Wreck

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A wreck (especially: wreck “roaming object”) is a vehicle that has become unusable due to decay or damage. Most often, the term refers to sunken or destroyed ships. A large number of wrecks are referred to in the figurative sense as ship cemeteries, car cemeteries, aircraft cemeteries, etc.

Shipwrecks
Shipwrecks that are partially sunk or just below the surface of the water or floating are considered to be a great danger to the shipping lanes. For shipwrecks older than 100 years, the Convention for the Protection of Cultural Heritage under water adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO in November 2001 applies. It entered into force in 2009, but was not yet ratified by Germany and Austria as of 2020.

A special kind of self-sinking are the block ships in naval warfare. In the process, their own retired ships were sunk from enemy port entrances to block them, or from their own facilities to protect them.

Individual shipwrecks and wreck finds (selection)

Modern

Titanic
Andrea Doria
Empress of Ireland
USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413) in June 2022 it was found at 6895 m depth; deeper than any other previously located shipwreck
Lusitania
Persia
Bismarck
Yamato
Wrecks of the German high sea fleet in Scapa Flow
SM UB 122, washed free on the east coast of England in December 2013
Ondo and Fides in the Elbe estuary
Pallas
America
Pamir
Umbria
Mactan sank off Maestro de Campo, Philippines, presumably after hitting a monster wave
United Malika

Middle Ages and early modern times
Lena Shoal Junke sank in 1490 before Busuanga
Vizcaína, one of the ships of Christopher Columbus, which sank in 1503 and was rediscovered in 2004
Ship cemetery of Skuldelev
Mary Rose, at the time Henry VIII sank in the port of Portsmouth, now own museum
Vasa, Sweden
Osebergschiff, Oseberg, Norway
Ralswiek boats
Akerendam, Dutch East India sailor, sunk in 1725 off the Norwegian island Round
Kvalsund boat, Viking-era boat found on the Norwegian island of Nerlandsøya
Gedesby vessel; Animal Transportation of the 13. Discovered in Falster.
Nuestra Señora de Atocha, Spanish galleon, sunk off Florida in 1622; her 1985 salvaged cargo is the largest treasure find yet in a shipwreck
Nuestra Señora de la Concepción, Spanish galleon of the Manila route, sunk in September 1638 off Saipan and recovered in 1987
Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, Spanish frigate, sunk in 1804 off the southern coast of Portugal
Wreck of Karschau, large cargo ship of the 12th Century, Germany

Roman times
Ship of Mahdia
Mainz Roman ships
2400-year-old Greek merchant ship found in Black Sea off Bulgarian coast in 2018

Bronze and Iron Age
Boat of Dover
Hjortspringboot (also replicated)
Lapuri wreck
Mazarrón vessels
North Ferriby Boat, Humber
SK