Shipwrecks can have a variety of causes, from rough weather to collisions with other vessels and getting stranded on land. Sailing a ship can be a dangerous undertaking! But certain bodies of water around the world seem to have more shipwrecks than others. How many shipwrecks are in the ocean? It's almost impossible to say, but it is estimated that there have been more than 3 million shipwrecks around the world.
The team at Staten Island Yacht Sales looked at the 300 most recent shipwrecks that had been reported as of Feb. 11, 2023, to determine which oceans, seas, and rivers have the most wrecks.
Based on available data on the most recently reported shipwrecks around the world, the Atlantic Ocean is home to the most shipwrecks in the world. This is not surprising, as the Atlantic is the second-largest body of water on the planet and contains busy shipping lanes between North and South America, Europe, and Africa. There is a treacherous portion of the ocean off the coast of the Outer Banks in North Carolina known as the Atlantic Graveyard due to the difficult sailing conditions in the area. Second on the list is the South China Sea, which is the body of water between southern China and the Philippines. It has been a major marine thoroughfare for thousands of years. Of the last 300 reported shipwrecks in the world, 17 occurred in the South China Sea. Throughout the years, wrecks in the South China Sea have included ferries, cargo ships, fishing boats, yachts, and more. Tied in third place are the Black Sea, which is bordered by Turkey to the south and Ukraine to the north, and the Pacific Ocean. Both bodies of water have had 13 shipwrecks in the past few years. The Pacific Ocean is the largest body of water on the planet. It spans more than 60 million square miles.
There are many ways that vessels can be wrecked on seas, oceans, lakes, and rivers. Here are some common reasons why a ship could be wrecked:
There is also another cause, called scuttling, which is when vessels are intentionally wrecked, sunk, or run aground. The most common reason for a boat or marine vessel to be scuttled is to dispose of an old, damaged, or otherwise abandoned ship so that it does not become a navigation hazard for other vessels. It can also be used to prevent the vessel from being commandeered by an enemy, to provide an artificial reef for marine life, or to block navigation through a river or strait.
While shipwrecks still occur frequently, many of the most notable shipwrecks happened long ago. The most famous of all shipwrecks is probably the RMS Titanic. The passenger liner, which was the largest ship afloat at the time it entered service, famously hit an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean in 1912. While the ship was built to hold 48 lifeboats, only 20 were equipped, and many were lowered into the ocean only half full. It is one of the most famous Atlantic Ocean shipwrecks in history and has inspired many movies and documentaries about the wreck.
The RMS Lusitania is another famous shipwreck. Launched in 1906, it was briefly the world's largest passenger ship. In 1915, the ship was attacked by a German U-boat off the coast of Ireland. The attack cost the lives of more than 1,000 crew members and passengers.
The deadliest maritime disaster ever was the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff during World War II in 1945. It was sunk by a Soviet submarine in the Baltic Sea while trying to evacuate civilians from Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, and East Prussia. When the ship sank, 9,400 people died, the largest number of deaths from a single ship sinking.
