Wrecked...

April 20, 2011 1:27 AM

Lovely and haunting photographs of 25 Shipwrecks from around the world.

The OP links to this post about Abandoned Ships and Shipyards which itself links to this selection of more wrecks. And there's lots more to explore, like these wonderfully photographed abandoned shipyards or this gallery of the abandoned Staten Island boatyards...

posted by benzo8 (25 comments total)

These galleries are great. Thanks.
posted by joannemullen at 2:54 AM on April 20, 2011

The Bay of Nouadhibou and the Skeleton Coast
posted by adamvasco at 2:56 AM on April 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

I was wondering if they'd have that one on Amorgos. I just randomly happened to spot that as I was exploring the island in June, 2009.

Some shots I took.
posted by Decani at 3:22 AM on April 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

That Artificial Owl site is great, adamvasco. Abandoned Catalina seaplane.

Thanks too, benzo8. Here's another contribution: Fort Dauphin, Madagascar (must put my own photos of it online one day).
posted by rory at 3:24 AM on April 20, 2011

How long before they start building these? Someone could start a business buying up unwanted ships, rusting 'em up, and selling them to wanna be tourist spots for strategic placement. If only I had a little dough ...
posted by Faze at 3:59 AM on April 20, 2011

This is neat. Here's one from Brighton UK in the 1980s.

Ship wrecks are very atmospheric. I saw some wrecks at Tarfaya on the Morocco coast a while ago. You can still see these on Google maps although they seem to have been broken up quite a bit by now. (The grainy effect is just the poor state of the film and not some clever post processing ...)
posted by carter at 4:08 AM on April 20, 2011

The second ship in that series is the SS American Star, which had a pretty interesting history prior to its wreck.
posted by saladin at 4:39 AM on April 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

Very cool, thanks.
posted by .kobayashi. at 4:59 AM on April 20, 2011

A couple of those remind me of a little one I see on Monhegan in Maine. It's amazing how far up the rock the waves can take them.
posted by MtDewd at 5:18 AM on April 20, 2011

Wonderful pics. Here are a few more, including different views of some in the post. Here's video of a ship-bridge encounter, a delightful wreck slideshow, and, for anyone tempted to go on a cruise, this.
posted by kinnakeet at 5:39 AM on April 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

The wooden ones don't last as long. The Maine schooners have almost disappeared...
posted by wallstreet1929 at 5:49 AM on April 20, 2011

South Georgia, Shipwreck capital of the world
posted by the noob at 6:19 AM on April 20, 2011

The shots of the rusting wrecks apparently on a plain in Uzbekistan have an interesting story as well: some fifty years ago the Soviet government diverted two major rivers that were feeding the Aral Sea and the volume of the lake has shrink by about eighty percent since then, leaving vessels stranded on the former seabed as the lake grows ever smaller.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:21 AM on April 20, 2011

I got shivers of terror looking at #4 in Greece.

Can you imagine landing on that island beach, surrounded by nothing but impenetrably steep cliffs?
Now imagine that just outside the cove you see shark fins, too.
posted by Theta States at 6:38 AM on April 20, 2011

Self Link: these were taken in Tunisia in 2007.
one
two
three
four

posted by preparat at 6:51 AM on April 20, 2011

Here is a satellite view of the same wreck.
posted by preparat at 7:02 AM on April 20, 2011

I got shivers of terror looking at #4 in Greece.

posted by Theta States at 2:38 PM on April 20

That's actually one of the most famous wrecks in the world. It's very popular with Greek postcard makers - and senders!
posted by Decani at 7:07 AM on April 20, 2011

I know this has little to do with anything, but from the youtube comments from kinnakeet's last link:

do SOMEONE fell ? i HOPE my BOSS where IN this SHIP

I love people
posted by six-or-six-thirty at 7:10 AM on April 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

It's not as epic as some of these, but the Niagara scow is dramatically perched just upstream from the falls... I don't like to imagine what it must have been like for the two guys aboard when the tow cable broke.
posted by usonian at 7:17 AM on April 20, 2011

Great site. Thanks for posting!

The water bridge in Germany is incredible.
posted by rich at 7:51 AM on April 20, 2011

I don't know if it qualifies as a wreck per se, but while on business last year I discovered the Hulks of Powell River. It's a man-made breakwater comprised of old ships, some from WWII purchased from the US Navy, and I don't think they're in any way maintained so they just kind of rot away looking super cool.

Here's a video of the hulks and local sea lions.
posted by Hoopo at 8:46 AM on April 20, 2011

And let's not forget the famous "Craggy Island" shipwreck.
posted by happyroach at 8:55 AM on April 20, 2011

Arguably the most famous wreck in the world.
posted by Xoebe at 10:20 AM on April 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Every time I see images of shipwrecks I always think of the moment in the Odyssey when Odysseus and Penelope are reunited at last, how he has longed for her
"As the sunwarmed earth is longed for by a swimmer
Spent in rough water where his ship went down
Under Poseidon's blows, gale winds and tons of sea.
Few men can keep alive through a big surf
To crawl, clotted with brine, on kindly beaches
In joy, in joy, knowing the abyss behind," (trans. Fitzgerald)
how the fear of losing that marginal security between the sailor and the abyss has always gripped us to the point of assuming an emotionally interior resonance. Shipwrecks are like revenants stripped of their malevolence, exuding instead the horror of submersion and decay.
posted by myownlostrib at 11:52 AM on April 20, 2011

Wow, myownlostrib. That's beautiful.
posted by kinnakeet at 6:15 AM on April 21, 2011