. Of these, 59 were collected by relatives, including the body of the richest man on board, American millionaire John Jacob Astor, while 150 were buried at cemeteries in Halifax. 42 of those who were interred were unidentified.

The British journal, The Ship Builder, had described the Titanic as practically unsinkable. Yet, the ship now lay at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean. Many people wanted to know why. The Americans prevented Ismay and the surviving crew from returning to Britain before testifying at a congressional committee of inquiry. Passengers also testified. A British inquiry under Lord Mersey took place in May 1912. Both inquiries agreed that the Titanic was going too fast for the conditions, the lookout was inadequate, the loading of lifeboats was haphazard, and that Lord's Californian had seen the distress rockets and should have gone to help the sinking ship. Recommendations that in future all ships should carry sufficient lifeboats for all on board and that ships should have enough wireless operators to keep a 24-hour watch were acted upon, as was the proposal to set up an international ice patrol to monitor icebergs in the North Atlantic during the most dangerous season.

The loss of the Titanic is arguably the most famous shipwreck in history, but some have questioned this notoriety. It was certainly not the most deadly. Even in peacetime, many more people have died in shipwrecks, usually involving overloaded ferries, while some ships lost in wartime claimed even more victims. Nor was hitting an iceberg on a maiden voyage necessarily a claim to fame. In 1959, the Danish ship Hans Hedtoft on its first voyage between Denmark and Greenland hit an iceberg and sank, killing all 99 people on board. But the disaster aroused only short-lived interest. Undoubtedly, the presence of members of the Anglo-American elite aboard the Titanic was a major factor in the fame of the loss. Many perished, and in death were equal with the immigrants in third class. Perhaps it is just a matter of hubris and nemesis. The largest ship in the world, said to be unsinkable and one of man's greatest creations, was brought low by the forces of nature in the shape of an iceberg. Certainly, this was a theme much dwelt upon by religious commentators at the time. Later historians were keener to see the loss of the Titanic as a metaphor for the destruction of the old, complacent Victorian world which would end with the outbreak of the First World War only 2 years later. Whatever the reason, the loss of the Titanic was not forgotten.

But serious efforts to find the wreck of the ship did not begin until the 1970s. The deep-sea oceanographer Robert D. Ballard made his first abortive attempt to find the wreck in 1977. In the early 1980s, the oilman Jack Grimm sponsored several expeditions that searched for the Titanic without success. These efforts undermined faith in the position of the sinking ship given in its distress call. Unfortunately, this realization only increased the potential search area. Fortunately, deep-sea search technology was advancing rapidly at this time. Ballard, attached to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the USA, developed ROVs that could operate at great depth. This led to contracts from the US Navy to survey the wreck sites of the American submarines USS Thresher and USS Scorpion, which had been lost in the North Atlantic in the 1960s. At the end of such surveys, Ballard was to be allowed a few days to search for the Titanic.

In 1985, Ballard, in association with Jean-Louis Michel of France's Sea Research Organization, Ifremer, made a determined effort to find the lost ship. On the 1st of September, a debris field was found, and among the wreckage was one of the Titanic's boilers. The next day, the main wreck was discovered. The wreck of the Titanic lies at a depth of about 12,500 ft, 3.8 km, about 370 mi, 600 km, south-southeast off the coast of Newfoundland. Its position is 13 mi, 21 km, east of the position given in the original distress call from the sinking ship. The wreck lies in two main pieces about 1/3 of a mile, 600 m, apart, confirming the claim of survivors that the ship broke in two as it sank, a claim long dismissed by experts. The bow section is in reasonable condition, but the stern section is badly damaged. Between the two sections is an extensive debris field. There is no sign of the ship's four funnels, which were probably lost during its plunge to the bottom.

Ballard returned to the wreck in July 1986 and went down to it in the deep-sea submersible Alvin, carrying out the first photographic survey of the wreck site. In 1987, an expedition mounted by Ifremer and a group of US investors salvaged more than 1,800 objects, mostly from the debris field. This salvage operation angered Ballard, who wished to see the Titanic left undisturbed as a grave site. By the early 1990s, the American investors, now incorporated as RMS Titanic, Inc., had been recognized by US courts as salvors in possession and could collect more artifacts from the wreck, although under court supervision. In 1996, the firm attempted to raise a 20-ton part of the Titanic's hull, but the salvage operation failed. The so-called big piece was successfully raised in 1998, and after conservation, it became a major part of the permanent Titanic exhibition at the Luxor Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The firm also sent traveling exhibitions of Titanic artifacts around the world. In 1995, the filmmaker James Cameron paid his first visit to the Titanic and took some of the footage of the wreck that he would later use in his 1997 film.

The British and American governments made some efforts to protect the wreck of the Titanic. But since it lies in international waters, there are limits to what can realistically be done. America's NOAA visited the wreck in 2003 and 2004 to carry out a survey of its condition. Robert Ballard accompanied the 2004 expedition, making his first visit for almost 20 years. The wreck has clearly deteriorated since Ballard first found it. This is partly from natural processes such as the iron-eating bacteria that have produced what Ballard called rusticles, but also from visiting underwater vehicles striking the wreck. Filmmakers, scientists, salvors, and tourists have all visited the world's most famous shipwreck. By the time the 100th anniversary of its loss neared in April 2012, around 140 people were thought to have visited the ship since the discovery of its wreck in 1985. Now that the wreck of the Titanic is more than 100 years old, it can claim protection under UNESCO's 2001 Underwater Cultural Heritage Convention. But it is unclear who will enforce it. In 2020, a US court gave the salvors permission to bring up the Maronei wireless equipment from the wreck. But whether this can be done without further damage to the fragile structure is an open question.

The Titanic disaster was soon followed by another shipwreck that killed almost as many people, but has largely been forgotten. On the 28th of May 1914, the Canadian Pacific passenger ship Empress of Ireland left Quebec City, Canada, bound for Liverpool, England. The ship was carrying 420 crew and 1,057 passengers, about 2/3 of its total capacity. Among the second-class passengers were about 170 members of the Salvation Army on their way to an international congress in London. Captain William Kendall was an experienced Canadian Pacific captain, although he had only just taken over command of the Empress of Ireland. Early on the morning of the 29th of May, the ship stopped off Rimouski on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River to collect bags from a government mailboat and then moved a little further east to Pointe-au-Père to disembark the river pilot into a pilot boat. Soon afterwards, the lights of an approaching ship, the Norwegian collier Storstad, bound from Cape Breton to Quebec City, were seen. Captain Kendall assumed that the Storstad would move inshore to collect a river pilot, so he moved further out into the St. Lawrence, which is 30 mi, 48 km, wide at this point. Now, a band of thick fog rolled in across the river. Kendall still assumed the Norwegian vessel would pass between his ship and the shore, that is passing starboard to starboard. Unfortunately, the officer on the bridge of the Storstad believed the exact opposite, thinking the ships would pass port to port, as was the usual convention when ships on opposite courses met. Both ships used their whistles to try and signal their intentions in the fog, but the confusion remained. Suddenly the Storstad appeared out of the fog and rammed the Empress of Ireland amidships. Captain Kendall shouted to the Storstad not to pull back, but the Norwegian ship did so, leading to water pouring into the large hole in the side of the Empress of Ireland. The wireless operator on the British ship sent out an immediate distress call, which was picked up ashore, and rescue vessels were dispatched. However, the Empress of Ireland was sinking rapidly, and most of the passengers and crew on the lower decks had already drowned in their berths. Only 14 minutes after the collision, the Empress of Ireland sank. In what was the worst peacetime marine disaster in Canadian history, 1,012 people died. Some 59% of the crew survived, but only 20% of the passengers. In the loss of the Titanic, 24% of the crew survived and 37% of the passengers. Of the Salvation Army group aboard the ship, only a handful survived.

Although the Empress of Ireland was registered in Britain, it was agreed that the Court of Inquiry would sit in Canada and Lord Mersey, who had chaired the Titanic inquiry, came over to lead the investigation. Despite much conflicting testimony, the inquiry laid the blame for the collision on the Storstad. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Norwegian inquiry into the collision put the blame on the British ship. However, as the Storstad had survived and reached a Canadian port, Canadian Pacific had it seized and sold as part of the company's claim against the ship's owners. As the wreck of the Empress of Ireland was only a few miles offshore in 130 ft, 40 m, of water, salvage operations began soon after its loss. More than 300 bags of mail were recovered along with a cargo of 212 silver bars the ship had been carrying. Even before the salvage operations had been completed, the lost ship was being forgotten as the First World War broke out in August 1914. As the wreck is in comparatively shallow water, it soon became a target for scuba divers after 1960. Despite cold water, strong currents, and poor visibility, such divers recovered the ship's bell in 1964. During the 1970s, divers brought up a stern telemeter, pieces of Maronei wireless equipment, brass portholes, and a compass. When Robert Ballard visited the wreck in the 1990s, he found it was being covered with silt, and that artifacts were still being regularly removed from the wreck. In 1999, the wreck site was put on the register of Historic Sites of Canada, which gave it some legal protection. But this seems unlikely to discourage visits by divers, a number of whom have died going down to the Empress of Ireland.

If the advent of the First World War overshadowed the loss of the Empress of Ireland, the sinking of another North Atlantic passenger ship in the early years of the conflict would become famous and a source of continuing controversy. With the coming of the war, most large British passenger ships were taken over by the government to serve as troop ships, hospital ships, or armed merchant cruisers. Only one was left to maintain a civilian transatlantic service: the Lusitania of the Cunard Line, one of the fastest ships in the world. In early 1915, the German government declared the waters around the British Isles a war zone where German U-boats could sink any ship, combatant or neutral, without warning. In May 1915, just as the Lusitania was about to leave New York City, bound for Liverpool on its 202nd transatlantic crossing, the German embassy placed advertisements in American newspapers, warning passengers that they would put their lives at risk by entering a war zone. Nevertheless, the Lusitania sailed, carrying 1,266 passengers, mainly British and Canadian, but also including 139 Americans, and a crew of 696 under Captain William Turner. Among the ship's cargo was a quantity of munitions, listed as rifle ammunition and unfilled shell cases, but possibly also including some explosives.

As the Lusitania approached the southwest coast of Ireland, it ran into fog. Once this had cleared, Captain Turner took his ship near to the Irish coast to be sure of his position. He had already received wireless warnings of U-boats in the area, but perhaps relied on the high speed of his vessel to give him immunity from attack by such craft, which were slow on the surface and even slower underwater. Nevertheless, early on the afternoon of the 7th of May 1915, the Lusitania crossed in front of the submerged U-20, commanded by Walter Schwieger. The German commander did not waste his opportunity, sending one torpedo into the starboard side of the Lusitania near the wheelhouse. The explosion of the torpedo was quickly followed by a second explosion, for which a variety of explanations have been given, chiefly that it was caused by munitions inside the ship blowing up or possibly coal dust in an empty bunker igniting. The Lusitania sank in only 18 minutes, still underway. Only six of 48 lifeboats were launched successfully in that time, but a distress message was transmitted by the ship's wireless operator. Of the 1,962 people on board, only 764 survived, with three of these dying later. Some 128 of the 139 Americans on board perished, leading to much anger in the USA. Although this loss of life is often said to have led to the USA joining the war against Germany, there is little direct connection, since the USA did not declare war until April 1917, almost 2 years after the loss of the ship. This example of German frightfulness was a gift to British propagandists. But there were also allegations of negligence by the Royal Navy. Although U-boats were known to be in the area, instead of being out on anti-submarine patrol, British warships were safe in Irish harbors when the Lusitania was sunk. At the official inquiry, chaired yet again by Lord Mersey, the Admiral tried to shift blame onto Captain Turner, who had survived the sinking of his ship. He was said to have ignored Admiral's warnings and instructions, thus endangering his ship. Lord Mersey had no time for such aspersions and found the sole cause of the loss of the Lusitania was the attack by the German submarine.

Efforts began in the 1930s to find the wreck of the Lusitania, but initially they were unsuccessful. Then in 1935, a Scottish-based expedition set out to find the lost ship. After 3 months of searching, the Lusitania was found. On the 6th of October, 1935, diver Jim Jarrett wore a special Tritonia diving suit to explore the sunken ship, which lay at a depth of 305 ft, 93 m, some 11 mi, 18 km, south of the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland. The wreck lies at an angle on its starboard side, thus concealing the damage caused by the torpedo hit. A new war meant the Lusitania was forgotten, but the wreck was damaged when it was hit by depth charges dropped by warships who mistook it for a submarine target. In the 1960s, the wreck passed into American ownership, and efforts were made to bring up artifacts. In 1982, several of the ship's giant bronze propellers were raised. One was melted down, but another went to the Maritime Museum in Liverpool. When originally sunk, the Lusitania was in international waters. But in 1988, the Republic of Ireland extended its sovereign waters from 3 to 12 mi, around 5 to 20 km, from the coast, bringing the wreck under Irish jurisdiction. In 1995, possibly influenced by Robert Ballard's survey of the wreck site in 1993, the Irish government declared the remains of the Lusitania a heritage site and banned interference with the ship and its contents. The Rex American owner challenged the ruling, but only in 2007 did an Irish court overturn the decision. Since then, the owner has allowed a number of dives on the wreck, although it is now much decayed, shrouded in fishing nets, and probably dangerous because of unexploded depth charges and the original munitions cargo lying in the vicinity.

With the coming of the First World War, the nature of naval war changed dramatically and greatly increased the number of shipwrecks on the seabed. In the age of wooden sailing ships, the main aim of combatants was to capture enemy warships and merchant vessels rather than sink them. Now, in the age of steam propulsion and steel hulls, the destruction of enemy ships became the principal object. In the last great naval war of 1793 to 1815, hundreds of ships changed hands as prizes, but relatively few were sunk. In the new naval conflict of 1914 to 1918, thousands of ships were sunk, but only a few were captured. This change was largely due to the advent of a new instrument of naval warfare, the submarine. Submarines could not provide prize crews to take captured vessels into port. They were also fragile when on the surface. Even an unarmed merchant ship could sink them by ramming. The safest way for submarines to wage war was to attack while submerged and sink ships without warning, ignoring the restrictions imposed by the old prize rules.

As already noted, in the wars of 1793 to 1815, most of the ships of the line lost by Britain's Royal Navy were sunk by accidents or storms and not enemy action. The situation was very different in the First World War. The Royal Navy lost 16 battleships and battlecruisers between 1914 and 1918, almost all to enemy action. The two exceptions were the pre-dreadnought battleship HMS Bulwark, which blew up at Sheerness in 1914, and the dreadnought battleship HMS Vanguard, which blew up at Scapa Flow in 1917. Although the causes of these disasters were never clearly established, it was generally believed they were accidental explosions due to mishandling of ammunition. Of the other 14 losses, no fewer than six were sunk by U-boats, either torpedoed or blown up on mines laid by submarines. Of the remaining eight, four were sunk by enemy surface warships and four by mines laid by vessels other than submarines. No battleships or battlecruisers were sunk in storms.

One of the most important shipwrecks of the First World War took place right at the beginning of the conflict. On the 2nd of August 1914, the German light cruiser Magdeburg shelled the Russian port of Libau, now Liepāja, Latvia, in the Baltic Sea, firing the first shots of Germany's war against Russia. Later in the month, the ship was part of a German squadron patrolling the entrance to the Gulf of Finland. Fog came down and the ships lost touch with each other. On the 26th of August, the Magdeburg ran aground on the island of Odensholm, now Osmussaar, Estonia. And despite the best efforts of a German destroyer that came to its assistance, the cruiser could not be refloated. Most of the crew were removed by the destroyer and preparations were made to blow up the cruiser. Now the fog lifted and two Russian cruisers were seen approaching. Hurried efforts were made to destroy the Magdeburg, but they were only partially successful. The wreck later broke up and the last crew on board were captured by the Russians. Also captured were three copies of the German Navy's signal book. The Germans believed the books had been destroyed. One copy was sent by the Russians to the British Admiral Fisher, where it helped the code-breaking section of British Naval Intelligence, known as Room 40, to read German naval signals for most of the First World War.

The need for more direct communications with Russia was one of the reasons the British and French launched the Gallipoli campaign in 1915. If the Ottoman Turkish Empire could be defeated, the Western powers could have a new link to Russia via the Black Sea. This campaign is usually remembered for the land battles on the Gallipoli Peninsula, but the campaign always had an important naval component. Between the end of 1914 and the beginning of 1916, dozens of ships were sunk off Gallipoli in the Dardanelles in the Sea of Marmara, including one French, two Turkish, and five British battleships. The initial hope had been that no landings would be required on Turkish soil. The Anglo-French fleet would simply force its way through the Dardanelles into the Sea of Marmara and then appear before the capital, Constantinople, now Istanbul, forcing the Turkish government to surrender. When the naval attack on the Dardanelles was mounted on the 18th of March 1915, it did not go well. Turkish artillery and minefields turned back the attackers, sinking two British battleships, HMS Ocean and HMS Irresistible, and one French battleship, Bouvet. It was now decided to land troops on the Gallipoli Peninsula to overcome Turkish defenses and make naval passage of the Dardanelles possible. Another element of the plan was to send British and French submarines into the Sea of Marmara to attack Turkish seaborn communications. But the first attempts to pass through the Dardanelles did not go well, with both a British and a French submarine lost.

On the 25th of April 1915, British, including troops from Australia and New Zealand, and French forces landed on Gallipoli. At the same time, the Australian submarine AE2 entered the Dardanelles with the intention of breaking through to the Sea of Marmara. Turkish gunfire forced the submarine to submerge, and it then had to find its way through several minefields. At one point, AE2 came to the surface and grounded under the guns of a Turkish fort. Fortunately, those guns could not be depressed enough to fire at the submarine, which quickly got away and submerged. Eventually, AE2 got through to the Sea of Marmara, the first submarine to do so. AE2 made several attacks on Turkish vessels, but all failed for technical reasons. On the 29th of April, the Australian submarine met up with the British submarine E14, which had also gone through the Dardanelles. The submarines were to meet again the following day. But when AE2 reached the rendezvous, it saw a Turkish torpedo boat approaching. The submarine submerged, but then for reasons unknown, it came to the surface again. The Turkish vessel opened fire, punching holes in the AE2's pressure hull. The submarine could no longer dive, so the crew scuttled the vessel and were taken prisoner. This was the second Australian submarine lost in the war. AE1 had disappeared in September 1914 during operations to seize German New Guinea, and its wreck was not found until 2017.

The wreck of the AE2 lay undisturbed until the 1990s when Turkish divers began to search for it. Eventually, the lost submarine was found in 236 ft (72 m) of water in 1998. Although it was a state warship, the Australian government did not lay claim to the wreck, and as nobody had died in its sinking, it could not be considered a war grave. These facts made it possible to think of raising and restoring AE2. In 2007, Turkish and Australian institutions began to investigate this possibility. But by the following year, they had given up the idea because of the high cost of the operation and the possibility of damaging the submarine, which still had at least one torpedo inside. Regular monitoring of the wreck was proposed as an alternative, and an ROV survey in 2014 found further items, including a portable wireless telegraph pole and antenna.

While British submarines were active in the Sea of Marmara, battleships provided gunfire support for the troops battling on the Gallipoli Peninsula. On the 15th of May 1915, a Turkish destroyer carried out a daring attack that sank the British battleship HMS Goliath with a torpedo. Soon afterwards, the first German submarine U-21, under Otto Hersing, reached the Dardanelles. It soon made its presence felt, sinking the British battleships HMS Triumph on the 25th of May and HMS Majestic 2 days later. Thus, in a few months, the British had lost five battleships to mines and torpedoes. A bigger loss of capital ships than they would suffer at the Battle of Jutland. In the following year, British submarines got some revenge by sinking two elderly Turkish battleships, Messudieh and Barbarossa. But it was clear that such ships were increasingly vulnerable to modern naval weaponry. Of the battleship wrecks, the Majestic is the most visited by divers. And although it has been stripped of many artifacts since the 1960s, it still contains much of interest.

The great clash of the battle fleets of Britain and Germany took place in the Battle of Jutland, Battle of the Skagerrak to the Germans, on the 31st of May to the 1st of June 1916. The British lost three battlecruisers, HMS Invincible, HMS Indefatigable, and HMS Queen Mary, three armored cruisers, and eight destroyers, and over 6,000 men. The Germans lost one battlecruiser, Lützow, one pre-dreadnought battleship, Pommern, four light cruisers, and five destroyers, with 2,500 dead. Although in material terms the Germans had the advantage, the German High Seas Fleet returned to port, having failed to gain any strategic advantage over Britain's Grand Fleet. The wrecks of these lost warships lie in the comparatively shallow waters of the North Sea, and Royal Navy divers seem to have visited the wreck of HMS Invincible as early as 1919. However, only since 2000 have maritime archaeologists taken a systematic interest in the wrecks, partly because the centenary of the battle was approaching. Dive expeditions found a number of Jutland wrecks in 2001 to 2007. And then the British maritime archaeologist Innes McCartney proposed a survey of the entire naval battlefield, sponsored by Denmark's Sea War Museum Jutland and working with a Danish exploration company. McCartney carried out the survey and found the wrecks of most of the ships lost in the battle. He found there had been extensive illegal salvage on the wrecks and that their general condition was deteriorating, with the destroyer V-48 in particular in an advanced state of decay. Detailed surveys of the wrecks have allowed a more accurate picture of the battle to emerge. For example, on the 31st of May 1916, both British and German observers were convinced that the British armored cruiser HMS Defence had been blown to pieces by a massive explosion. However, when divers first visited the wreck in 2001, it was found to be largely intact, although with the bow and stern missing. Unlike most of the other large Jutland wrecks, the Defence was sitting upright on the sea floor. A number of its gun turrets were still attached to the hull. McCartney speculated that German shells had ignited the forward magazine, blowing off the bow and sending a supersonic wave of flame rearwards through ammunition passages in the hull. This flame burned out the other turrets and then ignited the aft magazine, blowing off the stern. All this took place remarkably quickly, with the ship said to have disappeared below the waves in only 12 seconds. Admiral Robert Arbuthnot and a crew of 900 men all perished.

