Shipwreck

A shipwreck is the remains of a ship that has wrecked, which are found either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be deliberate or accidental. UNESCO estimates that worldwide over 3 million shipwrecks, some thousands of years old, lie on seabeds.

Types

Historic wrecks are attractive to maritime archaeologists because they preserve historical information: for example, studying the wreck of Mary Rose revealed information about seafaring, warfare, and life in the 16th century. Military wrecks, caused by a skirmish at sea, are studied to find details about the historic event; they reveal much about the battle that occurred. Discoveries of treasure ships, often from the period of European colonisation, which sank in remote locations leaving few living witnesses, such as the Batavia, do occur but only very infrequently. Some contemporary wrecks, such as the oil tankers Prestige or Erika, are of interest primarily because of their potential harm to the environment. Other contemporary wrecks are scuttled in order to spur reef growth, such as Adolphus Busch and the Ocean Freeze. Wrecks like Adolphus Busch and historic wrecks such as SS Thistlegorm are of interest to recreational divers that dive to shipwrecks because they are interesting to explore, provide large habitats for many types of marine life, and have an interesting history.

List of shipwrecks in 2011

The list of shipwrecks in 2011 includes ships sunk, foundered, grounded, or otherwise lost during 2011.

January

1 January

3 January

5 January

9 January

11 January

30 January

February

4 February

7 February

12 February

15 February

17 February

Unknown date

March

1 March

6 March

9 March

11 March

An unknown number of vessels are washed ashore or sunk around the Pacific Rim following an earthquake and tsunami off the north east coast of Japan. Ship casualties include:-

16 March

19 March

20 March

26 March

29 March

April

6 April

7 April

9 April

25 April

May

2 May

15 May

18 May

19–20 May

23 May

27 May

June

3 June

4 June

5 June

11 June

14 June

22 June

26 June

July

3 July

10 July

23 July

25 July

29 July

30 July

31 July

August

3 August

4 August

8 August

9 August

12 August

17 August

September

1 September

6 September

10 September

15 September

20 September

26 September

28 September

29 September

October

3 October

5 October

7 October

13 October

14 October

18 October

20 October

28 October

31 October

November

3 November

5 November

9 November

17 November

21 November