Buzz
The ocean floor is strewn with shipwrecks, many of which conceal their own enigmatic tales. While the allure of mysteries is undeniable, the frustration of unresolved questions lingers like an itch that cannot be scratched. Fortunately, in recent years, several ships have finally revealed their secrets. From mysterious anomalies near the RMS Titanic to entire warships disappearing without a trace, here are the top maritime mysteries that have now been unraveled.
10. The Disappearance of a Royal Ship
In 1682, the HMS Gloucester narrowly avoided a tragic fate for a king. James Stuart, who would later become the King of England, was aboard the ship when it crashed onto a sandbank off the English coast. On that day, James survived by a hair, but many of the crew and passengers perished. Despite the tragedy and the potential to change royal history, the ship’s exact location remained a mystery for centuries.
Then two brothers, Lincoln and Julian Barnwell, alongside their friend James Little, set out on a mission to locate the Gloucester. After four years of searching, they began to lose hope. But in 2012, the discovery of a cannon off the Norfolk coast led them to the wreck. Eventually, the ship's bell confirmed that they had found the long-lost HMS Gloucester.
Incredibly, when the trio randomly set out to find the missing royal ship, they had no idea how historically significant their discovery would become. Given the ship's age and its connection to royal history, historians now regard the discovery of the Gloucester as one of the most important maritime findings of recent years.
9. The True Age of an Ancient Ship
In the 1980s, a fisherman was working in the Java Sea when he stumbled upon a shipwreck off the coast of Indonesia. The vessel was undeniably ancient, but its exact age was a mystery. All that researchers knew was that it had come from China, carrying a cargo of ceramics, ivory, and incense.
In 2018, archaeologists reexamined the cargo and uncovered something they had previously overlooked. One of the ceramic pieces bore Chinese writing on the bottom, almost like a modern “Made in China” label. This inscription revealed the place where it had been produced: Jianning Fu in Fujian Province, China.
Historical records indicated that Jianning Fu became Jianning Lu around 1278. This suggested the ship had sunk before this name change, potentially as early as 1162. Combining this with carbon dating of the ivory and other items, it became clear that the ship was likely 800 years old—about a century older than originally estimated.
8. The Sullivan Brothers’ Final Resting Place
During World War II, the U.S. Navy implemented a rule that prohibited relatives from serving on the same ship. The goal was to protect families from losing multiple members in case of a tragedy. However, five brothers had a different plan. The Sullivan siblings insisted they would only serve in the war if they were placed on the same ship. For reasons unknown, the Navy relented, allowing all five brothers to board the USS Juneau.
On November 13, 1942, the USS Juneau was engaged in the Battle of Guadalcanal when a Japanese torpedo struck the ship. It sank, claiming the lives of all on board, including Francis, George, Joseph, Albert, and Madison Sullivan.
For 76 years, the wreck of the ship remained elusive. Then in 2018, sonar scans revealed an anomaly that turned out to be the long-lost warship. It was found off the coast of the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific Ocean, resting at a depth of 3,700 feet (4,200 meters). The shipwreck is now a decaying ruin, covered in marine life.
7. The Titanic Echo
Paul Henry Nargeolet, an experienced diver, often visited the wreck of the Titanic. After completing 30 dives, he encountered something puzzling. In 1998, a mysterious blip appeared on his sonar, sparking a decades-long mystery. No one knew what the blip represented, only that it was large and located near the Titanic.
In 2022, Nargeolet and his team launched an expedition to the wreck and finally uncovered the mystery. The blip wasn’t another shipwreck or an underwater mountain; it was a deep-sea reef. Tentatively named the Nargeolet-Fanning Ridge, this volcanic formation sat 9,514 feet (2,900 meters) beneath the ocean surface, bustling with marine life, including fish, corals, lobsters, and sponges.
6. Shackleton’s Famed Ship
Ernest Shackleton is a maritime icon, known for his legendary survival story. In 1915, his ship, the Endurance, sank off the coast of Antarctica. Shackleton and his crew endured an extraordinary escape, surviving over a year on drifting ice floes. Although everyone was eventually rescued, the Endurance disappeared beneath the ice and was lost to history.
In 2022, a team of explorers set out to find the fabled wreck. They succeeded in locating the Endurance in the Weddell Sea, a region notoriously known as the “world’s worst sea” for its perilous and nearly impassable waters. The wreck was found 4 miles (6 kilometers) from the spot where it was originally crushed by pack ice. Remarkably, despite the icy pressures, the Endurance was found to be largely intact and astonishingly well-preserved.