The First World War was not only the bloodiest war in history up to that time, but also the most expensive. To pay for munitions produced in Canada and the still neutral USA in 1916, the British armed merchant cruiser HMS Laurentic, formerly a White Star liner, was used as a modern-day treasure ship. In July and August 1916, it transported gold from Cape Town, South Africa to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. In October, it carried specie from Bermuda to Halifax. On the 23rd of December 1916, the Laurentic loaded 3,211 gold bars valued at 5 million pounds at Birkenhead near Liverpool, England, for transport to Halifax. The ship left Birkenhead on the 23rd of January 1917. On the 25th of January, it had to put in at Buncrana on Lough Swilly in northwest Ireland to land some six sailors. Later on that day, the Laurentic headed out to sea once more in a raging blizzard. At the mouth of Lough Swilly, the ship hit a mine that had been laid by U-80, quickly followed by the explosion of a second mine. Captain Norton ordered the crew to abandon ship. The lifeboats got away, but in the icy conditions, many men died of hypothermia in the open boats. In all, 354 men perished, and there were only 121 survivors, including the captain. The 44 tons of gold stored in the second-class baggage room had sunk to the bottom of the sea.

The Royal Navy made immediate plans to recover the lost gold. The naval officer Guy Devenish, an expert on diving and salvage, was ordered to undertake the task. In 1906, Devenish had worked with the scientist J.S. Haldane on the problem of decompression sickness, leading to the invention of staged decompression for divers. During this work, Devenish had, in August 1906, gone down to 210 ft (66 m) in Loch Fyne, Scotland, which was a world record for deep diving at that time. Devenish and his Navy divers found the wreck of the Laurentic at a depth of 120 ft, 36.5 m, upright, but listing 60° to port. An entry door in the hull allowed a diver to get inside and reach the baggage room, recovering four boxes of gold. However, a major storm then blew in and diving had to stop. When Devenish's divers returned to the wreck, they found it had suffered considerable damage, with the former way into the gold room now blocked. As an alternative, Devenish blasted his way down through the superstructure until he reached the room, only to find that most of the gold had fallen down deeper inside the wreck. Nevertheless, by the end of the 1917 diving season, Devenish had recovered 542 gold bars worth 800,000.

In 1918, the wreck of the Laurentic lay undisturbed as Devenish and his divers were moved to other duties. They were to visit the wrecks of recently sunk U-boats around the British coast to retrieve materials such as code books that would be of use to British naval intelligence. The team dived on 15 sunken submarines and recovered useful intelligence material from seven of them. With the end of the war in November 1918, Devenish and his divers could return to the Laurentic in 1919. In that year, they recovered 315 gold bars, but the 1920 and 1921 diving seasons were less successful. During the winter of 1921, two storms cleared part of the wreckage of the lost ship and gave access to the remaining gold. In 1922 and 1923, more than 2,000 gold bars worth 3.5 million pounds were brought up. In 1924, the final diving season, some 100 bars were recovered. In all, Devenish and his divers recovered 3,186 of the total 3,211 gold bars. The total cost of the salvage work in 1917 and 1919 to 1924 was 128,000. Only a small percentage of the value of the gold retrieved. In 1924, there were only 25 bars still missing, and most of them have since been found. To date, Devenish's salvage work on the Laurentic is the largest recovery of sunken gold by weight in history.

During Devenish's first salvage season in 1917, the USA finally joined the war against Germany. Although it was only in the conflict for 18 months, America still lost a number of ships. By the summer of 1918, a few U-boats were operating off the east coast of the USA. U-156 laid mines in the approaches to New York Harbor. And on the 19th of July 1918, the cruiser USS San Diego struck one and sank. The wreck lies off Long Island in 110 ft, 34 m, of water upside down, with its higher parts just 66 ft, 20 m, below the surface. Only six men died in the original sinking. But over the years, at least as many scuba divers have been lost visiting the wreck. Despite this, the site remains popular.

Convoying ships to Britain and France was an important task for US warships, but it was not without cost. On the 26th of September 1918, the escort vessel USS Tampa was torpedoed by UB-91 in the Bristol Channel, killing all 131 men on board. The wreck has never been found. Several American troop ships were sunk by U-boats, but fortunately not when they were carrying troops. The largest loss of life when American troops were being carried came on the 6th of October 1918. The British armed merchant cruiser HMS Otranto was carrying US troops in a convoy from New York to Britain. But as the convoy approached northwest Ireland, it ran into bad weather. The Otranto collided with another ship and was then driven ashore on the coast of the island of Islay in western Scotland. Despite stormy seas, a British destroyer took off almost 600 crew and troops, but the overloaded ship then had to withdraw. Only 21 of those left on the Otranto would survive. The overall death toll was said to be 470, including 96 crew and 358 American soldiers.

Undoubtedly, the most mysterious US shipping loss in the First World War was that of USS Cyclops in March 1918. More than 300 people were on board when the ship simply disappeared. It remains the worst US Navy loss of life not caused by enemy action. The Cyclops was one of a class of big colliers built for the US Navy before the First World War. It was an unusually large coal carrier for the period, with a displacement of more than 19,000 tons, and also had a large crew of 236 men. Originally an auxiliary, the ship was commissioned into the Navy in 1917. Its commander was George W. Worley, originally born in Germany as Johan F. Vikman. Worley's German origins seemed to have been ignored. More worrying was his erratic behavior. In early 1918, the Cyclops took coal supplies to US ships based in Brazil. The ship left Rio de Janeiro on the 16th of February and reached Salvador on the 20th of February. On the 26th of February, the Cyclops left Salvador bound for Baltimore, USA, with no stops scheduled and carrying a large cargo of manganese ore. Some claimed the ship was overloaded, while Worley complained that one of his engines was not working properly. As well as its large crew, the ship was carrying US naval personnel returning from Brazil and the German-born US consul from Rio, who had been recalled for alleged pro-German activities. In all, there were 306 people on the ship. The Cyclops made an unscheduled stop at Barbados, where the US consul thought Worley's conduct distinctly odd. The ship sailed on the 4th of March, 1918, and was never seen again. Nor was any wreckage from the ship ever found. It was initially thought the ship had been sunk by the Germans, but they denied any knowledge of the lost vessel.

In the 1970s, the story of a Bermuda Triangle, in which ships and aircraft mysteriously disappeared, became popular. The Cyclops certainly vanished in the area covered by this mystical triangle, but the ship's loss probably has an explanation that isn't more prosaic than supernatural. Other ships of this class of colliers were said to show signs of serious metal corrosion, and the Cyclops may have had this failing, too. If an overloaded ship with one engine out of action and a corroded hull capsized in bad weather, nobody would be surprised. Still, there can be no certainty about what became of the Cyclops until its wreck is found.

In November 1918, the First World War came to an end, and under the terms of the armistice, most of the German Navy was to be delivered to the victors pending a final peace treaty. Most of the U-boats were collected at Harwich, England, and were later scrapped. The main units of the German surface fleet went to the Firth of Forth in Scotland to surrender to the British Grand Fleet, which was accompanied by a squadron of American battleships. The Germans were then escorted north and interned in the British naval base at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. Manned by 20,000 men when it arrived, the German fleet crews were steadily reduced by repatriation. By June 1919, there were fewer than 2,000 men.

aboard the 74 interned warships. The peace treaty that was to mark the formal end of the First World War was due to be signed in June 1919, and Admiral Ludvik Fenroiter, commander of the interned fleet, feared that his ships would be seized and divided up among the navies of the victorious states. He made secret plans to scuttle his fleet.

On the 21st of June, nearly all the British warships at Scapa Flow departed on an exercise, and Fenroiter saw his opportunity. He made the signal to scuttle the fleet. At first, the remaining British guard vessels did not realize what was going on, but as German ships began to disappear beneath the waves, they made desperate attempts to board them and prevent them being scuttled. The British efforts were largely unsuccessful, with 54 out of 74 German ships sinking: 15 out of 16 battleships and battle cruisers, five out of eight cruisers, and 32 out of 50 destroyers. Some German sailors were killed and wounded when they resisted British attempts to keep ships afloat. Around 1,800 Germans were picked up as their ships sank, and all were imprisoned as prisoners of war because they had breached the terms of the armistice. Although the British claimed to be outraged by the German action, many British admirals and politicians were relieved that these modern German warships would not be added to the fleets of other naval powers.

During the 1920s and 1930s, most of the sunken German warships were raised and scrapped. The majority were dealt with by Ernest Cox, the man who bought a navy, and his company raised five battleships, two battle cruisers, and 26 destroyers for scrapping. Today, nine wrecks are left from the scuttled German fleet. There are three battleships, König, Kron, Prinz Wilhelm, and Markgraf, all lying upside down. They have been subject to some underwater salvage, particularly to remove pre-nuclear age steel, which has less radiation content. Four cruisers also remain lying on their sides, as well as the much more broken wrecks of two destroyers. Now protected as historic sites, these last German wrecks remain popular with sports divers.

The end of the First World War did not remove all peril of shipwreck from naval vessels, even the most modern ones. Completed in 1921, the British cruiser HMS Raleigh was for a time the flagship of the North America and West Indies station. On the 8th of August 1922, the ship was traveling from Newfoundland to Labrador when it encountered fog in the Strait of Belle Isle. Raleigh then ran aground at Lance Amour on the Labrador side of the strait. The ship's initial impact was not hard, but a strong wind then blew the vessel broadside onto the rocks, causing gashes along the hull. The crew abandoned the ship, with a dozen men killed in the process. Other ships picked up the survivors, and much equipment was removed from the wreck. Thoughts of salvage were finally given up in 1926, and the wreck was blown up, although much wreckage still remains on the site.

A more spectacular naval disaster took place in the USA in 1923. Indeed, it was the US Navy's greatest ever loss of ships in peacetime. On the 8th of September 1923, the 14 ships of Destroyer Squadron 11 were on a fast passage from San Francisco south to San Diego along the coast of California. The squadron was led by USS Delphy, flagship of Commodore Watson, and the destroyer's captain served as navigator for the whole force. As recently built ships, the destroyers had many innovations. The Delphy had a radio navigation receiver to help plot a course and a fathometer to establish water depth. However, the Delphy's captain thought the radio navigation aid unreliable, and the fathometer could only be used at low speeds. When fog came down, all navigation was reduced to dead reckoning. Unfortunately, the squadron navigator made the turn southeast to enter the Santa Barbara Channel too far north, and the destroyers smashed onto Honda Point, also called Point Pedernales, on the coast of California. Seven destroyers were totally wrecked, killing 23 men. Two escaped with light damage, and the other five heard the warning signals from the wrecked ships and avoided the disaster. The seven lost ships were not salvaged and were later broken up where they lay on the rocks.

Although submarines had undoubtedly been the new naval weapon that came of age in the First World War, they remained among the most vulnerable of warships. On the surface, they were hard to spot and were often struck by surface vessels. Submerged, even the smallest error could send a submarine to the bottom. The most famous class of submarine for disasters was the British K-class. They were built during the war as large submarines capable of a high surface speed so that they could accompany the battle fleet. Unfortunately, the high speed could only be obtained by using steam-powered engines on the surface. The need to close down such engines made for a slow submergence of the craft, a dangerous failing in wartime. In January 1917, K13 sank during sea trials with 32 dead and 48 survivors. The craft was salvaged and received a new designation as K22. In November 1917, K1 and K4 collided off the Danish coast. No lives were lost, but damage to K1 was so bad that it had to be scuttled. In January 1918, a group of K-boats was accompanying the battle fleet out of the Firth of Forth to take part in exercises. Near the Isle of May, a cruiser collided with K17, which was leading the line of submarines. The craft sank in 8 minutes, killing all on board. As the submarines behind tried to take evasive action, further chaos ensued. K6 rammed K4, and they were hit by K7. K4 sank with all hands. Meanwhile, K22, formerly K13, collided with K14, but both crafts survived. In just 75 minutes, two submarines were lost, three were badly damaged, and 105 men died.

Peace did not bring the K-boats any better luck. In 1921, K5 disappeared during an exercise in the Bay of Biscay. Some wreckage was later found, but there were no survivors from the 54 crew. The final K-boat orders were cancelled and replaced by an order for four M-class submarines. These were even stranger craft than the steam-powered K-boats. The M-class was intended to be a submarine monitor carrying a huge 12-inch gun. This could be aimed through the periscope while the submarine was submerged, and the gun muzzle would only emerge above the surface long enough to fire a shot. Unfortunately, the gun could only be reloaded when the submarine was on the surface. Only three M-class submarines were ever built, and they had as much bad luck as the K-boats. In November 1925, the M1 submerged in the English Channel off Start Point, Devon, was struck by a Swedish merchant ship. The collision sent the submarine to the bottom, killing all 69 men on board. The Royal Navy made a determined effort to find the wreck, but without success. Only in 1999 did a diving team led by Innes McCartney find the wreck of the M1 at a depth of 240 ft (73 m). After the accident, submarines M2 and M3 were laid up for a time, but in 1927, both lost their guns, with M3 becoming a submarine mine layer and M2 an aircraft-carrying submarine. On M2, a seaplane hangar containing a specially-designed seaplane was placed where the gun had been mounted. In January 1932, the M2 was lost in Lyme Bay off Chesil Beach, Dorset, killing all 60 men on board. The wreck was quickly located, and divers found the hangar door open. It was speculated that the crew had opened the hangar door before the craft had fully surfaced, allowing water to enter the hull and sink the craft. Efforts to salvage the M2 failed. And since its wreck lies in shallow water 104 ft (32 m) deep and with the conning tower only 65 ft (20 m) below the surface at low tide, it is popular with scuba divers.

The US Navy lost submarines S-51 in 1925 and S4 in 1927 with few survivors. Such losses stimulated efforts to increase the chances of saving crews from sunken submarines. Lieutenant Commander C.B. Momsen invented the Momsen lung, an individual escape apparatus, while Lieutenant Commander A.R. McCann invented a rescue chamber, a type of diving bell that could be sent down to attach to a submarine's escape hatch and bring out survivors. This latter invention would first be put to use in 1939.

On the 23rd of May 1939, the new submarine USS Squalus was doing test dives off Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Despite indicator lights showing that all external valves were closed, on one dive, a valve was in fact open. Much of the submarine flooded, killing 26 men, and it plunged down to land upright on the seafloor in 243 ft (74 m) of water. The 33 survivors were in unflooded forward compartments. They released a marker buoy that reached the surface and was soon spotted by another submarine. The submarine rescue vessel USS Falcon, carrying the McCann rescue chamber, immediately set out from New London, Connecticut, and despite poor weather was soon over the wreck site. Momsen directed the divers who first went down to the wreck while McCann prepared his rescue chamber. Since the Squalus was upright on the seabed, it proved possible to connect the chamber to an escape hatch and begin bringing up the survivors. However, the chamber was only designed to bring up a few men at a time, and oxygen in the submarine was steadily running out. It was decided to take the risk of overloading the chamber to speed up the rescue operation, and in four dives over 13 hours, all 33 survivors were rescued. The lost submarine was later salvaged. Renamed USS Sailfish in 1940, the submarine had a successful operational career in the Pacific Ocean during the Second World War.

Only a week after USS Squalus sank, the Royal Navy suffered a very similar accident to one of its submarines, but with a less happy outcome. On the 1st of June 1939, the new submarine HMS Thetis left its builders' yard in Birkenhead to undertake diving trials in Liverpool Bay. The crew of the submarine was 59 men, but there were 103 people inside the craft on this voyage. The additional passengers were other naval personnel and a team from the shipbuilders. When an officer checked the forward torpedo tubes, indicators showed them all to be sealed and dry, but the indicator on one tube was faulty. When the officer opened the inside hatch, water poured in because the outside hatch was open for reasons unknown. The two forward compartments of the submarine were flooded before watertight doors could be closed. The submarine sank and hit bottom at 150 ft (45 m). As the submarine was longer than 150 ft and rested at an angle, a small part of its stern actually appeared above water at low tide, but there was no way to get into the hull from this point. Under Admiral T. Rule's orders, the Davis individual escape apparatus was only to be used if rescue vessels were known to be above the wreck site. Unfortunately, it took HMS Brazen some time to find the wreck using its sonar. The destroyer signaled its arrival by dropping small explosive charges. The angle of the submarine's hull made it difficult to use the escape hatch, but four men, three naval and one civilian, did manage to reach the surface. The picture they gave of the situation inside the submarine was not good. With a normal number of crew, the oxygen in the craft might last 36 hours, but with almost twice that number of people, it was being used up rapidly. Although the Port of Liverpool sent salvage vessels to assist, they had no specialist knowledge about dealing with submarines. A diving bell would be no use since the submarine's hull was at an angle. Divers were even flown down from Scapa Flow, where they had been working on the wrecks of the scuttled German fleet, but they arrived too late. All 99 men left in the Thetis were dead. The submarine was later salvaged and in 1940 became HMS Thunderbolt. Under its new name, the submarine was sunk off Sicily by an Italian warship in 1943. There were no survivors.

On the same day that Britain declared war on Nazi Germany, the 3rd of September 1939, the passenger ship Athenia became the first victim of the U-boat. It was sunk northwest of Ireland with 117 passengers and crew killed, including 28 US citizens. The Second World War would reconfirm the submarine as a major weapon of naval warfare. Germany's U-boats would sink more than 3,000 merchant ships, some 70% of all Allied shipping losses, as well as 175 Allied warships. In reply, the Allies would sink more than 700 U-boats. Submarines also played a major role in the war against Japan. American submarines sank 1,113 Japanese merchant ships, more than half of all Japanese shipping losses, and 201 Japanese warships. The US Navy lost 52 submarines.

If submarines continued the major role that had begun in the First World War, the Second World War saw aircraft have a major impact on the war at sea for the first time. The aircraft carrier became a major naval unit on a par with the battleship. Indeed, it would soon supplant it. Looking again at the losses of major units of the Royal Navy in the Second World War, the British lost five battleships and battle cruisers along with eight aircraft carriers. Of the battleships and battle cruisers, two were torpedoed by U-boats, two were sunk by aircraft, and one was sunk by enemy surface vessels. Nearly all the aircraft carriers were sunk in combat: five by U-boats, one by air attack, and one by surface action. The only non-combat loss was the escort carrier HMS Dasher, which was destroyed by an accidental explosion in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland, in 1943, killing 379 of the 528 crew. As in the First World War, no major units were lost in storms. The new threat aircraft posed to ships became obvious during 1940 with German aircraft sinking British ships during the Norwegian campaign and the evacuation of Dunkirk. Even after the latter event, British troops remained in France, and it became necessary to evacuate them from western French ports during June 1940. This led to perhaps the greatest loss of life from one ship in British maritime history. The passenger ship Lancastria had been taken over by the British government at the start of the war and became a troop ship. After evacuating British troops from Norway, the ship became available to carry out similar work from western French ports. The Lancastria, commanded by Captain Rudolph Sharp, arrived off the mouth of the River Loire on the 16th of June 1940, intending to collect troops from the port of Saint-Nazaire. On the following day, the captain was asked how many passengers he could take on board. As Sharp had brought back 2,653 men from Norway, despite the official capacity of his ship being only 1,850 troops, he said that up to 3,000 men might be loaded. The evacuees, mostly army and air force personnel, but with a few civilians, were steadily brought out to the ship from Saint-Nazaire in small boats. The agreed number of evacuees was quickly exceeded, and Captain Sharp later said that around 5,500 people were taken on board, although others have claimed the number was even higher. By the afternoon of the 17th of June 1940, the Lancastria was full and ready to depart for England. But German aircraft renewed their attacks on the evacuation fleet at the mouth of the Loire. The Lancastria was hit by three or four bombs and sank within 20 minutes. Almost 2,500 survivors were picked up by other ships, but the number of people who died has been a matter of contention ever since. Around 1,800 people have been identified as perishing in the shipwreck, but many others undoubtedly died. Recent estimates of 3,000 to 5,000 dead seem excessive. The official death toll for British forces in the campaign in France and Belgium in 1940 is a little over 11,000. If 3,000 died in the Lancastria, this would be almost a third of the official death toll for the whole campaign. If 5,000 perished, that would be almost half. A more likely figure seems to be around 2,000 dead, which would still mean that a fifth of all fatalities in the campaign occurred in the sinking of just one ship, and it would make the loss of the Lancastria the most deadly single shipwreck in British maritime history.

