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Throughout history, vessels have been lost at the ocean due to war, day-to-day trade, and severe weather occurrences. With our growing need to protect the health of our oceans from contamination, sunken shipwrecks have lately been getting increased attention as a potential environmental and health threat.
Map of WW1 shipwrecks
Forgotten Wrecks of the First World War is a project devised by the Maritime Archaeology Trust to coincide with the anniversary of the Great War. At the heart of the plan is a desire to raise the profile of a currently under-represented perspective of WW1. While the attention of historians is often concentrated on the Western Front and significant naval fights like Jutland, historic remains from the war lie, largely disremembered, in and throughout our seas, rivers, and estuaries. South Coast wreck sites, which cover merchant, naval ships and passenger ships, ports, piers, buildings, and foreshore hulks, are often unrecognized and unprotected and have been deteriorating due to natural and human processes for approximately one hundred years.
Map of WW2 shipwrecks
World War II was the single, most significant loss of a ship in a comparatively short period the world has ever seen.
A map below has been created by Rean Monfils to gather data on World War II shipwrecks across the world.
Its combined total of World War II sinkings stands at 7807 vessels worldwide, combining to over 34 million tons of shipping with 861 tankers and oilers.
Distribution of shipwrecks globally North Atlantic – 3002 South Atlantic – 198 Mediterranean – 305 Indian – 313 Arctic – 124 Pacific – 3276
Paul Paul Heersink has also been collecting data on sunken ships during World War II for seven years.
The database currently has a location of 14,672 ships. Data on another 4,981 ships were also collected, but these are not mapped because of the lack of location information.
The interactive map also shows the Number of Casualties and Tonnage for each sunken ship.
Shipwrecks of the Arctic and Antarctic
Data scientist Erin was inspired by the history of shipwrecks in polar regions of our planet and made these magnificent maps of wrecks of the Arctic and Antarctic.
Erin made these maps using the wrecksite.eu database containing information on more than 180 thousand shipwrecks.
Map of Shipwrecks in Ironbottom Sound, Guadalcanal. More than 50 allied (US, NZ, AUS) and Japanese ships were sunk in WW 2 and are the final resting place of thousands of sailors from both sides.
Map of Shipwrecks in Ironbottom Sound, Guadalcanal. More than 50 allied (US, NZ, AUS) and Japanese ships were sunk in WW 2 and are the final resting place of thousands of sailors from both sides.