The Greatest Shipwrecks Still Out There
Explorers discovered the remains of the HMS Terror, one of the ships on the ill-fated voyage of Sir John Franklin. How many more history-making wrecks are still waiting?
Photo Illustration by Kelly Caminero/The Daily Beast
It’s estimated that, beneath Earth’s waters, 3 million undiscovered shipwrecks exist. And right now, all across the planet, the locations of a select few of these lost ships are actively being sought.
Some of these expeditions are publicly sanctioned by governments and others are privately funded by organizations, foundations, or like Bill Paxton’s character in the Titanic, greedy bastards. However, the public curiosity surrounding theses expeditions’s searches and/or findings are greater than one might think. Not only is the internet overloaded with sites and blogs dedicated to covering news and updates regarding the hunts for shipwrecks, but books, YouTube fare, and podcasts about the subject are also rather easy to find. Moreover, once a upon a time, both National Geographic Channel and Discovery Channel aired reality programming which followed the adventures of teams of people who get their adrenaline kicks searching the open seas for sunken vessels and their lost treasures of shiny shit. Obviously, for many of us, there’s just something about shipwrecks—maybe the history or the treasure or the mystery—that we find fascinating.
Last week was a good week for shipwreck aficionados. According to a small group of smart, overachieving explorers from the Arctic Research Foundation, a 19th century shipwreck has been found. According to The Guardian, on Sept 3, the ARF found Sir John Franklin’s long-lost, second ship, the HMS Terror, at the bottom of an Arctic bay.
