Wrecks & Archaeology

Painting of a pinnace by Cornelis Verbeeck, 1625
Historical sources refer to the Sparrow-Hawk as a small pinnace. This 1625 painting by Cornelis Verbeeck shows a Dutch pinnace in rough seas (Wikimedia Commons/public domain)

Study reveals more clues to New England shipwreck of 1626

Based on where the timbers were found, it was long believed that they were from the 12-meter (40ft) ship. The Sparrow-Hawk is the oldest known shipwreck in English Colonial America. Until now, there has always been some uncertainty about its true identity.

Whaling shipwreck found in Gulf of Mexico

NOAA Ocean Exploration documented the brig Industry shipwreck in the Gulf of Mexico at a depth of 2,000m below the Gulf surface. The brig sank in the summer of 1836 after a storm snapped its masts and opened the hull to the sea.

The remains of the 64-foot long, two-masted wooden brig open a window into a little known chapter of American history when descendants of African slaves and Native Americans served as essential crew in one of the nation’s oldest industries.

Discovered in 2011

The ship’s remains were first documented in 2011, when a geological data company scanning an oil lease area spotted the carcass of a ship at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. Following standard procedures, the company reported its finding to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which logged the wreck as No. 15563 and left it alone.

Endurance was crushed by the sea-ice and sank in 3,000m of water
The wreck of the Endurance remains one of the most iconic of all shipwrecks since it was crushed by the sea-ice in 1915, and sank in 3,000m of water.

Shackleton's Endurance found

What remains of the Endurance is 3,000m down in waters that are pretty much permanently covered in thick sea-ice, the same sea-ice that trapped and then ruptured the hull of Shackleton's polar yacht.

The gold letters of the ship's name, alongside ornate scrolling, emerged out of the dark as the ROV approached the wreck.

Atlanta Shipwreck found in Lake Superior after 131 years

The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society (GLSHS) announced that the wreck of the Atlanta, a three-masted schooner-barge, was located by sonar in the summer of 2021  but the discovery wasn't made public until research had been conducted to give the wreck context, according to Corey Adkins, the communications and content director of GLSHS.

Into the Depths podcasts persented by National Geographic
"Into the Depths" podcasts, persented by National Geographic, features National Geographic Explorer Tara Roberts as she takes us on a personal journey with a group of Black divers seeking and documenting slave shipwrecks all over the world. Learn more at: NatGeo.com/IntotheDepths.

NatGeo presents gripping podcasts on slave ship wrecks and divers documenting them

In the new six-part podcast, Into the Depths, Roberts tells of her time with a group of Black divers whose mission is to locate and help document the wrecks.

Norwegian merchant ship DS Thorgny found more than hundred years after it was sunk

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(File photo) Swedish Coast guard apprehended divers in the process of plundering protected shipwrecks.

Four divers charged with systematic plunder of protected wrecks in the Baltic

The Swedish Coast Guard apprehended the divers in July 2020, as they were found retrieving artifacts from a wreck off the Baltic island of Öland. A subsequent house search uncovered a large number of objects, which were suspected to originate from wrecks classified as protected. Among the objects was an iron cannon dated to the 17th century.

The indictment includes ten charges for incidents during a number of dives that took place from 2013 to 2020. Two of the men stand charged on all counts. 

A model of the Bremer cog
A model of the Bremer cog

800-year-old shipwreck found off Sweden's West Coast

“The wreck is made from oak, cut between 1233 and 1240, so nearly 800 years ago,” said Staffan von Arbin, a maritime archaeologist at the University of Gothenburg.

Dyngökoggen

Last autumn, the University of Gothenburg conducted archaeological diving inspections along the coast of Bohuslän to find out more about known wrecks on the seafloor. It was during this work that the maritime archaeologists came upon the wreck outside of Fjällbacka, which has been given the name “Dyngökoggen.”