Rank | Body of Water | Number of Shipwrecks (Based on the 300 Most Recent as of Feb. 11, 2023) |
---|---|---|
1 |
Atlantic Ocean |
25 |
2 |
South China Sea |
17 |
3 |
Black Sea |
13 |
3 |
Pacific Ocean |
13 |
5 |
East China Sea |
12 |
6 |
Taiwan Strait |
10 |
7 |
Indian Ocean |
9 |
7 |
Mediterranean Sea |
9 |
9 |
Gulf of Thailand |
8 |
10 |
Gulf of Mexico |
7 |
11 |
Arabian Sea |
6 |
11 |
Gulf of Tonkin |
6 |
11 |
Java Sea |
6 |
11 |
Meghna River |
6 |
11 |
Sea of Azov |
6 |
11 |
Sulu Sea |
6 |
17 |
Yellow Sea |
5 |
18 |
Adriatic Sea |
4 |
18 |
Aegean Sea |
4 |
18 |
Barataria Bay |
4 |
18 |
Persian Gulf |
4 |
18 |
Sea of Japan |
4 |
18 |
Sea of Marmara |
4 |
18 |
South Pacific Ocean |
4 |
25 |
Bay of Bengal |
3 |
25 |
English Channel |
3 |
25 |
North Sea |
3 |
28 |
Balearic Sea |
2 |
28 |
Bass Strait |
2 |
28 |
Caribbean Sea |
2 |
28 |
Chao Phraya River |
2 |
28 |
Chesapeake Bay |
2 |
28 |
Coral Sea |
2 |
28 |
Gulf of Guinea |
2 |
28 |
Ionian Sea |
2 |
28 |
Makassar Strait |
2 |
28 |
Mississippi River |
2 |
28 |
Narragansett Bay |
2 |
28 |
Ormoc Bay |
2 |
28 |
Philippine Sea |
2 |
28 |
Red Sea |
2 |
28 |
Sea of Okhotsk |
2 |
43 |
Alexandra Lake (Grays, U.K.) |
1 |
43 |
Arafura Sea |
1 |
43 |
Archipelago Sea |
1 |
43 |
Badung Strait |
1 |
43 |
Bali Sea |
1 |
43 |
Baltic Sea |
1 |
43 |
Bangka Strait |
1 |
43 |
Bay of Algiers |
1 |
43 |
Bay of Palma |
1 |
43 |
Bayou Lafourche |
1 |
43 |
Bohol Sea |
1 |
43 |
Brahmaputra River |
1 |
43 |
Cấm River |
1 |
43 |
Camotes Sea |
1 |
43 |
Cape Cod Bay |
1 |
43 |
Caspian Sea |
1 |
43 |
Ceram Sea |
1 |
43 |
Ciliwung River |
1 |
43 |
Corpus Christi Channel |
1 |
43 |
Dakatia River |
1 |
43 |
Damodar River |
1 |
43 |
Eastern Bay (Maryland, U.S.) |
1 |
43 |
Elliot Bay (Seattle, U.S.) |
1 |
43 |
Escravos River |
1 |
43 |
Flores Sea |
1 |
43 |
Glacier Bay |
1 |
43 |
Guayas River |
1 |
43 |
Gulf of Alaska |
1 |
43 |
Gulf of Gabes |
1 |
43 |
Gulf of Nayband |
1 |
43 |
Gulf of Siam |
1 |
43 |
Gulf of Squillace |
1 |
43 |
Haro Strait |
1 |
43 |
Hiroshima Bay |
1 |
43 |
Hooghly River |
1 |
43 |
Hungry Bay |
1 |
43 |
Jervis Bay |
1 |
43 |
Jhelum River |
1 |
43 |
Karatoya River |
1 |
43 |
Kertch Strait |
1 |
43 |
Kissamos Bay |
1 |
43 |
Kola Bay |
1 |
43 |
La Plata River |
1 |
43 |
Labrador Sea |
1 |
43 |
Lake Eerie |
1 |
43 |
Linjiang River |
1 |
43 |
Magellan Bay |
1 |
43 |
Mona Passage |
1 |
43 |
Niger River |
1 |
43 |
Phan Rang Bay |
1 |
43 |
Piscataqua River |
1 |
43 |
Port of Mongla |
1 |
43 |
Salish Sea |
1 |
43 |
Santa Barbara Channel |
1 |
43 |
Seto Inland Sea |
1 |
43 |
Shagari Dam |
1 |
43 |
Singapore Strait |
1 |
43 |
Sognefjord |
1 |
43 |
Southern Bug |
1 |
43 |
Strait of Tartary |
1 |
43 |
Sugandha River |
1 |
43 |
Sungai Sepaku River |
1 |
43 |
Szczecin Lagoon |
1 |
43 |
Tasman Sea |
1 |
43 |
Timor Sea |
1 |
43 |
Tokuyama Bay |
1 |
43 |
Tor Bay |
1 |
43 |
Van Uc River |
1 |
43 |
Willoughby Bay |
1 |
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