Shipwreck facts for kids
A shipwreck is what's left of a ship that has been badly damaged or destroyed. You can find shipwrecks either washed up on land (we call that "beached") or sunk deep down on the seabed (the bottom of the ocean or a lake). Some ships sink by accident, while others are sunk on purpose. Experts at UNESCO think there are over 3 million shipwrecks all over the world, and some of them are thousands of years old!
Why are shipwrecks interesting?
Old shipwrecks are super interesting for marine archaeologists (people who study old things underwater). This is because they can tell us a lot about history. For example, when people studied the wreck of the Mary Rose, they learned so much about what it was like to sail, fight, and live in the 1500s.
Shipwrecks from battles at sea are also studied to find out more about those historic fights. Sometimes, people even discover treasure ships from when Europeans first started exploring the world!
Some newer shipwrecks, like the oil tankers Prestige or Erika, are important because they can harm the environment. Other modern ships are sunk on purpose, which is called scuttling, to create new places for reefs and sea creatures to live.
What are some famous shipwrecks?
There are many famous shipwrecks that people still talk about today. Some of the most well-known include the RMS Titanic, the HMHS Britannic, the RMS Lusitania, the SS Andrea Doria, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, and the Costa Concordia.
Besides these famous ones, there are thousands of other ships that weren't lost at sea but were simply left behind or sunk on purpose. These abandoned ships are usually smaller boats, like fishing vessels. Sometimes, they can be dangerous for other boats trying to navigate.
Images for kids
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The shipwreck of SS American Star on the shore of Fuerteventura
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Johan Christian Dahl: Shipwreck on the Coast of Norway, 1832
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Bow of RMS Titanic, first discovered in 1985
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Wreck of Costa Concordia
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The 1626 Sparrow-Hawk wreck is displayed at the Pilgrim Hall Museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts
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County of Peebles, used as breakwater in Punta Arenas at the Strait of Magellan
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Vasa is one of the oldest and best-preserved ships salvaged in the world, owing to the cool temperatures and low salinity of the Baltic Sea
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The Wreck, by Knud-Andreassen Baade c.1835
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The shipwreck of SS Austria on 13 September 1858
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Propeller amongst corals
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Viewing at Christie's auction in Amsterdam for the cargo of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) ship Geldermalsen (1747)
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MSC Napoli beached off Branscombe
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Shipwreck on a shore near Gytheio, Greece
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Wrecked fishing boats in Finnmark, North Norway
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The ferry Assalama wrecked off of Tarfaya, Morocco
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Ship wreck of Maheno, Fraser Island, Australia
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Shipwreck of Frotamerica at the west coast of Namibia
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See also
In Spanish: Pecio para niños