Although aircraft and submarines would be the main weapons that sank ships during the Second World War, surface warships still had a role to play. Although fleet actions such as the Battle of Jutland did not occur in the war against Nazi Germany, perhaps the most famous clash of surface warships involved the hunt for and sinking of the German battleship Bismarck in 1941. The Bismarck, accompanied by the cruiser Prinz Eugen, avoided the British blockade and escaped into the North Atlantic on the 22nd of May 1941 with the intention of attacking transatlantic convoys. British warships set off in pursuit. And on the 24th of May, the battlecruiser HMS Hood and the battleship HMS Prince of Wales intercepted the two German warships in the Denmark Strait between Iceland and Greenland. In the first exchange of fire, the Hood was hit by German shells and exploded. Admiral Lancelot Holland and 1,414 men died, with only three survivors. The Prince of Wales, also hit, was forced to withdraw. However, the Bismarck had also been damaged with flooding near the bow, and it was decided to head for Brest in German-occupied France. A British air attack later damaged the battleship's steering, and it could only go round in circles. The Prinz Eugen was detached while the Bismarck awaited its inevitable fate. British warships, including two battleships, gathered, and hit by shells and torpedoes, the Bismarck was sunk on the 27th of May. Only 114 men survived from a crew of more than 2,200.

After his discovery of the Titanic in 1985, Robert Ballard went on to look for other famous lost ships, one of which was the Bismarck. Ballard found the battleship's wreck 378 mi (608 km) west of Brest, France, in 15,000 ft (4.5 km) of water in June 1989. Examination of the wreck led Ballard to produce an outline of the sinking of the Bismarck. The ship capsized as it sank, with the four main gun turrets falling out of the hull. The sinking ship then struck an undersea mountain and slid down its slope before coming to a halt, upright and half-buried in mud. Most of the ship's hull below the waterline is beneath the mud, while the ship's stern is broken off. The superstructure was largely destroyed during the battle, but the secondary gun turrets are still attached to the hull. Traces of the painted swastika air recognition panel can still be seen on the deck near the bow. It was clear that British shells had struck the armor belt of the Bismarck, but few seemed to have penetrated it. This gave rise to speculation that, as survivors claimed, at the last moment, the Bismarck had been scuttled by its crew rather than sinking because of battle damage. This has given rise to a rather pointless dispute. Its demise was probably due to a combination of the two.

The wreck of the Bismarck's victim, HMS Hood, was found by shipwreck hunter David Mearns in 2001 at a depth of 9,334 ft (2,845 m), 270 mi (434 km) southwest of Reykjavík, Iceland. The wreck is in three pieces, with the bow, midship section, and stern section lying apart with two debris fields. Mearns speculated that the Bismarck's shells hit the aft magazine of the Hood, which exploded, blowing off the stern. Then, as the battlecruiser started to sink, flames reached the forward magazine, which exploded and blew off the bow. Since it is a war grave, nothing should be removed from the Hood. But eventually, the Royal Navy agreed that the ship's bell could be raised. This was brought up in August 2015 by a team organized by billionaire shipwreck hunter Paul Allen.

Surface clashes between major warships were rare in the war against Germany and Italy, although the British Mediterranean fleet did sink three Italian cruisers and two destroyers in the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941. Most of the naval action in this struggle revolved around convoys, particularly those taking war supplies to the Soviet Union, those in the Mediterranean taking supplies to the besieged island of Malta, and above all, the convoy battles in the Atlantic with German U-boats trying to stop supplies reaching Britain from North America. The Arctic convoys took place in particularly difficult weather conditions because of the almost continuous daylight in summer, which assisted German U-boats and aircraft in destroying convoy PQ17 in July 1942. Most of the convoys to Russia took place between autumn and spring, including in the winter months of almost total darkness and much stormy weather. It might be assumed that such winter storms would take a toll on convoy ships, but in fact, this was not the case. Most of the 104 Allied merchant ships lost between 1941 and 1945 on this route were sunk by German submarines or aircraft. Only one was sunk in a storm: the American Liberty ship SS John L. Curry, which foundered when part of convoy RA53 in March 1943. Of the 23 Allied warships lost while escorting the convoys, only two were lost in storms: a Soviet destroyer and a small British warship. The largest Allied losses were the British cruisers HMS Trinidad and the gold-carrying HMS Edinburgh. None of the 36 German warships, mostly U-boats, lost attacking the Arctic convoys was destroyed in storms. The largest loss was the battlecruiser Scharnhorst, sunk by the British battleship HMS Duke of York on the 26th of December 1943. Out of a crew of 1,968 men, only 36 survived. The wreck of the Scharnhorst was found in September 2000, lying upside down in 950 ft (290 m) of water.

If some Allied merchant ships were lost in the icy waters of the Arctic, others became wrecks in warmer climes. One such was the British cargo ship SS Thistlegorm, 5,000 gross tons. Built in Sunderland, England, in 1940 for the Albyn Line, the Thistlegorm was sent on a variety of voyages. The first was to the USA to collect steel rails and aircraft parts. The second to Argentina for grain, and the third to the West Indies to collect a cargo of rum. The fourth and final voyage of the Thistlegorm began at Glasgow, Scotland, in early June 1941. The ship was bound for Alexandria, Egypt, and carried a varied cargo for British forces in that country: armored vehicles, trucks, motorcycles, light machine guns, rifles, ammunition, aircraft parts, and radio equipment. Two steam locomotives for the Egyptian National Railways were secured on deck. Captain William Ellis had 40 crew and nine Royal Navy gunners to man the ship's armament: a machine gun and a 4.7-inch gun. As the direct route through the Mediterranean was blocked by the enemy, the Thistlegorm joined a convoy sailing to Egypt via the Cape of Good Hope. Reaching the Red Sea in September 1941, the ship could not transit the Suez Canal because a collision had caused a temporary blockage. The Thistlegorm went to an anchorage off the southern point of the Sinai Peninsula to await the reopening of the canal. German intelligence believed a large troop ship, allegedly the Queen Mary, was also in the anchorage off Sinai. So, two German bombers were sent from Crete to attack this valuable target. They reached the anchorage on the 6th of October 1941, but found no large troop ship. Instead, they attacked the other vessels. One was the Thistlegorm, which was hit near the stern by two bombs, which also caused an explosion in some of the munitions cargo. The two locomotives were blown off the deck, one falling on either side of the ship. The Thistlegorm sank with the loss of four sailors and five naval gunners. Captain Ellis and the other survivors were quickly rescued. The two German planes failed to make it back to Crete, and their crews finished the war in a prisoner of war camp in Canada.

The SS Thistlegorm seemed to be just one of thousands of merchant ships lost in the Second World War. Yet, it was to achieve fame. During the 1950s, the wreck was visited by Jacques Cousteau, who removed various items, including a motorcycle, the captain's safe, and the ship's bell. He described diving on the wreck in his book, The Living Sea, 1963. Middle East wars then plunged the wreck back into anonymity for several decades. However, in the 1990s, when the Egyptians began to develop the nearby town of Sharm El Sheikh as a tourist resort, diving on Red Sea shipwrecks by scuba divers was encouraged. With most of its holds open, giving easy access to the varied military cargo within, and lying in only 100 ft (30 m) of water, the Thistlegorm quickly became a popular dive site. One observer claimed to have seen no fewer than 33 dive boats tied up to the wreck on one day. In 2007, the Thistlegorm was named one of the top 10 wreck diving sites in the world in an article in The Times of London. Sadly, this popularity has led to damage to the wreck and accelerated the natural processes of decay.

While some Allied convoys ventured to the Arctic or the Red Sea, the most important convoy battleground was in the Atlantic Ocean. The Battle of the Atlantic began on the first day of the Second World War in September 1939 and continued until almost the last day of the European War in May 1945. The fact that the conflict was so long and widespread makes it difficult to visualize the oceanic battlefield. But recent work on shipwrecks in one particular sector has allowed a more detailed picture to emerge of events in one area of the Battle of the Atlantic. After the USA joined the Second World War in December 1941, the first 6 months of 1942 witnessed repeated U-boat successes along the east coast of the USA due to American slowness in introducing a convoy system and a lack of anti-submarine vessels and aircraft. Much of this action was concentrated around the Cape Hatteras coastline of North Carolina in an area known as Torpedo Junction. During the Second World War, 78 merchant ships, eight Allied naval vessels, and four U-boats were lost off the coast of North Carolina, with most of them sunk in the first half of 1942.

As already noted, after the discovery of the Civil War wreck of USS Monitor in 1973, the US government set up the nation's first marine sanctuary as a way of protecting the wreck. Since then, interest has grown in extending that sanctuary to cover other shipwrecks in the area with a particular emphasis on ships lost in the Battle of the Atlantic. In 2008, the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, with the archaeological team of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary leading the effort, joined with the US National Park Service and other departments and institutions to begin a survey of the Second World War wreck sites off the North Carolina coast, which continued until 2014. More than 40 wreck sites were visited and surveyed, most being the wrecks of tankers and cargo ships sunk by U-boats in 1942. Initially, three known U-boat wrecks were visited: U85, lost in April 1942, the first German submarine sunk off America's east coast by US naval forces; U352, lost in May 1942, the first submarine sunk by the US Coast Guard in the area; and U71, lost in July 1942, the first submarine sunk by a USAF bomber off the east coast. In 2014, the survey found the wreck site of a fourth submarine, U576, which had been sunk by surface gunfire and air attack.

In July 1942, the Royal Navy sent some ships to assist the Americans in anti-submarine operations along their east coast. And among these were two dozen anti-submarine trawlers. One of these, HMT Bedfordshire, was torpedoed and sunk by U558 on the 12th of May 1942, killing all 37 crew. Four bodies washed up on local beaches soon afterwards, but only two were identifiable. They were buried on Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, in what is one of the smallest British war cemeteries in the world. The wreck of the Bedfordshire was carefully surveyed, and as with most of the other wreck sites, a diver slate was produced for the guidance of sports divers.

Another armed fishing vessel being used for anti-submarine duties in 1942 was the former New England fishing boat USS YP 389. Deciding it was too small to be worth a torpedo, on the 19th of June 1942, U71 launched a surface attack using its deck gun. For more than an hour, the two vessels exchanged fire until YP 389 sank. As already noted, U701 was itself sunk in the area only 2 weeks later. Another civilian vessel that had been turned into an escort ship had been lost further out to sea from Cape Hatteras in the previous month. This was USS Kithra, formerly a private steam yacht. The ship had left Norfolk, Virginia, bound for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, via the Panama Canal. But in the early hours of the 2nd of May 1942, it was hit by two torpedoes from U42 and sank quickly. As it did so, two of its own depth charges exploded, adding to the carnage. There were only two survivors from a crew of 71 men. The U-boat captain then rescued these two men, who eventually reached Nazi Germany to become some of the earliest American prisoners of war held in its camps. The wreck of the Kithra has never been found.

Another elusive shipwreck lost east of Cape Hatteras was the Canadian passenger cargo ship Lady Hawkins, bound from Canada to the West Indies. On the 19th of January 1942, the ship was struck by two torpedoes from U66. It sank in 30 minutes, and many of the 320 passengers and crew got away in three lifeboats. Unfortunately, only one of these boats, carrying 70 survivors, was ever found. Some 250 people had perished, making this the largest loss of life on a Canadian-flag merchant ship in the Second World War.

As well as government agencies, the US diving community has made determined efforts over the years to find the wrecks of all U-boats lost off the east coast of the USA. However, one wreck was to present particular problems for the divers who discovered it. In 1991, Bill Nagel learned of a possible shipwreck site off the coast of New Jersey from local fishermen, who were always one of the best sources of information about likely wreck sites. Nagel organized a diving expedition to the site, and the divers were delighted to find a sunken U-boat 240 ft (73 m) beneath the sea. Later research led them to believe the submarine was either U521 or U550, both of which were known to have been lost in American waters, but whose wrecks had not been found. In the meantime, the sunken submarine was nicknamed "You," and diving operations continued on the site. Sadly, three divers perished during the work. The divers John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, who were among the first discoverers of the wreck, made further efforts to identify the submarine, but without success. Then a knife was found with a name inscribed on it. However, when the name was checked against U-boat crew lists, the man was found to have been a member of the crew of U869, which according to official records had been lost off the coast of Morocco in February 1945, thousands of miles from New Jersey. Chatterton and Kohler continued to dive on the wreck site in hope of finding items that could identify the U-boat. Finally, in 1997, they found a spare parts box in the motor room, which was marked as being issued to U869. Further research eventually clarified how U869 had ended up off the coast of New Jersey rather than Morocco. In February 1945, it had originally been ordered on a mission to the east coast of North America. But then a radio message was sent directing the submarine to patrol near the Strait of Gibraltar instead. Allied codebreakers picked up this message, but the commander of U869 did not. After the end of the war, Allied researchers tried to match attacks by Allied warships on supposed submarine contacts with German records of U-boat deployments and losses. In February 1945, Allied warships had attacked a supposed submarine contact off Rabat, Morocco, not far from the Strait of Gibraltar. Knowing the missing submarine U869 had been ordered to that area, the researchers decided that this was where the U-boat had been sunk. In fact, the U869 had reached its original destination in American waters and been sunk there. Chatterton and Kohler speculated that the submarine had been sunk by one of its own torpedoes, which had swung round after launching and hit the U-boat. Others rejected this idea and claimed that U869 was probably sunk by two US naval vessels that had attacked a sonar contact in the area. The wreck of U550 was found off the coast of New England in 2012. The men who died in U869 were just some of the 30,000 U-boat men who perished in the Second World War. Most had trained in the Baltic Sea, where one of the main training bases was at Gotenhafen, now Gdynia, Poland. In early 1945, one of the barracks ships there was reactivated to evacuate the personnel from the base. This was the Wilhelm Gustloff, and as well as naval personnel, it would take on thousands of refugees fleeing the advance of the Soviet armies. Massively overloaded, the ship would be sunk with the greatest loss of life from a single ship known to history.

Evacuations by sea were always risky, as shown by the loss of life from the sinking of the British ship Lancastria in 1940. But in early 1945, the German Navy launched Operation Hannibal, one of the greatest maritime evacuation efforts ever undertaken. Between the 23rd of January and the 8th of May 1945, more than a million German military personnel and civilian refugees were taken across the Baltic Sea from eastern areas of the German Reich to find safety in the west from the Soviet advance. More than 150 vessels were sunk during this operation, the biggest of which was the Wilhelm Gustloff. Originally built in the 1930s as a cruise ship for the German Labor Front, the Wilhelm Gustloff was taken over at the start of the Second World War by the German Navy. Initially used as a hospital ship, it was then taken to Gotenhafen in late 1940 and served as a floating naval barracks for the next four years. In January 1945, the ship was put back into service to transport U-boat training school personnel to Western Germany. Postwar researchers have claimed that the ship was carrying a total of 10,582 people when it put to sea: 173 crew, 918 naval personnel from the U-boat school, 373 female naval auxiliary helpers, 162 wounded soldiers, and 8,956 civilians, who included Nazi officials but were mainly refugees. On the evening of the 30th of January 1945, the Wilhelm Gustloff was struck by three torpedoes fired by the Soviet submarine S13. Only nine lifeboats were launched from the sinking ship, with the others frozen in their davits. Some 40 minutes after being hit, the ship was lying on its side. 10 minutes later, it sank bow first in 144 ft (44 m) of water. German vessels picked up 1,252 survivors, but all the rest, more than 9,000 people, perished. As one of the largest shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea, lying in fairly shallow waters, the Wilhelm Gustloff has attracted interest from divers. But Polish authorities have now banned diving within a 1,600 ft (500 meter) radius of the wreck, which is regarded as a war grave.

Most of the battles between fleets in the Second World War took place in the Pacific theater, where the US and Japanese navies clashed. Between August 1942 and February 1943, the two sides fought half a dozen naval battles during the struggle for control of the island of Guadalcanal in the southern Solomon Islands. The clashes were especially fierce in and around Savo Sound, the stretch of water bordered by Savo, Guadalcanal, and Florida islands, with more than 40 warships and transports lost in those waters. The combatants were to rename the area Iron Bottom Sound because of all the ships sunk there. The two main battles were the Battle of Savo Island, the 9th of August 1942, when the Japanese crushed an Allied squadron, sinking three American cruisers and one Australian cruiser, and the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in November 1942. The latter action came in two parts. On the 12th and 13th of November, the Americans lost two cruisers and four destroyers, while the Japanese lost one battlecruiser, one cruiser, two destroyers, and seven transports. In the second phase, on the 14th and 15th of November, the Americans lost three destroyers, while the Japanese lost another battlecruiser, a destroyer, and four transports.

No systematic attempt was made to look for these lost ships until Robert Ballard arrived with a search team in the autumn of 1991. His survey found 10 probable wreck sites in Iron Bottom Sound, and he returned in the summer of 1992 to undertake more detailed work. In all, 13 wrecks were found, including USS Quincy and HMAS Canberra, cruisers lost in the Battle of Savo Island, and the Japanese battlecruiser Kirishima and American cruiser USS Atlanta, both lost in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. The wrecks were often found a considerable distance from the place they were thought to have sunk. The majority of the wrecks lay in waters ranging from 984 to 3,638 ft (300 to 1,109 m) deep. But other wrecks were in shallower water. For example, the cruiser USS Atlanta was in 423 ft (129 m) of water. Further searches in 1994 to 1995 by American and Australian divers found more wrecks, including a Japanese submarine and the New Zealand Corvette HMNZS MOA. Able to use the very latest technology, Paul Allen organized a detailed AUV survey of Iron Bottom Sound in January 2015. The detailed survey of 279 square miles (725 km) of seabed found 29 wreck sites, including some found in 1992 by the Ballard expedition. Among the new wrecks found in 2015 were those of the American cruiser USS Astoria, lost in the Battle of Savo Island, and a number of American and Japanese destroyers. Further work in 2018 found the wrecks of other American warships that had been lost some distance away from Guadalcanal. One was the cruiser USS Juneau. Damaged in the first phase of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, the cruiser was later torpedoed by a Japanese submarine and blew up. Almost 700 men died, including the five Sullivan brothers. Unfortunately, it was assumed that everybody on board had died in the explosion, and no immediate search for survivors was made. In fact, around 100 men survived the sinking, but by the time searchers found them, only 10 were still alive. The shattered wreck of the cruiser lies 14,000 ft (4,267 m) deep.

It was not only big ships that perished in the naval battles in the Solomons. In August 1943, the American motor torpedo boat PT 109 collided with a Japanese destroyer in the central Solomons and was sunk. Two men died, and there were 11 survivors, including the boat's commander, Lieutenant John F. Kennedy, later President of the United States. The survivors reached a nearby island and, aided by local people, were eventually rescued from behind Japanese lines by US forces. In 2002, Robert Ballard found what are believed to be some of the remains of PT 109.

By 1944, the Japanese were on the defensive, and US forces were steadily advancing towards the home islands of Japan. In the hope that the latest German military technology might boost their chances of victory, the Japanese set up a long-distance exchange system with Hitler's Germany. Earlier exchanges using merchant ship blockade runners were defeated by Allied naval power. So the Japanese and Germans sent exchange goods via submarines instead. In return for technology, the Germans received metals and other raw materials that were in short supply. In March 1944, the large Japanese cargo submarine I-52 left Singapore bound for Lorient, France. Its cargo for the Germans included 9.8 tons of molybdenum, 11 tons of tungsten, 120 tons of tin, 60 tons of raw rubber, 3 tons of opium, and 3.3 tons of quinine. Also in the cargo was 2.2 tons of gold in 146 bars packed into 49 metal boxes, which was payment for German optical equipment. The submarine had a crew of 94 men and also carried 14 passengers, mostly Japanese technicians going to study German military technology. I-52 crossed the Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic Ocean, and by the start of June 1944, it had reached the Mid-Atlantic. The Japanese and Germans were not the only people monitoring the progress of the submarine. Allied codebreakers knew all about the voyage of I-52. And when they learned it was to meet up with the German submarine U530 on the 22nd or 23rd of June 1944, arrangements were made for a US Navy task force of an escort carrier and four destroyers to go to that rendezvous as well. U530 duly met I-52 and passed over fuel, a radar detection system, an Enigma coding machine, and three German naval personnel: a liaison officer and two radar operators. The German submarine had just left the rendezvous when the US naval task force arrived. Night had fallen, but the carrier sent up aircraft to search for the enemy submarines. One plane got a radar contact and dropped flares, revealing a submarine, I-52, making a crash dive. Two depth charges were dropped on the submarine as it disappeared below the waves. The American plane then dropped a sonobuoy, which could pick up underwater sounds and transmit them to the aircraft. Propeller noises were heard, so the plane dropped an acoustic torpedo, which would be drawn to those sounds. This torpedo probably sank the I-52, but when another plane patrolled the area and claimed to hear more propeller noises, another acoustic torpedo was dropped.

