Sunken ships are associated with pirates and treasures, but in fact, everything is far from so romantic. Modern shipwrecks are no longer associated with these attributes. Nonetheless, wrecks continue to replenish the ocean, creating environmental and navigational problems.
According to the UN, there are about three million sunken ships scattered in the world's oceans. Some of them were victims of bad weather, others were damaged in wars or sunk in accidents. Scientists are worried about some of the sunken ships, since they transported fuel and can now become a source of pollution. Others can lie shallow and interfere with ships, even to the point of shipwreck.
Determining the exact location of all these vessels is difficult. However, a group of European scientists have found a way to detect sunken ships using satellites. Researchers have developed a special program based on data from the American Earth remote sensing satellite Landsat 8. With the help of this program, scientists will be able to draw up a map of sunken ships.
"Titanic" and its "brothers" in misfortune
However, the new program has one drawback - it can only study the seabed to a depth of 15 meters. Many ships rest much deeper. In particular, the infamous Titanic sank to a depth of 3750 meters after a shipwreck. The ship sank in 1912 and was found only in 1985. Many scientists and inventors have proposed different ways to raise the ship to the surface, but they never came to their practical application. According to scientists, "Titanic" will completely crumble into small fragments at the turn of the XXI and XXII centuries.
Some ships do not lie as deep, so they can be accessible for tourists and divers. For example, these include the ship "Ouida", better known as "Ouida". The ship was launched in 1715 and was initially used for the slave trade. In 1717, the ship was captured by the pirate Black Sam, who was operating in the Caribbean. During the year, the pirate plundered more than 50 ships on the Ouidah, after which he got into a violent storm and was shipwrecked.
Ouidah was discovered in 1982, 250 years after the disaster. Many treasures, pirate weapons and other artifacts were found on the ship. The vessel was only five meters deep. It became the first pirate ship ever discovered.
Promotional video:
Treasures and ghost ships
The loudest find of the 20th century was the ship Nuestra Señora de Atocha, or rather, the treasures from this ship. Little remains of the ship itself, which sank in 1622. The wind scattered his remains all over the Florida coast. But together with the ship, 47 tons of gold and silver coins and ingots sank. They have dotted the seabed for over 50 miles. This was almost the annual income of the Spanish kingdom.
The treasure was found by treasure hunter Mel Fisher, who has devoted more than 20 years to the search. As a result of many years of work, Fischer's expedition raised jewelry worth $ 250 million from the seabed. The approximate amount of treasures still remaining under the water of Atocha is estimated at no less than $ 100 million.
Many sunken ships are often shrouded in legends. This is the passenger steamer "Valencia", which sank in 1906 near Vancouver. Sailors call this place the Pacific Ocean Cemetery, because ships sink there quite often. On the night of January 22, the ship ran into the reefs due to a storm and received holes. The captain decided to run the ship aground, but the situation was aggravated by bad weather conditions.
Several lifeboats were launched into the water. However, they were improperly staffed and immediately fell prey to a powerful storm. Help was unable to get close to the ship due to the hurricane. According to unofficial data, 181 people died in the crash, 37 survived. In 1933, sailors discovered a drifting boat from the Valencia. According to some sources, it was empty, according to others - with the remains of passengers. This was the source of the legend of the ghost ship that Valencia became after the disaster.
Be that as it may, sunken ships will continue to attract the attention of historians, tourists and divers. The desire to look behind the scenes of someone else's misfortune attracts adventure lovers into the depths of the sea. Considering that most of the world's oceans have not been explored, people still have to make many sensational discoveries and find the lost and forgotten underwater treasures.