The bottom of the seas and oceans has always attracted scientists, historians and just adventure seekers. Research is associated with great risk, but there are no fewer volunteers for understandable reasons. The ocean floor is not fully understood, it holds many secrets. Scientists are attracted by the possibility of historical research, because the coastline has changed over the millennia. But most are attracted to sunken ships. Sea vessels have been sinking since the first man’s exits to the sea, and now, according to UN experts, there are more than three million of them.
All attempts to penetrate the secrets of sunken ships are associated with various goals. Scientists and historians are attracted by the archaeological heritage and the investigation of the causes of the disaster, because the ships sank for a variety of reasons. Many attempts to find ships at the bottom of the sea are connected with the banal search for the valuables that were transported to them. Such seekers are especially interested in the times of pirate attacks and various military operations. It was then that gold, silver, ceramics and other valuables fell on the sea and ocean bottom.
Search Attractiveness
The nature of human nature is such that dreams take a long time. Someone even tries to bring them to life. And very many want not to earn, but to find a treasure with treasures. This could not but be reflected in art and culture. Wrecks appear in adventure novels and short stories, non-fiction articles and online blogs, informative television programs, and even games for computers or other digital devices.
Especially modern users are attracted by the opportunity to feel like a treasure hunter, sitting at home in front of the monitor. The most relevant thing is to look for sunken ships in ArcheAge for those who wake up such qualities as ambition and determination, after watching films about the lost treasures of Spanish squadrons. The game provides all the possibilities for this.
Caribbean Seabed
If we talk about the American coast, the story of the sunken ships will begin in 1492. This was the first voyage of Columbus, in which the flagship "Santa Maria" sank. The ship was never found, although the approximate place of its crash is known. A few years later, the same navigator lost two more of his ships in the Caribbean.
After the discovery of America , the era of the export of gold to the Old World began, and sunken ships began to increasingly cover the bottom of the ocean.
Spanish galleons, accompanied by military escorts, could not always escape from pirates or ships of the enemies of Spain. The main opponents were England, France, Portugal and Holland. The Spaniards did not remain in debt: they tried to sink or capture as many units of the enemy fleet as possible. Many treasures of sunken ships of that era have not yet been found, and therefore have overgrown with legends that only fuel the interest of treasure hunters.
Ship Cemetery - Baltic Sea
The bottom of the Baltic Sea is sometimes called a ship cemetery - many ships of various epochs of construction were sunk there. About twenty of them were able to find ordinary divers - the sunken ships are so shallow resting. Many of them are well preserved, according to scientists, due to the low temperature and low salinity of the water. The oldest wreck was built in the Middle Ages.
It turned out that the interest in the remains of vessels resting at the bottom is so great that JSC Marine Technologies began compiling a kind of atlas and catalog of sunken ships. Such types of equipment as airplanes, helicopters, etc. were included in these lists. Although studies are carried out throughout the Baltic Sea, the greatest attention is paid to waters that belong to the territory of the Russian Federation.
The project "Secrets of sunken ships"
The project was launched in 2002. It is part of another large-scale idea - “Marine Heritage of Russia”. Ilya Kochorov became the executive producer of Secrets of Wrecks, and Andrei Lukoshkov became the supervisor. The main objects of research are the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Finland, Ladoga, Peipsi and Onega lakes.
Participants find ships for various purposes - these are both merchant ships and warships. The question is about the identification of the found skeletons, their nationality, historical and archaeological values, as well as the identification of the personalities of people who found their death during the crash.
The expeditions organized by the project found ships such as naval armored boats of the Finnish war, landing boats, small armored hunting vessels.
The sea does not like strangers
Naturally, not only surface ships were used to study the depths and conduct military operations or reconnaissance operations - submarines of various purposes were built. But the seas and oceans steadily guard their secrets, so there are also submarine sunken ships. Only during the period from 1955 to 2014, eight flooded atomic submarines were known, two of which belonged to Russia. The amount of diesel is approaching a hundred.
The most famous wrecks and their secrets
The most famous ship (and, perhaps, the largest) is the Titanic. And although the official version boils down to the fact that the ship collided with an iceberg and sank, not everyone believes it. First of all, because too many ambiguities remained after the investigation of the shipwreck. A peculiar prediction of his death by the author of the novel "Titan" played its role.
If we talk about the largest sunken treasures, then we can call the ship Nuestra Señora de Atocha, which sank in the 17th century. The ship was transporting wealth obtained in the New World. At the time of the shipwreck, tons of emeralds, gold and silver were in the holds. These treasures were necessary for the Spanish monarch not only to replenish the treasury, but also for marriage (his chosen one set the condition - to collect the most beautiful treasures that exist in the world). And although the crash site was known - reefs off the coast of Florida, they could only be found in the 20th century.
Wrecks that have not yet been found serve as a kind of bait not only for scientists, but also for lovers of quick enrichment. Therefore, perhaps for the better, that the sea reliably keeps its secrets.