I-52 was largely forgotten for the next half century. But by the 1990s, underwater search technology had advanced so much that finding the submarine wreck and its cargo of gold became a realistic proposition. In late 1994, two rival salvage expeditions were being prepared, one British and one American, although both would use Russian survey ships and submersibles. The British expedition began to search in early 1995. By March, the British had found nothing, and the American team, led by Paul Tidwell, moved in. At first, their efforts were equally unsuccessful, but after they revised their search methodology, they eventually found the wreck of the I-52, some 17,000 ft (5,200 m) deep, deeper than the wreck of the Titanic. The wreck was miles away from the US Navy's 1944 plot of the sinking position. The wreck lies upright on the seabed with its conning tower intact and hull number still visible. The bow section is broken, probably from hitting the bottom, while a large hole after the conning tower was probably caused by one of the acoustic torpedoes. There is also a large debris field. Tidwell and his associates hoped to raise the submarine and get the gold, now said to be worth $100 million. However, the Japanese government stepped in, claiming ownership of the submarine as a state warship and also a war grave. Negotiations with the Japanese government gave hope that they might allow some salvage work on the wreck. In 1998, Tidwell revisited the sunken submarine, and some items later passed to Japan were raised from the debris field, but it is likely that the gold is still inside the main hull. In 2020, Tidwell was still hoping that an expedition could be mounted to retrieve the gold, but he estimated it would cost $8 to 10 million to carry out such an operation.

The last great effort of the Japanese Navy in October 1944 led to the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle in history. Over 3 days, about 400 ships and more than 1,800 aircraft clashed in four separate engagements linked to a Japanese attempt to destroy the US forces landing at the island of Leyte in the Philippines. The Americans lost three aircraft carriers and three destroyers, 200 planes, and 3,000 men. The Japanese lost 28 ships, including four aircraft carriers, three battleships, 10 cruisers, and 11 destroyers, 300 aircraft, and more than 12,000 men. This defeat ended all major operations by the Japanese Navy.

One engagement in the Battle of Leyte Gulf took place in the Sibuyan Sea in the central Philippines. A Japanese force including the two biggest battleships in the world, the Yamato and the Musashi, was attacked by hundreds of US carrier aircraft. The Musashi became a particular target, struck by an estimated 19 torpedoes and 17 bombs. The mighty ship eventually sank, but 1,376 of the 2,399 men on board were saved. The wreck of the Musashi was found by Paul Allen in 2015, lying 3,000 ft (910 m) underwater. The Sibuyan Sea force eventually came through the San Bernardino Strait and seemed in a good position to head south and destroy the US invasion fleet off Leyte. Only a group of American escort carriers and destroyers were left to oppose the Japanese off the island of Samar. Aircraft attacked the superior Japanese force, while destroyers carried out torpedo attacks and laid smoke screens. One of the attacking destroyers was USS Johnston, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Ernest E. Evans. The captain was one of the few US Naval officers of Native American ancestry, half Cherokee and one-quarter Creek, and his crew called him "the Chief." Evans did not hesitate to attack the enemy despite giant 18-inch shells from the battleship Yamato falling around his small ship. However, the end was inevitable. The Johnston was badly damaged and sank, with only 141 men saved out of a crew of 327. Evans was not among the survivors, but he was awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor, the only Native American and the only destroyer captain in the US Navy to receive America's highest award for valor during the Second World War.

In recent years, there has been a search for the US ships lost in the Battle of Samar. In 2019, it was announced that the remains of a ship had been found at a depth of 20,046 ft (6,220 m) off the Philippines, the deepest shipwreck ever located. The remains included two 5-inch gun turrets, two funnels, and a propeller shaft and propeller. Marks in the bottom mud indicated that the main part of the lost ship had probably gone deeper after striking the seabed. In March 2021, it was announced that the hull of the wreck had been found at 21,180 ft (6,460 m) below the surface. The ship's number was still visible on the hull, and this confirmed it was USS Johnston.

The battleship Yamato survived the Battle of Leyte Gulf. But in April 1945, it was sent on a virtual suicide mission to attack the US invasion fleet at Okinawa. The ship never reached the island, being sunk by massive attacks from US carrier aircraft. Almost 2,500 men perished. What was thought to be the wreck of the

Yamato was found in 1982, but it was not confirmed as that ship until 1984. It lies 180 mi (290 km) southwest of the Japanese island of Kyushu in 1,120 ft (340 m) of water.

There were originally supposed to be three Yamato class battleships: Yamato, Mousashi, and Shinano. But it was decided in 1942 to complete the third battleship, Shinano, as an aircraft carrier since the Japanese Navy was forced to accept that the age of the battleship was over. The Shinano was commissioned in November 1944 and, at 65,000 tons, it was the largest aircraft carrier ever built up to that time. The ship was to go from Yokosuka to Kure in Japan to complete its fitting out. But on the way, it was hit by four torpedoes from the American submarine USS Archerfish. For 8 hours, the commander of the Shinano tried to keep his ship afloat, but it eventually sank. Almost 1,500 men, including the captain, perished. The Shinano remains the largest warship ever sunk by a submarine. Although a position is known for the sinking, it is not known whether the wreck has been found.

It might seem that the enemy was the only threat to warships in the Second World War. But in the second half of 1944, the US Navy learned that nature could still be a formidable adversary. In September 1944, a powerful hurricane swept north along the east coast of the USA. The destroyer USS Warrington was sunk by this storm 450 mi (720 km) east of Vero Beach, Florida, with the loss of 248 men. There were only 73 survivors. A small minesweeper, USS YMS-409, was also caught in the hurricane and sank with the loss of all 33 men on board.

Shocking as these losses were, they were surpassed by the impact of a typhoon in the Western Pacific that struck Admiral Halsey's fleet in December 1944. After operations against Japanese bases in the Philippines, Halsey had taken his fleet into the Philippine Sea to carry out refueling, but this was interrupted by the arrival of a powerful typhoon. Halsey misjudged its course and took his fleet into it rather than away from it. Three destroyers, USS Hull, USS Monahan, and USS Spence, capsized and sank, while many other ships were damaged. Some 790 sailors died in the sunken ships, with only 90 survivors. Survivors from the Hull claimed that at one point its officers were considering taking over command from the captain because they did not like his handling of the ship during the hurricane. They did not do so, and the captain survived the loss of his ship. But the incident served as inspiration for a similar incident in Herman Wouk's 1951 novel, The Caine Mutiny. Admiral Nimitz, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, correctly noted that the number of men lost in the three sunken destroyers was equivalent to the sort of fatalities incurred in a major naval battle with the Japanese fleet.

The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 would finally force Japan to surrender. But those bombs would have a link to the US Navy's last great ship loss of the Second World War. In July 1945, the cruiser USS Indianapolis had taken atomic bomb components for Little Boy, the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, to an air base on the island of Tinian. Later, the ship left Guam, bound for Leyte in the Philippines. There were few active Japanese warships left, least of all submarines. So, Captain Charles B. McVey had discretion about whether to follow a zigzag course or not. Having received no warning of Japanese submarines in the area his ship was to cross, he decided not to do so.

Early on the morning of the 30th of July 1945, the Indianapolis was spotted by I-58, one of the few Japanese submarines still on patrol, and torpedoed. The ship sank in only 12 minutes. But out of 1,195 crew, only about 300 went down with the ship. The other 890 men went into the sea with few lifeboats or rafts and little food or water. Due to administrative confusion between naval commands, the non-arrival of the Indianapolis at Leyte was not noticed, and no search was made for the ship. Only 4 days after the sinking did an aircraft on a routine patrol report a group of survivors in the ocean. Rescue vessels were sent, but only 316 of the survivors were still alive. All the rest had died of exposure, dehydration, and shark attacks. With a total of nearly 900 men lost in the sinking of the Indianapolis, this was the greatest loss of life at sea from a single ship in the history of the US Navy. More men died in the sinking of the battleship USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor on the 7th of December 1941, but that ship was in port. Captain McVey survived the loss of his ship and was scapegoated at the subsequent court-martial. However, Admiral Nimitz ignored the verdict and restored McVey to active service, although he would never command a ship again.

Failed attempts were made to find the wreck of the Indianapolis in 2001 and 2005, but research in 2016 indicated that the ship might have been moving faster than previously thought, putting it further to the west of its presumed sinking site. Working on this calculation, a new search began in 2017, and on the 19th of August, the wreck was found some miles west of the sinking position reported in 1945. The Indianapolis lies at a depth of 18,044 ft (5,400 m) in the Philippine Sea.

As after the First World War, the majority of Germany's surrendered U-boats ended up in Britain. But while the U-boats surrendered in 1918 were mostly scrapped, a different fate awaited those handed over in 1945. The Royal Navy decided to sink 116 of the 156 surrendered U-boats in three areas 100 miles (160 km) northwest of Ireland. This was Operation Deadlight, which took place between November 1945 and February 1946. Unfortunately, because of their poor condition, 56 of the submarines foundered before they even reached the scuttling areas. Those that made it were sunk by gunfire and torpedoes rather than scuttling charges.

Between 2001 and 2003, the nautical archaeologist Innes McCartney discovered and surveyed 14 of the U-boat wrecks. U-778 was found to be suitable for salvage. It was intact, having sunk on the way to the scuttling areas, and was at a comparatively shallow depth of around 230 ft (70 m), 18 mi (30 km) northeast of Malin Head, Ireland. Plans were made to raise the submarine, but rising costs and the death of a diver on the wreck led to the cancellation of the project.

Unlike after the First World War, the defeated states had few large surface warships to hand over to the victors. Most of the German and Japanese capital ships had already been sunk. Nevertheless, three ships—the Japanese battleship Nagato and cruiser Sakawa, and the German cruiser Prinz Eugen—were available for postwar use by the victors. Taken under US Navy control, they were sent to Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean to be target ships in the atom bomb tests known as Operation Crossroads in July 1946. Test Able, when the atom bomb was exploded in the air, sank the Sakawa and a few other vessels. But Test Baker, exploding an atomic bomb underwater, had a greater impact on the target ships. The Nagato sank, as did a number of obsolete US naval vessels, including the battleship USS Arkansas and the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga. The Prinz Eugen survived both tests with only a little damage. However, after being towed to Kwajalein Atoll in September, the condition of the cruiser steadily deteriorated, and it capsized in December 1946. The upturned wreck is still there, with part of the stern showing above the water. In 2018, environmental concerns led to most of the remaining fuel oil being removed from its wreck.

At the end of the 1980s, reduced radiation levels in the Bikini Atoll allowed a survey of the ships sunk in the atom bomb tests. Both the Japanese battleship Nagato and the American battleship Arkansas were found lying upside down, but the aircraft carrier Saratoga was found upright and with comparatively little damage to its hull. The top of the Saratoga wreck is only 50 ft (15 m) below the surface. At various times in recent years, sports divers have been allowed to visit the Bikini Atoll. The Saratoga is one of only three aircraft carrier wrecks accessible to scuba divers. The others are the former USS Oriskany, sunk as an artificial reef in the Gulf of Mexico in 2006, and the wreck of the British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes, sunk by Japanese aircraft in 1942, which lies in the Indian Ocean off Batticaloa, Sri Lanka.

The only significant naval war since 1945 was the short conflict over the Falkland Islands in 1982. The main Argentine loss was the cruiser General Belgrano, ex-USS Phoenix, which was torpedoed by the British nuclear-powered attack submarine HMS Conqueror. Although the British task force recaptured the islands, it was not without loss. Unable to establish full control of the air around the islands, the British lost two destroyers, HMS Sheffield and HMS Coventry; two frigates, HMS Ardent and HMS Antelope; one landing ship, Sir Galahad; and one transport, Atlantic Conveyor, to Argentine air attacks with bombs and missiles.

Collisions still posed a threat to warships, and the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne had the unhappy distinction of sinking two destroyers from two different navies in collisions. During an exercise off Jervis Bay, Australia, on the 10th of February 1964, the Melbourne collided with the Australian destroyer HMAS Voyager, which sank with the loss of 82 lives. On the 3rd of June 1969, while taking part in a multinational exercise in the South China Sea, the Melbourne collided with the American destroyer USS Frank E. Evans, which sank with the loss of 74 lives.

The biggest warship sunk since 1945. And, in fact, the biggest warship ever sunk was the American aircraft carrier USS America. 80,800 tons full displacement. It was the first large carrier sunk since the Saratoga in Operation Crossroads in 1946. The America had been decommissioned in 1996, and in 2005 the US Navy decided to use the old carrier in weapons tests and then scuttle it. After two weeks of tests, the America was scuttled on the 14th of May 2005, some 250 mi (400 km) southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The ship lies upright in one piece at 16,860 ft (5,140 m) below the surface of the North Atlantic Ocean.

One of the most important technological advances since 1945 has been the installation of nuclear reactors in submarines, which allow the craft to stay on patrol for an almost indefinite period. Nuclear power is used for both ballistic missile submarines and attack submarines, and the US Navy was to suffer two tragic losses of the latter during the 1960s.

In April 1963, the nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Thresher left the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at Kittery, Maine, where it had just completed a refit, and headed out into the North Atlantic to carry out test dives. The presence of dockyard personnel had boosted the number of people in Lieutenant Commander John W. Harvey's submarine to 129 men. During the dives, the Thresher had a communication link with an accompanying surface vessel. But on the 10th of April, the latter heard garbled messages that seemed to indicate the submarine was in trouble. Then came sounds that were interpreted as meaning that the Thresher's hull had imploded. After a long search, the remains of the submarine were found at a depth of 8,523 ft (2,598 m). There were no survivors, and this remains the worst submarine disaster for fatalities. Although some wreckage was recovered, the cause of the sinking has never been clearly established. The US Navy speculated that a brazed seam on a saltwater pipe had failed, filling the engine room with high-pressure salt spray, which then shorted out the electrical systems. Attempts to rise to the surface by dumping ballast were thought to have been thwarted by ice in the ballast pipes. With no electrical power, the engine stopped, and the submarine sank with its hull imploding once it passed its crush depth.

After the loss of the Thresher, the US Navy made greater efforts to ensure the safety of its submarines. But another craft was to be lost in 1968. The nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Scorpion was on its way from Rota, Spain, to its home base at Norfolk, Virginia, in May 1968 when it was diverted to monitor a Soviet naval exercise near the Canary Islands. After this was done, the submarine continued on its homeward journey. But near the Azores on the 22nd of May, something went wrong. The submarine sank, killing Commander Francis Slattery and the rest of his 98-strong crew. The US Navy began a search for the Scorpion, but it was not until October 1968 that the wreck was found in 11,500 ft (3,550 m) of water, 276 mi (444 km) southwest of the Azores, near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

Various theories were put forward to explain the loss of the Scorpion, and some people suggested that the submarine already had mechanical problems before it set out on its last voyage. The US Navy took the view that the submarine was lost due to a catastrophic event, specifically an explosion in the bow area, which may have been caused by problems with torpedoes. Others have suggested an explosion of hydrogen during battery charging. Conspiracy theorists believe the Scorpion was the victim of an attack by a Soviet submarine. The remains of both the Thresher and the Scorpion have been visited a number of times over the years by expeditions organized by the US Navy. The main reason is said to be to see if radiation is leaking from the nuclear reactors. But in both cases, the reactors seem to be secure in their containment vessels. The Thresher carried no nuclear weapons, but on the Scorpion, two of its torpedoes had nuclear warheads, which are said to be still intact. Robert Ballard carried out a survey of the wreck sites in 1985, and it was at the end of this expedition that he was allowed to undertake the search that led to the discovery of the wreck of the Titanic.

The Scorpion was not the only submarine lost in 1968. On the 8th of March, the Soviet diesel-powered ballistic missile submarine K-129 was lost with all hands in the North Pacific Ocean northwest of the Hawaiian Islands. The submarine had three missiles carrying nuclear warheads on board, and America's CIA would mount a special operation to salvage the K-129.

Back in January 1968, two submarines disappeared in the Mediterranean Sea. One was the Israeli submarine Dakar (XHMS Totem), which sank during its voyage from Britain to Israel with the loss of all 69 crew. The wreck was eventually found between Crete and Cyprus in 1999, and the conning tower of the Dakar was raised and taken to a museum in Haifa. Shortly after the Israeli submarine went missing, a French submarine, the Minerve, failed to report and was later given up as lost. 50 years later, in 2018, the relatives of the 52 men lost in the Minerve pressed the French government to renew the search for the wreck, claiming it was the only Western submarine lost since 1945 whose wreck had not been located. A search was undertaken the following year, and in July 2019 the wreck was found 28 mi (45 km) south of the French naval base at Toulon in 7,710 ft (2,350 m) of water.

As the sinking of the K-129 showed, the Soviets also lost submarines during the Cold War, and some of these were nuclear-powered. One such was K-8 (NATO designation November class), which caught fire in the Atlantic in April 1970. The submarine was taken in tow, but on the 11th of April, it sank near the Bay of Biscay. In all, 60 men died. The Yankee-class nuclear-powered ballistic submarine K-219 suffered a fire and explosion in the Mid-Atlantic in 1986. It was taken in tow but sank on the 3rd of October. Fortunately, only six men had died in the incident. On the 7th of April 1989, K-278 (Consum class) sank in the Barents Sea after a fire broke out, and 42 men died. In May 2021, more than 30 years after the sinking, the Russians sent an expedition to assess the environmental threat posed by the wreck of this nuclear submarine.

The Soviet Union came to an end in 1991, and in the first decade of the Russian Federation, the Navy suffered considerable neglect. In August 2000, it was decided to hold the first big naval exercise for a decade in the Barents Sea off northern Russia. Among the ships taking part was the Oscar II-class nuclear submarine K-141 Kursk. Hardly had the exercise begun when underwater explosions were detected. Only after 6 hours had passed was it thought that these might be linked to the Kursk, and a search for the submarine began. It took 16 hours to find the submarine, which was lying on the bottom of the Barents Sea. Over 4 days, the Russian Navy failed in its attempts to attach four different diving bells and submersibles to the escape hatch of the sunken submarine. Britain and Norway offered assistance, but the Russian government was slow to respond. Eventually, the foreign help was approved, but when 7 days after the sinking, British and Norwegian divers finally opened the escape hatch, nobody was found alive inside. In all, 118 men had died, although 23 seemed to have survived the initial explosions and got into a compartment near the stern where they held on to life for a few extra hours before succumbing. The whole submarine, apart from the bow section, was later salvaged. The loss was attributed to the explosion of volatile fuel in one torpedo, which then set off further explosions of torpedo warheads.

The United States lost another nuclear attack submarine in 2009 in rather unusual circumstances. USS Miami was undergoing a refit at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at Kittery, Maine, when a disgruntled dockyard worker started a fire aboard the submarine. The resulting blaze caused extensive damage, and the US Navy decided the cost of repair was too high, leading to the decommissioning of the vessel and its subsequent scrapping.

In 2013, a smaller US warship was lost in a more traditional manner. The mine countermeasures vessel USS Guardian ran aground on Tabatha Reef in the Philippines and could not be salvaged. It was broken up where it lay.

Another dockyard fire at San Diego, California, in July 2020 caused a serious loss to the US Navy. The amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard was undergoing maintenance work when a fire broke out and burned for 4 days before finally being extinguished. Investigators now suspect the fire was caused by arson. The cost of the repair has been judged excessive, so the ship has been decommissioned and will be scrapped. The Bonhomme Richard is the largest US surface warship to be lost since 1945.

Submarines have again shown their vulnerability in recent years. In November 2017, the Argentine diesel-powered submarine San Juan and its 44 crew went missing near the San Jorge Gulf. A year later, the imploded wreck was found 290 m (460 km) southeast of Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina, at a depth of 2,976 ft (97 m). In April 2021, a similar type of submarine in the Indonesian Navy, the Nanggala, went missing while on exercise north of the island of Bali. The wreck was located within days, but none of the 53 crew survived. The wreck is at a depth of 2,752 ft (839 m) and is broken into three pieces. The reasons for the loss of these two submarines have not yet been established.

Among the great changes in international merchant shipping in the decades after 1945 were the rapidly increasing size of ships and the provision of ever more effective electronic aids to ensure maritime safety. During the Second World War, the USA mass-produced a standard tanker, the T2 type. It had a deadweight tonnage of 16,000 tons. Built during the 1970s, the Butalus class of supertanker had a deadweight tonnage of more than 500,000 tons. Although not on such a vast scale, an increase in size would be seen in most types of merchant ship. As to electronic aids, merchant ships increasingly had radar after 1945, followed by radio navigation systems such as DECCA and LORAN. And in more recent times, satellite navigation systems such as GPS. Yet, even the latest equipment could not always ensure safety, as seen in the 1956 collision of the Andrea Doria and the Stockholm, both of which had radar.

