The Ghost Ship That Lived A Full Life
[ranking: 9]
In 2013, kayakers discovered a 110-year-old ghost ship in a tributary off the Ohio River. While it had vegetation growing through the bottom, it was still structurally sound enough to explore. This ship was a converted yacht called the USS Phenakite by the US navy, but ended its life as the Circle Line V. And what a life it had.
It was originally an NYC sightseeing boat, converted for use in both WWI and WWII. It was then used as a research vessel by Thomas Edison, and even had a cameo in Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach" music video. In the late 1980s, the ship was decommissioned and left in the Ohio River, where the kayakers found it. It remains there to this day, and anyone can take a look at it, but be warned. Local landowners are known to chase explorers away with shotguns.
The M??duse
[ranking: 1]
The M??duse (Medusa, in English) was a French Navy frigate that was tasked with carrying a group of French officials to their colony in Senegal in 1816. The inexperienced captain ran the ship aground on a shallow bank, wrecking the ship. All 400 people onboard abandoned ship, including 151 who set sail on a hastily constructed raft. Their harrowing journey in the open ocean, including madness, suicide, and cannibalism, became the ghastly stuff of legend. When the raft members were finally rescued two weeks later, only 15 of the original 151 men were still alive.
In 1980, the wreck was discovered by French marine archaeologists off the coast of Mauritania and some of its artifacts were recovered and brought back to a museum.
The HMS Terror
[ranking: 4]
In the fall of 2016, scientists found an old British explorer ship, the HMS Terror, that had been missing for nearly 170 years. The ship, which set off in 1845 to find a shortcut to Asia through the arctic with another ship, the HMS Erebus, was found perfectly preserved. Neither ship reached its destination, and the crews of both ships, 129 men all told, died. The ship was also found, rather coincidentally, in Terror Bay.
The Hydrus
[ranking: 2]
In 2015 divers discovered the Hydrus in Lake Huron, a ship that had been lost since the Great Storm of 1913. The Hydrus, a 436-foot steam ship, was overturned by a blizzard while carrying a large load of iron ore, dragging it's entire crew to their deaths along with it. During this storm, over 250 sailors died in Lake Huron. The Great Lakes have been home to more than 6,000 shipwrecks.
Nanhai One
[ranking: 8]
China's largest ever marine archeological discovery, Nanhai One, sank in the southern province of Guangdong during the Southern Song dynasty of 1127-1279. The almost 1000-year-old wreck was raised from the sea bed in 2007, to reveal over 60,000 historical and valuable items. The treasures ranged from pottery to precious metals, and there were enough to fill a museum dedicated to the discovery.
Nanhai One was accidentally discovered by a British-Chinese expedition trying to find a completely different shipwreck. During its heyday, the ship is believed to have taken part in the "Marine Silk Road" which allowed trade between China, India, the Middle East, and Africa in ancient times.
The Mystery Shipwreck Buried In Sand
[ranking: 5]
Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on New Jersey, but it also uncovered a few massive, if old, shipwrecks. One was a massive 100-200 foot wooden ship in the Barnegat Inlet, which had been hidden under the sand for nearly 100 years. It was uncovered during a construction project, almost perfectly preserved. Historians think it was a coal carrying schooner in the late 1800s.
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