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Famous Shipwrecks and What They Taught
A survey of notable shipwrecks from the Mary Rose to the Titanic and beyond, and the changes in design, rules and rescue that followed each loss.
Seafaring Life and Navigation
Shipwrecks and Maritime Disasters
Famous losses and the rules and reforms they led to.
Samuel Plimsoll and the Load Line
How Samuel Plimsoll campaigned against overloaded and unseaworthy ships in Victorian Britain, and how the Plimsoll line became a legal safety marking.
The Batavia Wreck and Mutiny
The Dutch East India Company ship Batavia was wrecked off Western Australia in 1629, followed by a mutiny and massacre among the survivors; here is the history.
The Loss of the Mary Rose
The Tudor warship Mary Rose sank in the Solent in 1545 and was raised in 1982. What is known about her loss, the debated causes and the recovery.
The Mary Celeste Mystery
The Mary Celeste was found drifting and abandoned in December 1872. What is documented, which theories have been proposed, and what remains unexplained.
The Sinking of the Lusitania
The Cunard liner Lusitania was torpedoed by a German submarine on 7 May 1915. What happened, the debates over her cargo and the effect on public opinion.
The Sinking of the Titanic
The facts of the Titanic's loss in April 1912, from the iceberg to the rescue, and the safety rules on lifeboats, radio and ice patrol that followed.
The Vasa and Its Failed Launch
The Swedish warship Vasa sank on her maiden voyage in Stockholm harbour in 1628. Why she was unstable, what the inquiry found and how she was raised in 1961.
The Whaleship Essex
The Nantucket whaleship Essex was sunk by a sperm whale in the Pacific in 1820. The survivors' ordeal in open boats and its link to Moby-Dick.
Wreckers and Salvage Law
How coastal communities and the law treated cargo from wrecked ships, from medieval rights of wreck to the Florida wreckers and modern salvage rules.
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