The pride of the Italian merchant fleet, the passenger ship Andrea Doria, was approaching the American coast on the 25th of July 1956, bound for New York. Having just left that port, the Swedish passenger ship Stockholm was heading eastwards, bound for Gothenburg, Sweden. There was fog in the area south of Nantucket Island, but both ships were aware of each other thanks to radar. The problem was that officers on each ship seemed to have misinterpreted the course the other ship was likely to steer, and the ships were not in touch by radio. When officers on the bridge of the Andrea Doria realized that the approaching Stockholm was much nearer than they expected, it was too late. The Swedish ship rammed the Andrea Doria amidships and left a gaping hole. The Italian liner took on a severe list, preventing the launch of half its lifeboats, and began to sink. However, it did send out a distress message, and soon a number of ships in the vicinity were rushing to its assistance. Fortunately, the Andrea Doria did not sink for 11 hours, and all passengers and crew were safely evacuated except for the 44 people killed in the initial collision. Five crew members were killed on the Stockholm. The ship captains blamed each other for the collision, and a long court case seemed likely. However, shortly before proceedings were about to begin, the two shipping companies agreed to a private settlement of the dispute. In the 1950s, there was much public criticism of the Italian captain for the collision, but more recent studies have questioned the Swedish officer of the watch's interpretation of images on his ship's radar.

Since the top of the wreck of the Andrea Doria initially lay only 160 ft (50 meters) below the surface, the ship soon became an attraction for scuba divers. The wreck was plundered for souvenirs, but at a considerable cost in lives. Over the years, a number of people, variously given as 18 or 22, have died diving on the wreck. The Stockholm was many years later converted into a cruise ship. Currently, it is called the Astoria and, having been originally built in 1948, is the world's oldest cruise ship. Whether it can survive the current scrapping of older ships in the cruise industry because of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is an open question.

The loss of the Andrea Doria was the last major shipwreck involving a transatlantic liner. In 1959, the number of people crossing the Atlantic by air exceeded the number crossing by sea for the first time. Within 10 years, transatlantic passenger liners would largely cease operations. In 1968, Cunard's Queen Elizabeth made its last transatlantic voyage and was sold. In 1970, the ship was bought by the Hong Kong shipping magnate C.Y. Tung. He renamed the ship Seawise University and sent it to Hong Kong to be refitted as a floating university and cruise ship. In January 1972, while the refit was still ongoing, the ship caught fire and was burned out. With the water poured in by fireboats, causing it to capsize. Most of the wreck was scrapped in 1974 to 1975, but some pieces may still lie on the harbor bottom. At the time of its loss, the Seawise University, 83,673 gross tons, was the largest passenger ship ever sunk.

Cruise ships became the new giants of the passenger ship world, and by the early 21st century, some were twice the size of the Seawise University. For example, the Symphony of the Seas, built in 2018, was 228,000 gross tons and could carry more than 6,000 passengers. Such a ship dwarfed not only the Queen Elizabeth of 1938 but the Titanic of 1912. The potential for a disaster involving such giants of the sea was considerable, but until 2012, no major shipwreck involving a big cruise ship had occurred.

On the evening of Friday the 13th of January 2012, the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia, 114,000 gross tons, was heading along the west coast of Italy at the start of a cruise to various Mediterranean ports. For reasons that are still unclear, the ship's captain decided to pass close to the island of Giglio. The Costa Concordia struck an offshore reef, and a long gash was torn in the hull. Parts of the engine room were soon flooded, and power to much of the ship was lost. The damaged vessel headed for the shore and then rolled over onto its side. Fortunately, it was lying on an underwater ledge and did not slip into deeper waters nearby. The captain fled the ship in one of the lifeboats and refused to return when ordered to do so by the Italian Coast Guard officer directing rescue efforts. It took over 6 hours to evacuate the people on the ship. Of the 3,229 passengers and 1,023 crew on board, only 32 died in the shipwreck. The captain was later imprisoned, and the Costa Concordia was salvaged in 2013 to 2014, taken to Genoa, and scrapped in 2014 to 2017. The small loss of life in this potential maritime catastrophe was seen by some as miraculous. The total cost of the disaster and subsequent salvage was said to be around $2 billion, more than three times the $612 million construction cost of the ship. The Costa Concordia is now the largest passenger ship ever to have been shipwrecked.

As already noted, tankers experienced a massive growth in size in the post-1945 period, and it was the loss of supertankers carrying huge amounts of oil that caused public concern about the damage to the environment.

The supertanker Seawise Giant was, by some measures, the largest ship ever built: 260,941 gross tons but 564,763 deadweight tons, and it was certainly the largest ship ever sunk when it was lost in 1988. Built in Japan, the ship was bought by C.Y. Tung of Hong Kong in 1979. During the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988), the ship was bombed by Iraqi aircraft when it was anchored off Larak Island, Iran, on the 14th of May 1988. Set on fire, the ship sank in shallow water off the coast. After the end of the war, the giant tanker was salvaged and repaired at Singapore. From 1991, the ship, now called Happy Viking by its new owners, traded as a tanker. But in 2004, it was sold and became a floating oil storage unit in the Gulf under the name Knock Nevis. In 2009, the ship was taken to Alang, India, to be scrapped.

After 1945, ships carrying small dry bulk cargoes of coal or grain were soon replaced by ever larger bulk carriers. However, increased size did not necessarily guarantee safety, as shown in the sinking of the bulk carrier Derbyshire in 1980, the largest British-registered ship ever to be lost. Built in 1976, the Derbyshire (ex-Liverpool Bridge) was carrying a cargo of 160,000 tons of iron ore from Canada to Japan. On the 9th of September 1980, the ship was struck by Typhoon Orchid east of Okinawa. It disappeared without a distress call, and the only wreckage ever found was an empty lifeboat. The 42 crew, plus two wives of officers, all died. The initial British government inquiry into the loss was content to blame the powerful forces of the typhoon for sinking the Derbyshire. The families of the dead were not prepared to accept this without further research. In 1986, the Cowoun Bridge, another member of the Bridge class of bulk carrier, was lost off Ireland. Cracking in the hull was a factor in its loss. This led to a new inquiry into the loss of the Derbyshire, but when its report appeared in 1989, blame for the loss was still primarily placed on the stormy weather. The families remained unsatisfied and enlisted trade union support, both national and international, to organize a search for the wreck. The loss of that ship was not an isolated incident. Between 1975 and 1990, some 279 bulk carriers had been lost worldwide, killing more than 750 sailors. The International Transport Workers' Federation wanted to use the case of the Derbyshire to alert the public to the wider tragic situation. The Federation provided much of the funding for the expedition, led by the shipwreck hunter David Mearns, which set out to find the lost ship in 1994. Mearns carried out his task successfully, finding the Derbyshire at a depth of 13,200 ft (4,230 m), east of Okinawa. He had expected to find the ship largely in one piece. Instead, it was found shattered into hundreds of pieces, although the bow and stern were still identifiable. Another inquiry recommended a more systematic survey of the wreck, and this was carried out in 1996 to 1997, producing a photo mosaic of the wreck site. One interpretation of the photos claimed the bow had flooded because the crew failed to secure a hatch properly. A conclusion that infuriated the families. A final inquiry into the loss of the Derbyshire was promised in 1997, but did not, in fact, take place until 2000, 20 years after the ship sank. The report of the inquiry exonerated the crew of any negligence and claimed that waves had knocked off the covers of small ventilators on the bow, allowing water to enter that part of the ship. As the bow sank lower, huge waves began to crash down on the hatch cover on number one hold, which was eventually broken, allowing the hold to fill with water. The same process then took place on number two hold and so on up the hull until the ship lost buoyancy and suddenly plunged beneath the waves. As part of the hull still contained air, this led to implosion as the ship sank deeper, smashing the wreck into pieces.

Even before the final Derbyshire report came out, the IMO had decided to act to improve bulk carrier safety. New rules for the construction of bulk carriers were adopted in 1997, while regulations to strengthen the hatch covers of all cargo ships came into force in 2005.

While tramps metamorphosed into bulk carriers, the break-bulk cargo liners of old became container ships from the 1960s onwards. Once again, the new ship type grew rapidly in size, and by the end of the 20th century, ships carrying thousands of containers, measured in TEU (20ft equivalent units), were carrying much of the world's trade. The container ship, later named MOL Comfort, was built in Japan in 2008 and could carry a container load of more than 7,000 TEU. In June 2013, the MOL Comfort was on a voyage from Singapore to Saudi Arabia when it ran into stormy weather in the Indian Ocean, 230 mi (370 km) off the coast of Yemen. On the 17th of June, serious cracks developed in the hull, and the crew of 26 were taken off safely. The ship then broke in two, and salvage tugs tried to tow each part into port, but without success. The stern section sank on the 27th of June, and the bow section on the 11th of July. In all, 4,382 containers, equivalent to 7,041 TEU, were lost, making this the largest number of containers ever lost in a single shipwreck. The cost to insurers of the lost ship and containers was said to be $300–400 million. The MOL Comfort had a gross tonnage of 86,000 tons, but by 2020, there were giant container ships more than twice that size and with a container capacity of more than 20,000 TEU.

One such ship was the Ever Given, built in Japan in 2018. The ship was a typical example of today's international shipping industry. Owned in Japan, registered in Panama, chartered to the Taiwanese shipping firm Evergreen, and under day-to-day management by a German company. On a voyage from Malaysia to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the Ever Given entered the Suez Canal northbound on the 23rd of March 2021. Strong winds and a sandstorm hit the ship, and it lost steering control, becoming jammed diagonally across the canal and completely blocking the waterway. Around 50 ships passed through the Suez Canal every day, and blocking it for any length of time promised to cause considerable disruption to world trade. For 6 days, Egyptian authorities struggled to free the Ever Given and finally succeeded. Trade began to flow again, but the ship was seized by the Egyptians, who demanded a large compensation payment from its owners. The Ever Given was released in July 2021 after a confidential settlement was agreed. The overall cost of this incident has yet to be fully assessed, but so far as insurers are concerned, it may well be one of the most expensive shipwrecks in history.

The amphibious ships used in the Second World War developed the roll-on, roll-off (Ro-Ro) concept in moving vehicles and other equipment. After 1945, this concept was particularly attractive when applied to ferries. Not only could they carry passengers, but they had a vehicle deck with access at both ends. The problem with this was that the vehicle deck could not be divided into compartments. If large amounts of water got into the vehicle deck, it could be easily flooded along the whole length of the ship. Such water could also shift to one side and cause the ship to capsize. This is what happened to the Ro-Ro ferry Herald of Free Enterprise. In March 1987, the ship left the harbor at Zeebrugge, Belgium, bound for England, with the officers on the bridge unaware that the bow doors had not been closed. Water poured into the vehicle deck, and the ship quickly capsized, lying on its side. Some 193 passengers and crew died, but more than 400 others were rescued.

An even worse disaster struck a Ro-Ro ferry in the Baltic Sea in 1994. On the evening of the 27th of September 1994, the ferry Estonia left Tallinn, Estonia, bound for Stockholm, Sweden. It soon ran into stormy weather, and early on the morning of the 28th of September, waves broke off the bow visor of the ship, and water poured into the vehicle deck. The ship began to list, and within 20 minutes, it was lying on its side in the sea. Soon afterwards, it sank, stern first. Although a distress call had been sent, the first rescue vessels did not reach the area until an hour after the sinking. In all, 137 people survived this disaster, and 95 bodies were recovered from the sea. But the wreck of the Estonia, lying on its starboard side in 260 ft (79 m) of water, became the final resting place of 757 men, women, and children. The death toll of 852 made this the worst maritime disaster in European waters since the Second World War.

However, within only a few years, another Ro-Ro ferry disaster was to eclipse the Estonia in terms of the number of deaths. The ferry Le Joola ran a service between the Casamance region of southern Senegal and the capital Dakar. On the 26th of September 2002, the ship left Ziguinchor in the Casamance region and headed north. Officially, Le Joola had a capacity for 536 passengers, 44 crew, and 35 vehicles, but more than 1,000 tickets had been sold to passengers, and many other people had come aboard without tickets. On route to Dakar, it stopped at Carabane, and several hundred more people came on board. It has been estimated that around 1,800 people were on the ship by this time, but others put the figure at more than 2,000. Already overloaded, Le Joola now ventured out to sea. The ship had been designed to work inshore, having a flat bottom to allow access to shallow waters, and was not intended to go far from the coast. However, when 22 mi (35 km) out to sea during the night, the ship was struck by a short-lived but fierce storm. Unsecured freight slid to one side, giving the ship a list. Then water began to enter the vehicle deck, and only 5 minutes after running into trouble, the ship capsized. Although local fishermen picked up some survivors, the Senegalese authorities were not aware of the loss until late on the morning of the 27th of September. Some survivors were on the upturned hull, listening to the screams of people still trapped inside the ship. In mid-afternoon, Le Joola finally sank, settling in 75 ft (23 m) of water. More than 500 bodies were eventually recovered from the ship or washed up on West African beaches. There were only 64 survivors, of whom only one was a woman, although at least 600 women were aboard the ship. The official death toll for the disaster was at least 1,863, making this the second worst maritime disaster in peacetime.

The worst maritime disaster also involved a ferry, but not of the Ro-Ro type. The Doña Paz was a passenger ship originally built in Japan in 1963 with an intended passenger capacity of 600. It was sold to the Sulpicio Lines of the Philippines in 1975, and its passenger load was increased to 1,500. In 1981, the ship's name was changed to Doña Paz. Twice a week, the ship traveled the route from Tacloban City on the island of Leyte to the capital Manila on the island of Luzon. On the morning of the 20th of December 1987, the ship left Tacloban with, according to official records, 1,493 passengers. In fact, it may have been carrying three times as many. This was the ship's last trip before Christmas, and thousands of people wanted to reach loved ones in Manila for the holiday.

At around 10:30 p.m. on the 20th of December, the Doña Paz collided with the tanker Vector, which was carrying a cargo of gasoline, diesel, and kerosene in the Tablas Strait. The circumstances of the collision are unknown because all 58 crew on the Doña Paz died, and the two survivors from the Vector claimed to have been asleep when the ships collided. Nevertheless, damage to the Vector's hull showed it had been struck by the Doña Paz. An explosion took place after the collision, and soon both ships were engulfed in flames. 2 hours after the collision, the Doña Paz sank in 1,800 ft (550 m) of water. 2 hours later, the Vector also went to the bottom. Seeing the initial explosion, some nearby ships went to give aid, but the Philippine authorities were not aware of the disaster until hours later. There were only 26 survivors, 24 from the Doña Paz and two from the Vector. Initially, the government of the Philippines claimed that 1,493 passengers and 59 crew had died on the Doña Paz before changing the figures to 1,583 and 58. However, it was soon clear that there had been hundreds of people on the ship who were not on any passenger list. Of the 24 survivors from the Doña Paz, only five appeared on the passenger manifest. As people reported relatives who had been aboard the ship, the toll of dead increased rapidly. The government finally gave figures of 4,374 dead, including 58 crew from the Doña Paz and 11 from the Vector. The overall total of 4,385 dead made this the worst peacetime maritime disaster in history.

Part Two: The Last 60 Years. Seven: Shipwrecks as Science: The Development of Maritime Archaeology.

When modern archaeology began to emerge as an academic discipline during the 19th century, it was purely land-based. Although ancient Greek and Roman statues might be brought up from the depths of the Mediterranean Sea by fishermen and sponge divers, land archaeologists had no interest in finding the shipwrecks from which they came. Though archaeologists would not go to the lost ships beneath the sea, they soon came across ships buried on land. In 1880, a Viking ship burial was found at Gokstad in Norway and was carefully surveyed and excavated. It would eventually be taken to a museum in Oslo. Using information obtained during the excavation, a replica of the ship was built, and in 1893, it sailed from Bergen, Norway, and successfully crossed the North Atlantic Ocean to the USA. The vessel went to the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and was the object of much popular interest. This early effort in experimental nautical archaeology—that is, building a replica of an ancient ship based on archaeological findings—was not to be repeated until after 1960. And today, numerous replicas of ancient ships, such as the Corinian ship, the Bremen Cog, and further Viking ships, have taken to the seas.

Only at the start of the 20th century was the first ancient shipwreck found underwater and made the subject of scientific study by archaeologists. The Antikythera shipwreck was found off the southern coast of Greece by sponge divers in 1900, and archaeologists in Athens were eventually told about it. With the assistance of the Greek Navy, divers were sent down to salvage the cargo of ancient Greek artifacts, including a number of statues. However, there was no systematic excavation of the wreck. The divers were merely bringing up artifacts piece by piece. Similarly, beyond dating the shipwreck to the 1st century B.C.E., the archaeologists had little interest in the lost vessel itself. The ancient artifacts were what mattered, and they were soon filling museum storerooms in Athens.

In 1907, Tunisia was still a French protectorate, with the country largely run by French officials. One such was Alfred Merlin, the head of Tunisia's antiquities service. In that year, he came across various ancient Greek artifacts for sale in the markets of Tunis. Upon further investigation, Merlin found that the artifacts had come from Greek sponge divers working off the east coast of Tunisia, eventually establishing that the divers had brought up the pieces from a shipwreck off the port of Mahdia. Enlisting the support of museums in France and divers from the French Navy, Merlin carried out annual excavations of the wreck between 1908 and 1913. The wreck was dated to the 1st century B.C.E., and the works of art were found to be just part of a cargo that included columns of Greek marble in unfinished condition and many amphorae. Merlin had little interest in the ship itself, although he did try to draw up a plan of the shipwreck site based on reports from the divers. Most of the recovered artworks now fill several galleries of the Bardo Museum in Tunis. Jacques Cousteau visited the wreck in 1948, but the ship itself was not the subject of excavation until the work of G. de Froberville in 1953 to 1954. In 1993, the British maritime archaeologist Menson Bound led German divers in further work on the wreck site.

After the First World War, archaeological interest in watercraft shifted to freshwater sites. It had been known for centuries that the remains of two Roman ships lay at the bottom of Lake Nemi in Italy, but only in the 1920s were efforts made to find them. In 1929, the lake was drained, and two large vessels were found and excavated. Dated to the reign of Emperor Caligula, they were believed to be floating palaces or temples. The mortise-and-tenon construction of their hulls was thought to be peculiar to special imperial vessels. Only after 1945, when hundreds of Roman wrecks came to be examined, was it realized that this method of hull construction was the standard shipbuilding technique in the ancient Mediterranean. Later removed to a local museum, the two Roman ships were destroyed during the Second World War.

In the United States, an American gunboat, the Philadelphia, which had been lost in 1776 during the American War of Independence, was raised from the depths of Lake Champlain, New York State, in 1935. It was placed on a barge, and for decades, tourists paid money to see the vessel. Only in 1961 did the gunboat pass from commercial to museum hands. It remains the oldest preserved American warship and is displayed in the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History in Washington D.C. In 1991, a replica of the Philadelphia was launched, which now sails around Lake Champlain.

The interwar period also saw more discoveries of ancient ships and boats on land. The first of the Ferriby Bronze Age boats was found in England in 1937. But it was the Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo, found in 1939, which caused the greatest stir among British archaeologists. Although the timbers of the ship had long since rotted away, their outline could clearly be discerned in the surrounding clay, so the ship's form and dimensions could be quickly established. The most important find was a treasure trove of high-status artifacts that had been buried with the deceased Anglo-Saxon chieftain or king and had not been plundered by grave robbers.

The invention of scuba diving by Jacques Cousteau and Émile Gagnan during the Second World War seemed to promise easier access to undersea archaeological sites, but at first, archaeologists showed little interest in the innovation. Cousteau himself visited various shipwrecks, including the Mahdia wreck. But his most important wreck work before 1960 was probably that concerning the Roman shipwreck found off the island of Grand Congloué between Marseilles and Cassis on the Mediterranean coast of France. This was excavated by Cousteau and Fernand Benoît from 1952 to 1957 and then by Pierre Willo up to 1961. Operating at depths of 104 to 147 feet (32 to 45 meters), the scuba divers soon found that the shipwreck was in fact two shipwrecks. The first lost vessel was a ship, probably Greek, that sank in the late 3rd century B.C.E., while the second was likely a Roman ship which sank on top of the Greek one in the 1st century B.C.E. The cargoes of both ships largely consisted of pottery and amphorae, the universal carrying jars of ancient Greece and Rome. Although this project was once again largely a case of divers bringing up material for land-bound archaeologists, it did pioneer numerous techniques for underwater excavation, such as the employment of scuba divers, the use of airlifts to remove sand and sediment from wreck sites, and the deploying of air balloons to lift heavy artifacts to the surface. This equipment is now considered standard on most underwater excavations.

One problem posed by the growing popularity of scuba diving during the 1950s was that it allowed amateur divers easy access to shallow-water shipwrecks which they could plunder with no concern for their archaeological value. Ancient shipwrecks were easy to find in such waters along the Mediterranean coasts of France and Italy because of the telltale piles of amphorae that marked the sites of lost ships. Archaeologists did not dive and were totally dependent on the scuba divers they employed. The realization that it would be easier to teach diving to archaeologists than archaeology to divers was slow to dawn. Only in 1960 would the first proper archaeological excavation of an ancient shipwreck with diving archaeologists take place off the southwest coast of Turkey.

In the late 1950s, the American photojournalist and amateur archaeologist Peter Throckmorton had been diving on that part of the Turkish coast in search of ancient shipwrecks. Turkish sponge divers had given him valuable information about the possible sites of such wrecks. One was near Cape Gelidonya, and in 1959 Throckmorton found that wreck site. He was accompanied by the British...

woman Honor Frost, who was also a diver with archaeological interests. The two divers agreed to see whether they could find archaeologists in their home countries who would be willing to carry out a scientific excavation of the wreck.

