Steam locomotives on the Red Sea floor. Fighter planes in a lagoon. A luxury liner full of jeeps. Every legendary wreck began with one terrible day at sea. Here is how ten of them went down. The rest of each story is waiting in Into the Blue.
A WWII arsenal frozen in time: motorbikes, trucks and two steam locomotives on the Red Sea floor.
Depth
14–30 m
Sank
1941
Length
126 m
She was bound for Alexandria with supplies for the Allied army in North Africa. In September 1941 she was held at Safe Anchorage F in the Gulf of Suez. A collision had blocked the Suez Canal. On 6 October 1941 German He 111 bombers struck her. Both bombs hit hold 4 (cargo space) near the stern. The ammunition stored there exploded.…
Lost with everyone aboard in a 1911 cyclone, and now a reef where more than 200 species have been recorded.
Depth
14–30 m
Sank
1911
Length
107 m
Yongala left Mackay for Townsville in March 1911. The lighthouse keeper on Dent Island last saw her steaming into worsening weather. She carried no wireless, so she could not be warned of the tropical cyclone that struck on 23 March. Nobody aboard survived, and no bodies were ever recovered. The passenger and crew count is given as 122 or 123, depending on the source.…
A luxury liner turned troopship, with jeeps in her holds and a porcelain lady waiting in the dark.
Depth
21–73 m
Sank
1942
Length
199 m
On 26 October 1942 the troopship was carrying about 5,000 soldiers of the 172nd Infantry Regiment. She entered the main channel into Espiritu Santo harbour. She struck a US mine that was missing from her sailing orders. A second mine hit near the stern. Captain Henry Nelson judged her lost and tried to beach her.…
A brand-new ferry that capsized on her first voyage, her decks still loaded with lorries.
Depth
17–42 m
Sank
1980
Length
172 m
Zenobia left Malmö on 4 May 1980 for Tartous, Syria. She was loaded with trucks and trailers. She reached Larnaca on 2 June. In the early hours of 7 June, a fault in the computerised ballast pumping system pushed water into the side tanks. The ship took on a growing list (lean). The master (captain) is reported to have asked to bring her into harbour.…
Zero fighters in the holds and a bow gun crowned with coral, in the most famous wreck lagoon on Earth.
Depth
9–34 m
Sank
1944
Length
133 m
Fujikawa Maru was anchored at Truk. She was unloading aircraft she had brought in. On 17 February 1944 US carrier aircraft attacked during Operation Hailstone. A torpedo from a TBF Avenger hit her starboard (right) side amidships (middle).…
The “Great Carrier Reef”: a 271 m aircraft carrier sent to the bottom on purpose.
Depth
25–64 m
Sank
2006
Length
271 m
Oriskany did not sink in war. The Navy sank her on purpose as an artificial reef. There were years of delay for hurricane seasons and a review of the PCBs left aboard. Then she was towed to a spot about 24 miles off Pensacola, Florida. On 17 May 2006 Navy divers fired roughly 500 lb (230 kg) of C-4 on 22 sea connection pipes.…
Torn in two by an 1867 hurricane, and the star of the 1977 film The Deep.
Depth
9–26 m
Sank
1867
Length
94 m
In late October 1867 the Rhone was at Peter Island, near Salt Island. A hurricane struck. The second half of the storm swung round from the south. It drove her onto Black Rock Point off Salt Island. She broke in two. Roughly 145 people were aboard. Only 25 survived. About 123 were lost.…
Torpedoed in WWII, now a coral garden you can swim to straight from the beach.
Depth
5–30 m
Sank
1942
Length
125 m
In January 1942 Liberty was sailing from Australia to the Philippines. She carried railway parts and rubber. At about 04:15 on 11 January, the Japanese submarine I-166 torpedoed her. She was roughly 10 nautical miles southwest of the Lombok Strait. She could no longer move. The destroyers USS Paul Jones and HNLMS Van Ghent took her in tow toward Singaraja on Bali's north coast.…
Scuttled by her own captain, with bombs and three Fiat cars still in her holds.
Depth
3–38 m
Sank
1940
Length
155 m
Umbria sailed in 1940 for Eritrea under Italian ownership. She had a war cargo of about 6,000 tons of bombs, detonators and weapons. She also carried cement and three Fiat 1100 cars. On 9 June British warships made her anchor at Wingate Reef off Port Sudan. The ships included HMS Grimsby and HMS Leander.…
A tilted maze from engine room to bridge, on the Red Sea reef famous for swallowing ships.
Depth
4–24 m
Sank
1983
Length
100 m
In April 1983 the Giannis D left Rijeka. She carried sawn softwood for Jeddah and Hodeidah. She was approaching the Strait of Gubal with engines at full speed. She left her course and ran hard onto the north-west corner of Sha'ab Abu Nuhas.…
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