5. The Enigmatic Purpose of a Cog
In 2012, as part of efforts to widen the Ijssel River in the Netherlands, workers unearthed a shipwreck at the river’s bottom. To their surprise, the wreck wasn’t alone. Alongside the cog—a type of medieval wooden ship—were a punt and barge from the same period.
The real mystery, however, was why these vessels were resting at that specific location. It turns out, the 2012 project wasn’t the first to modify the Ijssel River. Researchers now believe the ships were intentionally sunk 600 years ago to alter the river's flow.
A decision was made to recover the cog and preserve it. This was no simple task, as the ship weighed 55 tons (50 tonnes). Maritime archaeologists spent three years planning the operation, and when the moment arrived, they successfully lifted the entire cog during the first attempt.
4. The True Story of the Butter Boat
For years, locals near Streedagh Beach in Ireland visited the remnants of a shipwreck. The vessel, lodged in the sand, was a mystery—its origins and name unknown. It became locally known as the “Butter Boat.” In 2020, researchers set out to solve the enigma. What they uncovered was a tragic and fascinating story.
Through ship testing and deep dives into historical records, researchers identified the ship as the Greyhound. It was a trading vessel that regularly sailed between Ireland and Britain. In 1770, the ship departed Whitby Port in Yorkshire but was caught in a violent storm at Broadhaven Bay.
The crew managed to abandon ship, but when they counted the survivors, they realized that a cabin boy was still aboard, trapped near the cliffs. Despite returning to rescue him, the storm dragged the Greyhound and several rescuers into the sea, claiming the lives of 20 people in the process.
3. How Horses Confirmed a Legend
Not every shipwreck mystery lies beneath the sea. Some are embodied by living creatures. This is the case with the wild horses of Assateague Island, located between Virginia and Maryland. For centuries, the origin of these horses was unclear, though a local legend claimed they arrived after surviving a wrecked Spanish galleon.
The truth behind this legend was revealed by chance. During a research study, a scientist analyzed what he believed to be a cow’s tooth, discovered at an ancient Spanish colony in the Caribbean. Upon closer inspection, the tooth turned out to belong to a 16th-century horse.
Intrigued by this discovery, researchers compared the DNA to that of modern horses. The initial assumption was that the horse's closest living relatives would be from the Iberian Peninsula, where the Spanish sourced their horses. However, the DNA proved to be much more closely linked to the wild horses of Assateague. This confirmed that the Assateague horses were descendants of the Spanish explorers’ steeds, stranded on the island after their shipwreck.
2. The Vanishing Warships
When a warship sinks and lives are lost, the wreck becomes both a war grave and military property. It's clear that many ships went down during World War II, often claiming the lives of entire crews and sending them to the ocean floor.
In 2016, naval researchers exploring various wreck sites discovered an alarming pattern through sonar scans. Numerous submarines and warships had disappeared without a trace. The size of these ships made their vanishing perplexing—at first. However, a surge of ship-related materials showing up at scrapyards soon provided the explanation. It turned out that metal pirates were targeting warships. It's no wonder—one bronze ship propeller alone can fetch around $5,000, and a complete wreck is worth millions in scrap.
American warships aren't the only victims of this illicit trade. Metal pirates also raid Australian, Dutch, British, and Japanese warships, often at great personal risk.
1. The Shipping Container That Disappeared
In 2019, a storm caused the MSC Zoe to lose several steel containers overboard. Later, metal salvagers decided to recover these containers and sell them as scrap. Equipped with a mechanical arm and sonar, the crew set out for the North Sea, where the incident occurred. While scanning the seafloor near the Dutch island of Terschelling, they discovered a sonar anomaly.
Hoping to recover a shipping container, the salvagers used their mechanical arm to retrieve the object. However, instead of a payday, what emerged was a significant piece of history. They had lifted timbers from a 500-year-old shipwreck along with five tons (4,700 kilograms) of its copper cargo.
The copper cargo was intended for the creation of some of the earliest coins in the Netherlands, while the ship itself offered a rare glimpse into the evolution of shipbuilding techniques. It embodied the transition from the medieval “clinker” method to the more advanced “carvel” style, a pivotal change in Dutch ship construction during that era.