Frost enlisted the help of British archaeologist John Duplatt Taylor, who was well known for her work on ancient sites in Cyprus. Throck Morton approached the University of Pennsylvania Museum for support. This was granted, and George F. Bass was appointed as their representative on the expedition.

Taylor was not a diver, but she was interested in exploring new areas of archaeology. While Bass's diving experience was distinctly limited, nevertheless, all the expedition participants agreed to try and apply the methods of land archaeological excavation to an underwater shipwreck site.

Also joining the expedition was the French diver Frederri Duma, an associate of Jacqu Kustoau and co-author with him of the book *The Silent World*, 1953, the seminal work on undersea exploration.

First, the shipwreck site was surveyed using measuring rods usually found on land excavations. Careful sketches were made and many photographs taken. Then, the process of bringing up artifacts was begun with careful notes taken of their exact position within the wreck before their removal. Airlifts helped to clear away sediment and find hidden objects.

Once the artifacts reached the surface, the process of conserving them could begin. Much of the ship's cargo consisted of metal bars, which had become part of rock-like concretions over the centuries. It would take too long to free them underwater, so air balloons raised the heavy lumps to the surface, and they were broken up on shore, as well as cargo and crew items. The remains of the ship itself were also found, and the timbers brought up for conservation.

This was the first time a shipwreck on the seabed had been comprehensively excavated with methods more usually associated with land archaeology. From the artifacts recovered, it was established that the ship had probably sunk around 1,200 B.C.E., making the wreck more than 3,000 years old and the oldest ever discovered up to that time.

It turned out not just to be a Bronze Age vessel, but one in which bronze implements were manufactured. Copper bars and the remnants of tin bars, the constituents of bronze, were found in the wreck along with metalwork equipment. So, it appeared to have been a floating smithy. Originally thought to be Canaanite or early Phoenician, it is now believed the vessel came from Cyprus, given that so many of the artifacts have been linked to that island.

Most of the people involved in this first complete scientific excavation of an ancient shipwreck continued their interest in the emerging field of maritime archaeology. Jean Dupla Taylor helped to set up Britain's Council for Nautical Archaeology in 1964 and was the first editor of the *International Journal of Nautical Archaeology* in the 1970s. Honor Frost went on to new underwater excavations. One of her most notable achievements was the excavation of a Punic Carthaginian shipwreck off Marsala in Sicily during the 1970s. Peter Throckmorton continued to search for ancient wrecks and in 1975 discovered the Dookos wreck off Greece, which is still regarded as the oldest shipwreck ever found.

George Fbass arranged for the artifacts from the Cape Galadonia wreck to be kept together and lodged in the old castle of the port of Bodram on the Turkish coast. In later years, he went on to find other ancient wrecks off the Turkish coast, and these too found their way to Bodram, forming the core collection of what is now the Bodram Museum of Underwater Archaeology. Bass also took a leading role in developing maritime archaeology around the world, setting up the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, INA, in the United States. In the late 1980s, Bass took INA divers back to the Cape Galedonia wreck and found further artifacts there.

Although maritime archaeology had its origins in the hunt for Greek, Roman, and other ancient shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea, important developments in the infant science were also taking place in Northern Europe. Amateur diver Anders Franzen had found the almost intact hull of the Swedish warship Vasa, lost 1628, in the depths of Stockholm Harbor in 1956, and after many difficulties, the ship was finally brought to the surface in 1961. Lodged in a dry dock, the Vasa was continuously sprayed with water to stop its timbers from drying out. Long-term preservation only became possible when it was discovered that PEG, polyethylene glycol, could be used to replace the water inside the wood and preserve it. Swedish efforts in preserving the Vasa were to provide valuable lessons for maritime archaeologists raising and preserving lost ships in other parts of the world.

The Gawkstat and Osabberg ship burials in Norway preserved examples of the classic Viking long ships, but other types of ship were known to have existed in that period, and it was not until 1961 that they came to light. In that year, the Skoolaloo Viking ships, which had been sunk near Rosskilda, Denmark in the late 11th and early 12th century C.E., were surrounded with a coffer dam. The water inside was pumped out, and the ships were excavated as if they were on land. The remains of the vessels were eventually lifted and taken ashore for further preservation.

In 1962, the hull of a medieval cog, built circa 1380 C.E., was found in the river Vaser near Bremen, West Germany. This too would eventually be lifted from the water and preserved, residing in a museum. Several replicas of the brim and cog were also built and taken to sea.

In 1965, the writer and amateur diver Alexander McKe commenced a search for the wreck of King Henry VIII's warship Mary Rose off Portsmouth in England. Although the area where the wreck was likely to be was known, McKe and his fellow amateur divers had considerable difficulty in locating the lost ship. New technology might help them in their search. Magnetometers were already being used to find metal objects on the seabed, such as iron cannons, which might indicate shipwreck sites.

In 1963, Harold Edertton of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the USA had found a wreck using the side-scan sonar he had invented. This allowed its users to get a picture of the seabed, which enabled them to detect unusual objects or other anomalies that might indicate the presence of a shipwreck. Edertton also developed sub-bottom profilers that could find anomalies beneath the seabed. After first using his equipment to find wrecks in the Mediterranean Sea, Edertton came to Portsmouth in 1967 to help in the search for the Merry Rose. Anomalies were detected under the seabed at the supposed site of the wreck, but it was still not possible to locate the lost ship precisely. In the end, the ship would be revealed in 1971 by natural processes. Winter storms had removed much of the sand covering the wreck, and its timbers were exposed.

The search for the Mary Rose also highlighted a problem found in the UK and other countries. There was no specific legal protection for historic shipwrecks. McKe was forced to rent the supposed site of the wreck from the Mary Rose from the Crown for a nominal sum in order to discourage treasure hunters. Other incidents involving historic shipwrecks in the UK at this period also underlined the need for new laws. In 1967, the wreck of HMS Association, lost 1707, was found in the Isles of Scilly. It was plundered by salvage divers, and many of the recovered artifacts were sold at auction in 1969 and 1970. In 1971, the wreck of the first royal yacht, the Mary, lost 1675, was found near Holyhead in North Wales, and rival groups of amateur divers clashed when trying to recover artifacts from the wreck.

Only in 1973 did Parliament pass the Protection of Wrecks Act, which gave legal protection to historic shipwrecks around the country's coasts, thus supporting the interests of maritime archaeologists rather than treasure hunters.

The 1970s would see a global spread of maritime archaeology, moving out of Europe to the USA, Canada, Australia, and Africa. However, much work continued in the Mediterranean Sea. In 1967, French naval divers found a large Roman wreck at Madra de Jon near Toulon. Between 1972 and 1982, the wreck site was excavated in 11 seasons of underwater archaeological work. This was the most thorough scientific excavation of a shipwreck ever undertaken in France. The work revealed one of the largest Roman ships ever found. It could carry a cargo of around 400 tons. Only the Albena Roman wreck found off the Italian coast in the early 1960s was bigger, with a cargo capacity of 600 tons. The Mudra Deian wreck contained thousands of amphorae that had held wine and also a quantity of ceramics. The latter allowed the wreck to be dated to between 75 and 60 B.C.E.

Also in 1967, a Greek diver had shown Michael Kutzv, an associate of George Bass, the ancient wreck off the port of Kyrenia on the north coast of Cyprus. Excavation of the ship's cargo took place in the late 1960s, and once this had been removed, it was found that much of the ship's hull had survived. Well-preserved wrecks have usually reached a state of equilibrium with their underwater environment over the centuries. But once they are disturbed, this will be lost. By removing the cargo which protected the ship's timbers, cuts have exposed the remains of the hull to the likelihood of rapid decay. Since the ship was not large, around 25 tons, it was decided to raise the remnants of the hull. This was done, and the timbers along with recovered artifacts were subject to conservation by Katz and his wife Susan up to 1974 in Kyrenia Castle, where they remain on display in the museum. The Kyrenia ship was probably lost around 300 B.C.E., but dendrochronological analysis of tree rings in its timbers suggested the ship had been built almost 18 years earlier, with various repairs taking place over its lifetime. A Greek ship, probably from the island of Rhodes. It may have been sunk after a pirate attack. A replica of the Kyrenia ship was built in the 1980s and sailed between Greece and Cyprus.

From the mid-1960s, the American state of Florida had seen a rush of treasure hunters intent on finding the wrecks of Spanish treasure ships lost on the Florida coast between the 16th and 18th centuries C.E. Other than issuing search permits and demanding a share of any treasure recovered, the state of Florida initially exercised little control over the activities of the treasure hunters. It was said in the 1960s that while maritime archaeologists concentrated on ancient shipwrecks in the Mediterranean, treasure hunters would plunder the Spanish treasure shipwrecks in the Caribbean.

The state of Texas was to take a different approach in the 1970s. Three ships from a fleet returning to Spain in 1554 had been driven westwards by storms and wrecked on Padre Island on what is now the coast of Texas. One shipwreck was found in 1967 by a treasure hunting company, and many artifacts were removed. The state of Texas sued for their return and was successful, although had to pay a large salvage fee to the treasure hunters. After this affair, Texas passed a law that gave the state complete control of all shipwrecks in its waters. Texas hired maritime archaeologists to do a scientific excavation of a second 1554 ship in the early 1970s, which was the first systematic archaeological excavation of a shipwreck in American waters.

In Canada, the first major maritime archaeological excavation took place in Red Bay on the coast of Labrador. Parks Canada initially sent maritime archaeologists to search for a whaling ship, the San Juan de Pasahes, which had come from the Basque area of northern Spain and been lost in December 1565. They found not only this ship but the remains of two others and four boats sunk in the bay, as well as the remains of the Basque whaling settlement on land. Extensive archaeological work took place at Red Bay between 1978 and 1984, with the underwater component the most comprehensive maritime archaeological project ever undertaken in Canada. Among the small craft found was a Chalupa, a 26 ft (8 m) whaling boat. A replica of this was built at Pasajes, Spain, and in 2006 it sailed from Quebec to Red Bay under a rig with two masts.

The first Spanish Armada 1588 wrecks had been found in the 1960s, with the Girona located on the Antrim coast of Northern Ireland being excavated in 1967 to 1969. Further wrecks were found in both Ireland and Scotland during the 1970s. The most notable were the Gran Griffon off Fair Isle in Scotland, found in 1970, and the La Trinidad Valencera of Donegal in Ireland, found in 1971. Colin Martin, a maritime archaeologist from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, was a leading figure in the excavation of both wrecks during the 1970s.

In Australia, the wreck site of the Dutch East Indiaman Batavia, lost off Western Australia in 1629, had been found in 1963. But it was only in 1972 that proper excavation of the site began. Worries about the legal protection for the site led to the passage of the Historic Shipwrecks Act in 1976. The excavation of the Batavia lasted from 1972 to 1976, and the artifacts recovered are displayed in the Western Australian museums. In 1977, the wreck of the British frigate HMS Pandora was discovered off the coast of Queensland. This was the ship sent to track down the mutineers from HMS Bounty, and it had been lost on the Great Barrier Reef in 1791. Like the Batavia, the Pandora was given protected status under the 1976 act, and excavations began on the wreck site in 1982.

Maritime archaeology also spread to Africa in the 1970s. Robin Piery, another associate of George Bass, was asked by Kenyan authorities to supervise the excavation of an historic wreck in Mombasa Harbor. The lost ship was the Santo Antonio de Jacome, a Portuguese frigate sunk in 1697. The ship was part of a force sent to relieve the Portuguese outpost of Fort Jesus in Mombasa, which was being besieged by Arab forces. The excavation lasted from 1977 to 1980 and brought up many interesting artifacts. The lost frigate seemed to have been lightly armed for a ship of its size.

As the earlier examples make clear, the 1970s saw not only an increased global range of maritime archaeology but a move towards examining more recent shipwrecks. Originally, maritime archaeology had concentrated on ancient Greek and Roman shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea. But now it began to look at shipwrecks from much later periods.

One of these later period searches in the 1970s was for the American warship USS Monitor. The first steam-powered, ironclad turret warship, the Monitor had fought the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia in the Battle of Hampton Roads in March 1862. At the end of that year, while being towed south to join the Union Squadron blockading Charleston, the ship sank in a storm off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. After the Second World War, various attempts were made to find the wreck of the Monitor, but without success.

Only in 1973 did an expedition organized by Duke University, North Carolina, and America's National Geographic Society, always a keen supporter of searches for historic shipwrecks, make a concerted effort to find the lost ship. The wreck was found 230 ft (70 m) underwater, some 18 miles (30 km) southeast of Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. At this time in the USA, there was no federal law providing protection for historic shipwrecks. Some states had passed laws to provide such legal protection, but the wreck of the Monitor was well outside North Carolina's waters. Although today the United States claims that all wrecks of U.S. Navy vessels remain U.S. government property, no matter where in the world they lie, this view had not yet been fully elaborated in the 1970s. Potentially, the Monitor could be legally taken over by any salvor. To avoid this, the U.S. government invoked the National Marine Sanctuaries Act 1972, which had originally been aimed at environmental protection. In 1975, the wreck site of USS Monitor and a wide area around it was declared America's first national marine sanctuary. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, was given the job of surveying and protecting the wreck site. The first surveys found that the Monitor was lying upside down on the seabed, and the wreck was already in a fragile condition, ruling out hopes of raising the whole ship. As the years passed, surveys showed further decay in the lost ship. So, it was decided to raise portions of it. The propeller was brought up in 1998, the engine in 2001, and the turret and guns in 2002. Sent to the Mariners Museum in Newport News, Virginia for conservation, the artifacts will be exhibited in the future.

While maritime archaeology spread more widely in the 1970s, it also began to establish itself as a true academic discipline. The *International Journal of Nautical Archaeology and Underwater Exploration* was established in the UK in 1972 and soon became the leading journal of the discipline. In the same year, George Bass set up the Institute for Nautical Archaeology, INA, and began looking for an academic institution with which it could be associated. Political upheavals in the Middle East defeated early attempts to base INA in Cyprus and then Lebanon. But in 1976, it found a home at Texas A&M University in College Station. However, Bass continued to use the Bodrum Underwater Archaeological Museum in Turkey as his base in the Mediterranean.

Maritime Studies centers with particular interest in maritime archaeology first appeared at the University of Haifa in Israel in 1972 and the University of St. Andrews in Scotland in 1973. And by the middle of the decade, some universities were granting degrees in maritime archaeology. In the United States, Texas A&M was an early example, followed by East Carolina University. In England, the University of Southampton and later the University of Oxford became important centers for maritime archaeology.

Any academic discipline requires a conceptual framework, and for maritime archaeology, this was provided by Keith Muckroy. His 1976 paper on shipwreck site formation was later developed into his book *Maritime Archaeology*, 1978. Muckroy took the view that shipwrecks as time capsules existed only in pre-modern times. By the 19th century, sufficient literary sources on wrecks from that period or later existed, meaning that excavation could not add much new information. Other maritime archaeologists disagreed with this view and believed that more modern shipwrecks can still provide valuable information for historians. Sadly, Muckroy was killed in a diving accident in Scotland in 1980, which served as a reminder that maritime archaeology is not without its dangers.

The 1980s opened with important work on shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea. Although an ancient wreck had been discovered off the island of Giglio in Italy during the 1960s, it was only in 1982 that the Oxford maritime archaeologist Menson Bound led an expedition to do a scientific excavation of it. This work went on until 1986 and established that the ship, probably Greek or Etruscan, had been wrecked around 600 B.C.E. while carrying a cargo of ceramics. It was during work on this wreck that the University of Oxford's Centre for Maritime Archaeology was formally established in 1984. Some 2,600 years after this ancient wreck, the cruise ship Costa Concordia was wrecked on the island of Giglio in 2012, becoming the largest passenger ship ever lost, though fortunately with few fatalities.

George Bass continued his search for ancient shipwrecks in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. In 1982, a sponge diver reported finding a wreck at Uluburun on the southwest coast of Turkey. The site was surveyed the following year, and excavation began in 1984. Bass directed operations for the first two seasons, then handed the project over to his Turkish associate, Jamal Pulak. Excavation continued until 1994 and established that the lost ship was probably a Canaanite or Kyrenian ship that was wrecked in the late Bronze Age, probably around 1300 B.C.E. Although much of the cargo was made up of raw materials such as copper and tin ingots, a wide variety of other items were also found, including gold jewelry. Overall, it was one of the largest collections of ancient trade goods yet discovered in the Mediterranean Sea. The recovered items were taken to Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology for conservation and later display.

In Northern Europe, one of the great maritime archaeological events at this time was the raising of the hull of the Tudor warship Mary Rose from the waters off Portsmouth, England in October 1982. After the ship's discovery in 1971, the Mary Rose project received much more public and official support, including royal patronage. The Prince of Wales first dived on the wreck in 1975 and would do so eight more times before the ship was raised. Excavation of the wreck began with Margaret Rule as archaeological director. Although originally an archaeologist of Roman Britain, Rule became a diver and took an increasing role in the project. In 1979, the Mary Rose Trust was set up, and excavation of the wreck site became a full-time activity. Once most of the artifacts had been cleared from the site, the Trust decided to raise the remains of the hull, about one-third of the original ship. It was eventually lifted in a special cradle in 1982 and was moved to the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, where conservation of its timbers began. The public was allowed to visit during this long process, and a purpose-built museum containing the ship was opened in 2013.

A dramatic shipwreck find had taken place off the Swedish island of Gotska Sandön in 1980. Anders Franzen, who had discovered the wreck of the Vasa in Stockholm Harbor in the 1950s, now discovered the wreck of the Swedish warship Kronan, lost in a naval battle in 1676. Since 1981, regular expeditions have taken place to excavate the wreck under the supervision of Kalmar County Museum. Much of the wooden ship has survived because the low salinity of the Baltic Sea discourages wood-boring creatures. As with the Mary Rose in England, considerable human remains have been found in the Kronan. And since it was a flagship, much coin that was kept on board has been recovered.

Ancient shipwrecks in the Mediterranean and early modern shipwrecks in Northern Europe provide valuable information about times long past. But a much more recent shipwreck, that of the Titanic in 1912, has always loomed large in the popular imagination. One of the people fascinated by the Titanic story was the American Dr. Robert D. Ballard. Although a deep-sea geologist and oceanographer rather than a maritime archaeologist, he had always hoped to find the site of the Titanic's wreck. In 1985, he got his chance. Ballard was then working for Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts and was carrying out a survey for the U.S. Navy of the wreck site of the American nuclear attack submarine USS Scorpion, which had been lost near the Azores in 1968. Woods Hole and the French Oceanic Research Organization IFREMER were invited to undertake this mission because both possessed remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) capable of operating at great depths in the ocean. Such craft would eventually be the next technological step for both maritime archaeologists and treasure hunters, since they allowed access to deep-sea shipwrecks that had previously been inaccessible.

After carrying out the survey on the Scorpion wreck site, Ballard was allowed to spend several days looking for the wreck of the Titanic. At the beginning of September 1985, he found the lost ship at a depth of 2 and a half miles (4 kilometers). The Titanic had broken into two pieces, but the main section was upright on the seabed and in surprisingly good condition. Ballard revisited the wreck in 1986. In 1987, an expedition mounted by IFREMER and American company Titanic Ventures began to remove artifacts from the wreck site, thus igniting the long-running controversy about whether items should be removed from the wreck of the Titanic. Ballard has always been opposed to such salvage.

In 1988, Ballard brought an ROV to the Mediterranean Sea and found some ancient wrecks on the Sicily Bank near Sicily. In the following year, he returned with a team, including America's first female maritime archaeologist, Anna M. McCann. Using robotic technology, they examined deep-water wrecks for the first time. One, nicknamed the Isis Wreck, was found northwest of Sicily. It was the first ancient shipwreck to be found and surveyed by the new ROV technology and also the deepest ancient wreck found up to that time, lying at a depth of 2,600 ft (800 m). Artifacts recovered from the site helped to identify the wreck as a ship lost during the late period of the Roman Empire, probably on a voyage from Carthage in North Africa to Rome.

Also in 1989, Ballard moved on to look for another famous modern shipwreck, the German battleship Bismarck, which was lost in the North Atlantic west of France in 1941. Ballard found the lost ship in June 1989.

The discovery of the wreck of the Titanic in 1985 sparked new public interest in historic shipwrecks. And in the next few years, this included not just interest in finding them but in preserving them once found. Britain and Australia passed national laws to protect historic shipwrecks in the 1970s, but U.S. legislation remained unchanged until the late 1980s. Up until then, states could make laws relating to shipwrecks in state waters, but beyond them, the law of salvage applied, which benefited treasure hunters.

It was the case of the wreck of HMS Decks that did much to encourage the passing of a federal law to protect historic shipwrecks in the USA. Originally captured from the Dutch, hence the name, the British brig sloop HMS Decks was wrecked off Cape Henlopen in Delaware in 1798. The loss of such a minor warship would hardly be remembered if a legend had not grown up over the years that the ship had been carrying treasure. Various expeditions were mounted to find the wreck, but all were unsuccessful. Only in 1984 did treasure hunters working under license from the state of Delaware find Decks. Between 1984 and 1986, the finders were permitted to excavate the wreck, but not in any scientific manner. Desperate to find treasure, divers did severe damage to the wreck site. Finally convinced the treasure must lie under the ship's hull, the salvors dragged the remains of the hull up to the surface in August 1986. Still, no treasure was found. Only 650 coins were located in the wreck site, and the total value of all items brought up was put at $300,000. The whole operation had cost the treasure hunters around $3 million.

In 1992, a court decision passed title in the remains of Decks to the state of Delaware. The Decks salvage has been called one of the worst maritime archaeological disasters in American history, and it was used as a worst-case scenario by those people seeking greater protection from the U.S. government for historic shipwrecks. Congressional hearings were held on the subject of such protection, and maritime archaeologists such as George Bass had heated debates with treasure hunters such as Melvin Fiser. Eventually, U.S. Congress came down on the side of historical preservationists, passing the Abandoned Shipwrecks Act in 1987, which came into force in 1988. This act established government ownership over the majority of abandoned shipwrecks in the waters of the USA and created a framework within which such shipwrecks could be managed. It confirmed state rights to manage shipwrecks within state waters and denied that the laws of salvage and fines applied to any shipwrecks covered by the act. Historic shipwrecks were no longer just objects to be plundered but were recognized as multi-use resources with cultural, archaeological, and other uses.

By the 1990s, maritime archaeology was spreading ever wider around the globe, with Asian waters a particularly important new area. In 1987, the Chinese found the first major historic shipwreck in the South China Sea, which was labeled Nanhai 1 (South China Sea 1). In 1996, another important shipwreck was found in the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, known as Hua Guang Jiao 1 (Magnificent China Reef Wreck 1). Both these wrecks were dated to the period of the Southern Song dynasty (1127 to 1279 C.E.) and included large amounts of ceramics in their cargos. After much excavation, it was finally decided to raise the hull of Nanhai 1, and this operation was carried out in 2007. A museum known as the Maritime Silk Road Museum was built on Hiling Island, Yangjiang, Guangdong Province, China, to contain the salvaged wreck and opened in 2009.

Another important Asian shipwreck was found in 1998 near Belitung Island in Indonesia. This proved to be an Arab Dhow that was on its return voyage from China to Arabia when it was wrecked around 830 C.E. Its cargo, mostly ceramics, constitutes the largest collection of Tang Dynasty items ever found. At one time, it seemed that the artifacts would be sold off and dispersed. But in 2005, the entire cargo was bought by the Republic of Singapore for $32 million and will in future be exhibited in its museums.

One way in which shipwreck sites might be preserved yet still earn income from tourism is through the creation of underwater parks. When Canada built the Fathom Five National Marine Park at Tobermory, Ontario, on Lake Huron in 1987, the prime interest was protecting the environment. But the park contained around 20 shipwrecks, mostly from the 19th century, and these have proved an important attraction to sports divers. On the other side of Lake Huron, American authorities set up the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in 2000, which included around 100 wreck sites from the 19th and 20th centuries.

The first underwater park involving older shipwrecks was the 1724 Guadalupe underwater archaeological preserve, which was established in 2002 by the government of the Dominican Republic in association with Indiana University. Named after one of the two Spanish ships wrecked in Samaná Bay, Dominican Republic in 1724, the park offers sports divers a chance to look at historic items recovered from the shipwreck. In 2007, the wreck of what was believed to be the Gak Merchant, a ship captured by the pirate Captain Kidd, was found off the southeast coast of the Dominican Republic. Once the wreck's identity was confirmed, the site off La Catalina Island was declared a living museum of the sea in 2011. The guidance for all divers visiting this and all other recreational wreck sites is the same: "Take only photographs, leave only bubbles."

The idea of leaving historic shipwrecks largely undisturbed on the seabed is one of the essential principles set out in the UNESCO Convention on Underwater Cultural Heritage, drawn up in 2001. The convention applies only to underwater cultural heritage sites and items that are more than 100 years old. It lays down four main principles. One, ratifying states undertake to preserve underwater cultural heritage. They are not obliged to undertake archaeological excavations, but scientific research is encouraged along with controlled public access. Two, the preferred option is that shipwrecks should be left in their original location on the seabed. The recovery of artifacts may be allowed if it will make a significant contribution to the protection of or knowledge about historic wrecks. Three, no artifacts should be removed for commercial sale, and any artifacts brought up from a wreck should be kept together and not dispersed. Four, states should cooperate and exchange information, promote training in underwater archaeology, and encourage public awareness regarding the value of historic shipwrecks and other underwater cultural heritage.

The UNESCO Convention came into force in 2009 after the 20th ratification of it by a state party, but some countries are still reluctant to sign up. Neither the USA nor the UK have ratified the convention, claiming its terms are too vague and wide-ranging. In 2018, the Australian Parliament passed the Underwater Cultural Heritage Act, which supersedes the 1976 Shipwreck Act. The new act reflects the principles of the UNESCO 2001 convention, but Australia has still not officially accepted that convention.

The USA has, however, clarified its position with regard to the wrecks of U.S. naval vessels around the world. Although the country had long taken the position that all such wrecks remained U.S. property, this was formally passed into law by the Sunken Military Craft Act of 2004. The act also gives protection to foreign military craft sunk in U.S. waters. Whether U.S. claims will actually be recognized by other countries is another matter. Indonesia, for example, claims ownership of all shipwrecks in its waters.

Turkey was where modern maritime archaeology began in 1960, and the country continues to produce interesting finds underwater. In 2000, Robert Ballard helped maritime archaeologists search for deep-water ancient wrecks off Sinop in the northern Black Sea coast of Turkey. The Black Sea is even better than the Baltic Sea for preserving wooden shipwrecks. At its bottom, it has a dark layer that excludes oxygen and so prevents the decay of wood and other organic materials. Four ancient wrecks were found off Sinop dating to Roman and Byzantine times. And one of these, in excellent condition, was found at a depth of 1,050 ft (320 m) in the dark, oxygen-free zone. The hull and mast were intact, and radiocarbon dating of samples from its timbers gave a date range of 410 to 520 C.E. Other areas of the Black Sea have seen similar searches, and in 2018, it was claimed that the world's oldest intact shipwreck had been found off the coast of Bulgaria. It was believed to be a Greek vessel lost 2,400 years ago.

In 2005, construction work in the Yenikapı district of Istanbul in Turkey uncovered the remains of the city's Byzantine harbor of Theodosius, also known as the Harbor of Eleutherios, which had been Constantinople's main harbor in late antiquity. Originally established in the late 4th century C.E., the harbor had gradually silted up over the centuries. After the 11th century C.E., it was completely filled in and built over. Among the archaeological finds on this site were the remains of more than 30 Byzantine ships dating from the 7th century to the 10th century C.E., and including several Byzantine galleys, remnants of which had never been found before. The remains of the ships were removed for conservation and further research.

In 2015, an expedition mounted by American and South African museums found the wreck of a slave ship near Cape Town, South Africa. It was the first identified slave ship known to have been wrecked while carrying slaves. The Portuguese ship São Paulo de Apóstolo left Mozambique in early December 1794, bound for Brazil with a cargo of 400 slaves. Before the end of the year, the ship struck a reef near the Cape of Good Hope and sank, drowning half the slaves on board. Further searches for lost slave ships continue in areas such as the Caribbean Sea and the southeast coast of the USA.

The centenary of the First World War brought renewed interest in finding ships lost in that conflict. In 2015, the British maritime archaeologist Innes McCartney, in association with the Sea War Museum Jutland and other Danish collaborators, carried out a detailed survey of the ships lost in the North Sea during the Battle of Jutland in 1916. The wreck sites of nearly all the ships lost in the battle have now been established, with many of the wrecks found to be in poor condition, partly because of the passage of time but also because of illegal salvage work on them. In 2017, McCartney and his Danish collaborators carried out the most detailed survey of the seabed of Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, UK, concentrating in particular on the remaining wrecks of the surrendered German fleet that was scuttled there in 1919.

During 2019, British maritime archaeologist Menson Bound joined an expedition to Antarctica that was intended primarily to examine ice conditions in the Weddell Sea but would also look for Shackleton's exploration ship, Endurance, which had sunk in 1915. It was hoped that deploying the latest undersea technology would make the search easier. The ROVs that were much used in maritime archaeology from the 1980s onwards had the disadvantage of being linked to ships on the surface by long cables which could break all too easily. During the 1990s, the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) was developed as a deep-sea search vehicle that could operate without a cable link to the surface. It could send and receive electronic signals to the research vessel above and roam more widely than the tethered ROVs. The AUV came into use in maritime archaeology from 2000 onwards. Bound successfully put an AUV under the ice of the Weddell Sea, but after completing its initial search, the vehicle went missing, and so the expedition was unable to locate the lost ship. A later expedition found the wreck in 2022.

In the 60 years since the first real underwater maritime archaeological excavation at Cape Gelidonya, maritime archaeology has grown into a mature academic discipline. In the early 1960s, all the world's maritime archaeologists could fit into one room, but today they are numbered in the hundreds at the very least. Over the years, maritime archaeology's progress can be described as going wider and deeper. Wider, in that more and more of the world's seas are being opened to the search for shipwrecks, and deeper, in that maritime archaeologists can now go ever further into the ocean depths. In the early days of the discipline, 100 to 200 ft (30 to 60 m) seemed a long way down. Now, ROVs and AUVs can carry out the search for shipwrecks three miles (5 km) deep. Soon, apparently, no shipwreck will be out of reach. But searchers still have to know where to look. And here we enter the realm of the shipwreck finder. This is somebody who is neither a maritime archaeologist nor a treasure hunter, but whose activities usually favor the former rather than the latter.

Arguably the first of this new breed was American thriller writer Clive Cussler. A keen diver, in 1979 Cussler founded the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA), a nonprofit organization with the same name as the fictional government agency that employed his thriller hero Dirk Pitt. Since its inception, NUMA has found more than 60 shipwreck sites, mostly in North America and the Caribbean. Cussler had a special interest in American Civil War shipwrecks, and this interest led to one of his greatest successes: finding the wreck of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley off Charleston, South Carolina in 1995. At the start of the new millennium, Cussler helped satisfy the public's apparently endless appetite for wreck-hunting documentaries by helping to produce and appearing in the television series *The Sea Hunters* (2002–2006). Fellow American James P. Delgado, a maritime archaeologist and at that time director of Vancouver Maritime Museum in Canada, also took part. Cussler was always ready to pass on wreck-site details to maritime archaeologists who could carry out later excavations. In the case of the Hunley, this eventually led to the raising of the craft in 2000.

As already noted, Robert Ballard was a deep-sea scientist rather than a maritime archaeologist, but after he found the wreck of the Titanic in 1985, he became increasingly well known as a finder of famous lost ships. Indeed, Ballard was soon the most famous undersea explorer since Jacques Cousteau. Among the wrecks Ballard discovered were the German battleship Bismarck in 1989, the Japanese battlecruiser Kirishima in 1992, the American aircraft carrier USS Yorktown in 1998, and President John F. Kennedy's wartime PT boat PT-109 in the Solomon Islands in 2002. Ballard also worked with maritime archaeologists on searches for ancient wrecks in the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. He has always been hostile to commercial salvaging of historic shipwrecks, particularly that of the Titanic.

The shipwreck hunter David Mearns, an American now based in Britain, originally worked in the commercial undersea survey industry and helped to find the wreck of the British bulk carrier Derbyshire in waters south of Japan in 1994. Later, he set up his own company which researches and locates historic deep-sea shipwrecks around the globe. An early success was the finding of the wreck of the British battlecruiser HMS Hood in 2001. The warship had been sunk in the North Atlantic by the Bismarck in 1941. In 2008, Mearns led a team to Australia. His task was to find the German raider Kormoran and the Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney, which had sunk each other in an encounter off the west coast of Australia in 1941. Both wrecks were successfully located. In December 2009, Mearns found another lost ship, the hospital ship Centaur, sunk by a Japanese submarine in 1943, off the northeast coast of Australia. In 2015, Mearns helped find the wreck of the Portuguese ship Esmeralda, lost in 1503 in the Kura Maria Islands off Oman in the Indian Ocean, and assisted maritime archaeologists in excavating the wreck site. This is believed to be the earliest ship from Europe's Age of Discovery ever to be found and excavated by archaeologists. Claims to have found the wreck of Columbus's flagship Santa Maria, lost 1492, off the coast of Haiti, have so far proved to be unfounded.

A more recent entrant into the shipwreck hunting field is Paul Allen, one of the founders of Microsoft. In 2015, his team recovered the ship's bell from the wreck of HMS Hood and presented it to the Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth, England. In the same year, Allen supported an expedition in the research vessel Petrel that found the wreck of the Japanese battleship Musashi, lost 1944, in the Philippines. In 2016, Allen bought the Petrel and used it for various shipwreck hunting missions, chiefly in the Asia-Pacific region. The American cruiser USS Indianapolis, lost 1945, was found in 2017 east of the Philippines. And in 2018, the American aircraft carrier USS Lexington, lost 1942, was found in the Coral Sea, and the American cruiser USS Juneau, lost 1942, near the Solomon Islands.

Shipwreck hunters such as Mearns and Allen complement, or rather precede, the activities of maritime archaeologists. They can often deploy financial and technological resources that are unavailable to academic archaeologists. Once the shipwrecks have been found, it is then much easier for maritime archaeologists to get support for expeditions to excavate them, because the search is often the most expensive part, particularly for deep-water wrecks. Both maritime archaeologists and shipwreck finders are usually hostile to commercial treasure hunters who wish to plunder historic shipwrecks. But treasure hunters have also made great advances in the last 60 years.

Eight. Shipwrecks as treasure. The rise of commercial shipwreck hunting companies. The words shipwreck and treasure seem to go naturally together. And over the centuries, the lure of finding great wealth has been one of the principal reasons for seeking sunken ships. That incentive remains in the modern world. And because modern technology allows access to ever more shipwrecks, commercial companies have been created to go shipwreck hunting.

Naturally, the owners of sunken ships have always wanted to salvage valuable items if at all possible. But limits on undersea searching held them back. Soon after the loss of the Atocha and the Santa Margarita treasure ships off the Florida Keys in 1622, the Spanish sent salvage teams using primitive diving bells to try to find the lost cargo. Much was recovered from the latter lost ship, but the riches of the Atocha would have to wait until the 1980s to be brought to the surface.

Even 300 years later, in 1922, when the P&O liner Egypt was lost in the English Channel with a valuable cargo on board, recovery methods had not advanced significantly. On the 19th of May 1922, the Egypt left London, bound for Bombay (now Mumbai) in India via the Suez Canal. The liner had a crew of 300, but on this occasion carried only 44 passengers. More important was that part of the ship's cargo was made up of treasure. Hidden away in the strongroom were five tons of gold, 10 tons of silver, and a quantity of gold sovereign coins. In all, the treasure had a contemporary value of just over 1 million pounds.

Early in the morning of the 20th of May, as the ship was about to pass south from the English Channel into the Bay of Biscay, the Egypt ran into thick fog. Captain Collier ordered the liner's speed to be reduced and the foghorn sounded continuously. Then another foghorn was heard close by. Suddenly, the French ship's bow emerged out of the gloom and rammed the Egypt amidships. The liner sank within 20 minutes of the collision, with the loss of 86 people (71 crew and 15 passengers). The survivors escaped in the ship's lifeboats and were picked up by the French ship.

At first, salvage operations on the Egypt did not seem possible. The ship had gone down in water around 400 ft (120 m) deep, and the technological limits of successful recovery at this time were 150 ft (45 m). Moreover, the liner's strongroom, where the gold and silver was stored, was three decks down at the bottom of the ship, thus making access difficult. However, a Swedish engineer, Peter Sandberg, felt it might be possible to build structures that could withstand external pressures down to a depth of 500 ft (150 m). But first, he had to find the lost ship. Its rapid loss meant that a precise position for its sinking had not been obtained.

After two failed searches, Sandberg joined forces with the Italian salvage firm SOREMAR and its crew led by Giovanni Quaglia. SOREMAR had been experimenting with articulated metal diving suits that would allow divers to go much deeper than the existing hard-hat diving suits. More than a year was spent in a further search for the sunken ship. Eventually, on the 30th of August 1930, the old-fashioned method of towing a cable between two ships until it caught on an object on the seabed proved successful in locating the Egypt, which was sitting upright on the ocean floor.

The metal diving suits were only a limited success, and SOREMAR instead relied on a simpler manned observation chamber that was sent down to the wreck and could withstand pressures at that depth. The man in the chamber was linked by telephone with the salvage ship on the surface. He could direct where explosives should be placed to destroy the ship's superstructure and where the mechanical grab lowered from the surface could be deployed to tear away wreckage. By this means, they slowly worked down through the ship until the strongroom was finally reached. The first gold was not brought up by the mechanical grab until the 22nd of June 1932. Nearly two years after the ship was found and 10 years since it sank, salvage operations continued annually until 1935, by which time 95% of the treasure cargo had been recovered. Only 17 gold bars, 13 silver ingots, and around 15,000 gold sovereigns remained unaccounted for.

Although undertaken at a previously unattainable depth, the salvage of treasure from the Egypt was still slow and clumsy, using methods often described as "smash and grab." Undersea technological advances after 1960 were to make it much easier to find sunken ships and to retrieve lost cargo from them. The new methods were successfully used in the salvage of gold from another lost British vessel, the cruiser HMS Edinburgh, in 1981. After the Nazi attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, Britain and the USA began to provide aid to support Soviet resistance. One route taken by this aid was via the Arctic convoys proceeding to north Russian ports such as Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. On the 29th of April 1942, HMS Edinburgh left Murmansk as

part of the naval escort for a convoy on its return voyage to Britain. The cruiser was the flagship of Rear Admiral Steuart Bonham Carter, commander of the escort force.

Shortly before departure from Russia, HMS Edinburgh had taken on board 93 small wooden boxes that were carefully stored in the bomb room on the starboard side of the ship beneath the bridge structure, deep inside the hull. These contained 465 gold bars totaling almost 5 1/2 tons of gold with a contemporary value of just over 1.5 million pounds. The gold was payment by the Soviet Union for war supplies sent by its allies.

On the afternoon of the 30th of April 1942, the Edinburgh was torpedoed by the German submarine U456. The first torpedo hit the ship on the starboard side close to the bomb room, while the second struck the ship's stern, wrecking its steering gear. The only way to save the cruiser was to take it back to Murmansk, but without steering gear, it was hard to navigate. Eventually, the Edinburgh began to make slow progress back towards Russia.

Meanwhile, the Germans sent out three destroyers from Kirkenes, Norway, to finish off the crippled ship. They attacked early on the 2nd of May, but the Edinburgh and her escort of destroyers and mine sweepers put up a fierce resistance. One German destroyer was sunk and the other two were driven off, but not before one fired another torpedo at the cruiser. This struck beneath the bridge on the port side. The Edinburgh now took on a sharp list, and Admiral Bonham Carter ordered the ship to be abandoned. Some 57 members of the crew had been killed in the various German attacks, but those remaining were taken off safely. Still, the cruiser would not sink, so Bonham Carter ordered a British destroyer to fire a torpedo into the vessel. Only then did the Edinburgh slip below the surface of the Barents Sea.

In 1954, the British government gave the salvage company RZdon Beasley permission to carry out work on the HMS Edinburgh. However, because of the Cold War, the company was reluctant to venture into an area so close to the Soviet Union and did not proceed with the project. In 1957, the wreck of HMS Edinburgh was declared a war grave, a status that should have discouraged further attempts at salvage.

However, by the late 1970s, the British government was aware that advances in undersea technology, some of them developed in the establishment of the offshore oil and gas industries in the North Sea, made it increasingly likely that rogue salvers or even the Soviet government might attempt to go after the gold in the Edinburgh. Consequently, the British government invited tenders from companies willing and able to carry out this difficult salvage operation. Jessup Marine, a company owned by former North Sea worker Keith Jessup, seemed an unlikely contender in this competition. However, Jessup had interested Rick Wharton and Malcolm Williams, two North Sea diving contractors who owned diving company Wharton Williams, in the project. Wharton Williams would provide technical expertise, financial strength, and contacts. That company in turn brought in Ray Calald Deca with their positioning and navigation expertise and OSA, a German shipping company that owned the state-of-the-art dynamically positioned diving support ship Stefanitor. Jessup planned to send down divers and cut into the hull near the bomb room. This would be less intrusive than the old smash-and-grab methods proposed by competitors such as Resdon Beastley. In the end, the British government awarded the salvage contract to Jessup Marine and its collaborators. The salvors would receive 45% of the value of gold recovered, while 55% would go to the British and Soviet governments (1/3 to the former and 2/3 to the latter because of the original ratio of war insurance). Both British and Soviet government observers would be present on board during the salvage operations.

In April 1981, OSA's survey ship Damour went to the Barents Sea to search for HMS Edinburgh. After only a few days of searching, the wreck was found 250 miles (400 km) north of the Soviet coast, lying upright at a depth of 800 ft (245 m). Using a Scorpio ROV, detailed film of the wreck was taken. The bridge structure had collapsed, but it still seemed possible to access the bomb room deep inside the hull. The only worry was that the gold might have become dispersed within the ship, either because of the German torpedo explosions or the impact when the ship hit the ocean floor after it sank.

For several months, Wharton Williams and OSA carried out an analysis into the feasibility of going ahead with the project. Survivors from the 1942 sinking were interviewed, and the Edinburgh's sister ship, the cruiser HMS Belfast, now a museum ship moored in the Pool of London, was visited so that the layout of the internal compartments would be better understood. This would be the deepest ever recovery of lost cargo by divers and was only possible because of the development of saturation diving. Divers prepared by spending time in a surface chamber where they underwent compression to match that of the depth at which they would be operating. They then moved into a diving bell that would be lowered through the moon pool in the bottom of the diving support ship. They would breathe a mixture of oxygen and helium and could remain in their bell on the bottom for days on end. One diver would work on the wreck while the other remained in the bell, which had electrical and communication links with the surface. A hose from the bell pumped warm water into the working diver's wetsuit to keep him from freezing to death in the Arctic cold. Wharton Williams and OSA finally decided to go ahead with the salvage operation.

On the 30th of August 1981, the Stefanitor left Peterhead, Scotland, bound for the wreck site in the Barents Sea with a handpicked team of deep-sea divers experienced in saturation diving techniques. For 2 weeks, the divers, working in shifts, slowly cut their way into the hull of HMS Edinburgh. On the 15th of September, diver John Russier finally penetrated the bomb room, which was found to be intact, and recovered the first bar of gold. Despite the presence of bombs for the cruiser's catapult aircraft and other munitions, divers worked steadily to remove most of the gold. By the 7th of October, some 431 out of 465 gold bars had been recovered, worth in excess of 43 million pounds, when salvage was suspended for that year because of worsening weather.

In 1986, Wharton Williams returned to the wreck in their diving support vessel Deep Water 1 to recover the remaining gold bars. While in the case of the Egypt in the early 1930s, it had taken years to find the wreck and then even more years to complete the salvage of its treasure cargo, the situation was very different half a century later. Modern undersea technology had found the wreck of HMS Edinburgh in days, and its treasure cargo had been recovered in weeks, despite the fact that its wreck lay twice as deep as that of the Egypt.

In the cases of both the Egypt and the Edinburgh, the aim of the salvors had been to recover treasure from a wreck. But in the most secret salvage operation of the Cold War, Project Azorian, it was the wreck itself that was the treasure to be recovered. Not only did new technology make this possible, but in carrying out the task, the frontiers of undersea science were significantly advanced.

On the 24th of February 1968, K-129, a Golf II NATO designation class submarine, left its base at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, USSR. A diesel-engined vessel, it had three missiles with nuclear warheads in its extended conning tower, as well as nuclear-tipped torpedoes. K-129 was heading for a patrol position west of Hawaii, but on the 8th of March, it missed a scheduled radio report, and its continued silence after that date led Soviet authorities to declare it missing. Many Soviet ships and aircraft were sent out into the North Pacific Ocean, searching for the lost submarine, but the Soviets had no clear idea of its likely position. Finding nothing, the Soviet forces returned to their bases. In the most likely area for the submarine's disappearance, the ocean was more than 3 miles (5 km) deep. It seemed K-129 was lost for good, with no hope of salvage.

The United States took a different view. Thanks to their various sensor systems monitoring Soviet nuclear tests and the movement of Soviet submarines in the oceans, the Americans had picked up evidence of an explosion in the North Pacific Ocean in the first half of March 1968 and were able to calculate a rough position for its site. It had taken place 1,560 miles (2,500 km) northwest of Oahu, Hawaii, in an area where the sea was more than 16,000 ft (4,880 m) deep. Normally, the Americans would have shared the Soviet view that the lost submarine could never be recovered. But in recent years, the US Navy's views on operations in the deep ocean had changed dramatically.

The US Navy Research Department had taken an interest in deep-water exploration since the 1950s, but the Naval High Command had been skeptical about the need for such work. American submarines never went deeper than 2,000 ft (610 m), and few even attained that depth. Then in April 1963, the submarine USS Thresher was lost in an accident in the North Atlantic Ocean. The submarine sank to a depth of 8,000 ft (2,440 m), and 129 men died. At that time, the US Navy submarine rescue ship's rescue chamber could only go down to 850 ft (260 m).

In 1964, the US Navy set up its Deep Submergence Systems Project. One aim was to create a deep submergence rescue vehicle that could reach down submarines at great depth. Another aim of the project was to develop the ability to collect Soviet material, such as test missiles which had fallen in the deep ocean in international waters. In 1965, the submarine USS Halibut was officially converted into an oceanographic research vessel. In fact, it became the US Navy's first deep-sea intelligence-gathering submarine. It would be able to deploy submersibles and other towed vehicles to gather intelligence from the deep sea.

In July 1968, the Halibut was tasked to find and photograph the lost Soviet submarine. Its first mission was unsuccessful, but on a second mission to the supposed wreck site, an ROV towed several miles below the submarine found K-129. Over several weeks, the Halibut took thousands of photographs of the lost submarine, which was found to be in good condition, with at least one of its missiles still in its silo. A salvage operation still seemed an almost impossible task at such a great depth. But the US Navy was ready to attempt it.

However, when in early 1969, President Richard Nixon gave his approval for such an attempt, the task was given not to the Navy, but to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The scientific division of the CIA was enjoying great success in the 1960s. It had taken the lead role in developing spy planes such as the U-2 and the Blackbird and in creating the first spy satellites, pushing the US Air Force into second place. Now the CIA wanted to add this salvage project to its achievements. Some officers in the US Navy were angered by such presumption, but others thought the project could only end in failure.

In July 1969, the CIA formed a task force to carry out the new operation, which was given the code name Project Azorian. In 1968, the record lift from the deep ocean was 50 tons raised from 18,000 ft (5,490 m) down. K-129 weighed 1,500 tons, 30 times more than that. To carry out such a retrieval would require a huge salvage ship deploying a drilling pipe string 3 miles (5 km) long with a giant claw or capture vehicle at the end of it. Such a thing had never been done before. But the CIA went to Global Marine, the industry leader in deep-sea drilling, to see if the company could manage this task. One particular attraction was the firm's new automated dynamic positioning system, which enabled a drill ship to keep position over the drill hole.

Approached in late 1969, Global Marine (or Glowar) was initially told only that a heavy object was to be lifted from the ocean floor. Executives guessed it might be a submarine, but assumed it was USS Scorpion, an American submarine lost in the North Atlantic Ocean in 1968. Only later were a select few told that the target was a sunken Soviet submarine. Glowar would have overall control of the project and would prepare the design for the giant drill ship, which would be built by the Sun Ship Shipbuilding Company of Chester, Pennsylvania, south of Philadelphia. The claw or capture vehicle would be built by Lockheed inside a covered barge that would later transfer it to the drill ship. A moon pool large enough to hold the submarine would be built inside the drill ship. Once the specially strengthened drill pipe had brought up the submarine, doors in the bottom of the moon pool would be closed and the pool pumped dry so the submarine could be examined away from any observers.

Contracts were signed in 1970, and construction of the various components of the project began. Since this was supposed to be a secret operation, a cover story was needed to explain these developments, and the best cover was found in deep-sea mining. During the 1960s, it was believed that manganese nodules on the deep ocean floor would become a new growth area for mining, and the first ships were built to attempt this difficult operation. The vessel under construction near Philadelphia was said to be one of these ships, and its great size was put down to the grandiose ambitions of its supposed owner, eccentric millionaire and recluse Howard Hughes. He had agreed to let the CIA use his name and some of his companies as part of its cover story. So, it was only natural that the resulting ship was named the Hughes Glomar Explorer.

The 36,000-ton experimental mining ship first put to sea in 1973 and then sailed to Long Beach, California, where it was to be mated with the capture vehicle. After various sea trials, it was hoped that the recovery operation would take place in the summer of 1974. In May 1974, the CIA was still waiting for the final order from President Nixon to proceed, and some feared that the five-year project, which had cost more than $250 million, might be canceled at the last moment. However, Nixon gave the go-ahead, and the Hughes Glomar Explorer sailed from Long Beach on the 20th of June, 1974, bound for the wreck site.

On the 4th of July, the ship reached the wreck site and began to lower the capture vehicle, but this took much longer than expected. Then a Soviet naval auxiliary vessel appeared and circled the drill ship. It was later joined by a second such vessel. There were fears that the Soviets knew the real purpose of the Hughes Glomar Explorer's mission and were ready to intervene. However, the Soviet ships took no hostile action and eventually sailed away. The capture vehicle finally grabbed the sunken submarine, and its slow ascent to the drill ship began. Then came disaster. Part of the capture vehicle failed, and at least half of the submarine was lost, falling back to the ocean floor.

On the 9th of August 1974, the Hughes Glomar Explorer completed the recovery phase of Project Azorian. On the same day, Nixon resigned because of the Watergate scandal. Fortunately, the new president, Gerald Ford, agreed that the project should still continue. It is still not clear how much of K-129 was actually brought on board the drill ship, with 1/3 being the most likely amount. Certainly, no nuclear missiles or secret code books seem to have been recovered. Since it seems to have been the bow section of the submarine that was salvaged, it is no surprise that a nuclear-tipped torpedo was said to be among the booty, but other equipment and documents may have been saved and proved useful in intelligence terms. The bodies of six Soviet sailors were found and later buried at sea off Hawaii.

Nevertheless, the quality of the material found in the salvaged section of K-129 seemed to warrant going back to retrieve the rest of the submarine. By June 1975, the Hughes Glomar Explorer was ready to return to the wreck site. But by then, some details of the first mission had appeared in the American media, eliciting a hostile reaction from the Soviets. President Ford denied permission for a second mission, and that was the end of the CIA's long-running project.

Many people view Project Azorian as one of the CIA's greatest Cold War successes. But until a more precise picture of what was recovered is available, it is hard to be sure. What is clear is that with enough money and advanced technology, it was now possible to reach deep into the sea to find shipwrecks. As the cost of subsea technology began to fall in subsequent decades, it was not only governments that could look for shipwrecks at depths that had never before been reached. Treasure hunters could do this as well. But since the costs involved were still beyond the means of most individuals, shipwreck hunting companies became a necessity.

One of the first was run by Tommy Thompson of Ohio and seemed to have found a veritable gold mine in the wreck of the paddle steamer Central America. Almost 10 years after the original discovery in 1848, California was still producing a steady output of gold, which benefited the economy of the United States. Most of the gold was sent from the west to the east coast via the Panamanian isthmus in Central America.

In early September 1857, Central America departed its namesake region bound for New York City via Cuba. On board were 477 passengers and 101 crew, with Captain William Lewis H. Hearnden in command. Also on the ship was a large quantity of gold, the amount being estimated at somewhere between 10 and 20 tons. This figure is imprecise because, in addition to the declared gold shipment, many of the passengers were transporting private caches of gold.

On the 9th of September 1857, the Central America was struck by a hurricane off the coast of the Carolinas. By the 11th of September, the ship's boilers were failing and much water was leaking into the hull. Then came calmer conditions in the eye of the hurricane, and renewed efforts were made to repair the boilers, but with little success. When the second half of the storm struck, it was clear that there was no hope for the ship. Some 153 passengers, mostly women and children, were sent in lifeboats to ships that had come to aid the Central America. But when the paddle steamer finally sank on the 12th of September, 425 perished, including Captain H. Hearnden. At the time, the gold lost in the sunken ship was said to have a value of $8 million, and its loss undermined public confidence in the US economy, contributing to an economic panic later in 1857.

The gold in the Central America lay undisturbed for more than 130 years until Tommy Thompson found it. Although Thompson came from Ohio, he had always had an interest in the sea. He spent a summer after high school working with treasure-seeking divers in Florida. Next, he obtained a degree in ocean engineering and went to work for a research company in Columbus, Ohio, which did some work on the CIA's Project Azorian. Thompson was keen to search for his own treasure shipwreck. His research pointed to the Central America as a potentially very lucrative target, and he applied Bayesian search theory to the problem of finding the sunken ship. Eventually, Thompson decided that the wreck must be in a 1,400 square mile (3,600 km) grid of the North Atlantic Ocean, some 160 miles (257 km) southeast of Charleston, South Carolina. The ocean here was nearly 1 and a half miles (2.4 km) deep, so only sophisticated and expensive subsea equipment could carry out a search. Clearly, Thompson required a large amount of money to fund his search. So, in the early 1980s, he made determined efforts to win backing from rich people and companies in the Columbus area. After two years, Thompson had 161 investors who put $12.7 million into his shipwreck search companies. The number of investors would later increase to 300 with total funds of $22 million. Having secured this financial backing, Thompson fitted out a search vessel, collected a crew, and built an ROV capable of operations in the deep sea. Previously, the deepest a commercial ROV had gone was 6,600 ft (2,000 m), but this new one would have to go deeper.

The search for the Central America was launched in June 1986. The wreck was finally found in September 1988, and gold started to be brought up in 1989. Soon, gold ingots and coins were arriving ashore, and Thompson told the media that the whole find might be worth $400 million. Recovery of the gold ceased in 1991 after Thompson was hit by numerous lawsuits from people claiming they had a right to share in the treasure. His main opponents were 39 insurance companies, asserting that they, or predecessor firms, had paid out insurance claims relating to the cargo in the 19th century.

In 1998, after a long and expensive legal battle, the courts decided that more than 90% of the treasure belonged to Thompson and his investors. Trial testimony showed that Thompson's companies had spent more than $30 million on salvage operations, business expenses, and legal fees by 1992, and had only managed to keep going thanks to bank loans. In 2000, Thompson set about selling some of the gold, which brought in $50 million. His investors naturally expected that this sum would be distributed among them. Thompson had other ideas, claiming that all the money was needed to pay off past bank loans and legal fees. He did, however, pay himself more than $2 million and took possession of a cache of gold coins said to be worth a similar amount.

Finally, in 2005, some investors still without any return, almost 20 years since the search for the Central America began, sued Thompson for breach of contract and fiduciary duty. The case dragged on for years, but in 2012, the judge threatened Thompson with prison for contempt of court if he did not reveal the whereabouts of his cache of gold coins. Thompson went on the run and was not apprehended by US Marshals until 2015. In the meantime, the judge had, in 2013, put Thompson's companies into the hands of a receiver. The receiver tasked Odyssey Marine Exploration with bringing more gold up from the wreck site, and this new recovery operation began in 2014. The gold recovered was sold for $30 million, giving a profit of $15 million to the receivership. There was now some money to pay out to the investors. In late 2018, a jury ordered Thompson to pay $19.4 million to his investors, but whether they will ever see any of this money remains doubtful. Their golden dreams back in the 1980s had turned into a prolonged nightmare.

If Tommy Thompson found his ship of gold during the 1980s, another shipwreck hunter found value in another sort of treasure: Chinese porcelain. British-born Australian salvage diver Mike Hatcher began recovering metal cargoes such as tin from Second World War wrecks in Southeast Asia during the 1970s. Then, in the early 1980s, he brought up Chinese porcelain from an unidentified wreck. The auctioneers Christie's put the Hatcher collection up for sale in 1984, and along with Hatcher, were pleasantly surprised by the high sale prices achieved. This success led Hatcher to direct his search efforts to finding other shipwrecks containing cargoes of Chinese porcelain. He very soon found one in the South China Sea. Hatcher's divers brought up 160,000 pieces of Chinese porcelain from the wreck, and Christie's agreed to sell the recovered items through their Amsterdam office in 1986. The sale was billed as that of the "Nunching King" cargo, named after the type of porcelain brought up rather than that of the lost ship, which was said to be unknown. Only a little while before the sale took place was it revealed that the cargo came from the wreck of the Dutch East Indiaman Geldermalsen, which had been lost in 1752. This revelation allowed the auctioneer to claim that the cargo was being delivered to Amsterdam 234 years late. The sale of the porcelain, along with some gold bullion also found in the wreck, was a great success, bringing in $20 million for Hatcher and his backers.

Not only was the sale of the Geldermalsen cargo a financial success, but it was highly controversial. Maritime archaeologists accused Hatcher of pillaging the wreck site, and some museums refused to bid for the recovered items. It was even alleged that once Hatcher had recovered the most valuable items from the sunken cargo, he blew up the wreck so that other treasure hunters could not pick over what remained. In addition, when the Dutch East India Company went bankrupt in 1795, its remaining assets were taken over by the Dutch government, and the modern Dutch administration claimed that they still had an interest in the company's sunken ships. The Dutch government took Hatcher to court, but eventually, the two sides reached a settlement, with 10% of the sale income given to the government.

Hatcher now went in search of other porcelain treasure ships, but this time he had to wait much longer before he found one. At the end of the 1990s, he found the wreck of a large Chinese junk lying only 100 ft (30 m) deep in the Gaspar Strait in Indonesia. Most of the Chinese porcelain found in the wreck was dated to the early 19th century. Further research finally identified the lost ship as the junk "Tien Cheu Star," lost in 1822. The vessel had been on a voyage from Amoy (now Xiamen in China) to Batavia (now Jakarta) in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). It not only carried a large cargo but more than 1,000 Chinese migrant laborers bound for Java, including the crew. The junk was said to be carrying almost 2,000 people. The captain attempted to take a shortcut through the Gaspar Strait to reach Batavia, but then his ship hit a reef and sank. Only a few hundred survivors were picked up by passing ships, allowing Hatcher's publicists to portray the shipwreck as the "Chinese Titanic" or the "Titanic of the East" because of the heavy loss of life.

Hatcher found the wreck in 1999 and quickly recovered enough Chinese porcelain to fill 47 shipping containers. When these passed through Australia bound for Europe, they were seized by Australian police as illegally salvaged artifacts. However, Indonesian police failed to provide evidence that Hatcher's salvage operations were illegal. So, the Australian police had to release the containers in early 2000. Later that year, Hatcher returned to the wreck site to carry out further salvage. However, it soon became clear that the Indonesian attitude to Hatcher's operation had changed. Indonesian security forces suddenly appeared at the wreck site, seizing the salvage vessels and their crews. Apparently tipped off, Hatcher himself had left the wreck site the day before the Indonesians arrived.

Although Hatcher could no longer bring up porcelain from the wreck of the "Tien Cheu Star," he still had more than 300,000 pieces he had recovered in 1999. Later in 2000, the haul was put up for sale by the Nagel auction house in Stuttgart, Germany. The sale brought in some $14.5 million, and it seemed that Hatcher had succeeded once again. However, when a special meeting of Hatcher's Ocean Salvage Corporation took place in Adelaide, Australia, in early 2001, a less rosy picture was painted. In all, sales of the "Tien Cheu Star" treasure had brought in $17 million, but it was now claimed that the total cost of salvaging that treasure had been $20 million. So, the company had suffered a significant loss, and investors would receive nothing.

Such disappointments lay in the future. At the end of the 1980s, a decade that had seen Mel Fisher finally locate the treasure from the Atocha galleon, Tommy Thompson find his ship of gold, the wreck of the Central America, and Mike Hatcher sell his lucrative cargo from the Geldermalsen, it seemed that vast riches lay beneath the waves if only the right shipwreck could be found. By the early 1990s, it was said that 25 new shipwreck hunting companies were being formed every year, their total financing reaching $100 million. Most would be disappointed in their search for sunken treasure. But at least one would soon be famous for both its successes and its failures.

In 1994, John Morris and Greg Stemm set up Odyssey Marine Exploration in Tampa, Florida, and began to search for lucrative deep-water shipwrecks. The company was to become the most successful and most controversial modern shipwreck hunting company. Some of Odyssey's earliest exploration was around the Strait of Gibraltar. In particular, the company was looking for the wreck of British warship HMS Sussex. That ship had been lost in a storm in 1694 while taking 10 tons of gold coins to the Duke of Savoy, which was a subsidy to ensure that the Duke remained in the coalition fighting France.

In 2001, Odyssey claimed to have found the wreck near Gibraltar, and in the following year, the company reached an agreement with the British government about the division of any gold that was found. However, recovery operations were held up by the hostility of the Spanish government and by Odyssey discovering a rich shipwreck much nearer to home: the Paddle Steamer Republic, which was found off the east coast of the USA in 2003.

After the end of the American Civil War, there was a shortage of hard currency and the war-ravaged southern states. To solve this problem, US gold coins were to be shipped from north to south. On the 18th of October 1865, the Republic left New York City bound for New Orleans. Among its cargo was a consignment of $400,000 in coins, mostly gold, $10 and $20 pieces. On the fifth day of the voyage, the ship was struck by a hurricane off the coast of Georgia. Soon, the Republic was leaking badly. The boilers had been extinguished, and the pumps could not cope. On the afternoon of the 25th of October, the ship sank, but the passengers and crew got away in four lifeboats and on a makeshift raft. They were at sea for 2 days before rescue ships found them, but only a few lives were lost.