These historical shipwrecks are the stuff of legend! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at the worst shipwrecks, whether by combat, natural disaster, or accident. Our countdown of the biggest shipwrecks of all time includes HMS Victory (1744), SS Castillo de Olite (1939), SS Sultana (1865), SS Kiangya (1948), The Spanish Armada (1588), and more! If you’d like to dive into the depths of these maritime disasters together, please comment below!
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#History
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If you’d like to dive into the depths of these maritime disasters together, please comment below! For more content like this, click here: kzhead.info/sun/e7WpgqVwrZGAg3A/bejne.html Don't forget to play our Live Trivia (www.watchmojo.com/play) games at 3pm EST for a chance to win cash! The faster you answer, the more points you get!
Been wanting to visit Lusitania for years
Love It WatchMojo.
Thank you for not forgetting the Sultana. I was so sure it wouldn't be mentioned. The ship was carrying PoWs from the South to the North, following the end of the Civil War.
I'm surprised the SS Eastland wasn't mentioned. That ship capsized in the Chicago River on 24th July 1915, killing 848 passengers and crew. It was a bright sunny day and the ship was still moored to the river bank when it rolled over and sank to the river bed.
Well most of the people survived that's why it wasn't mentioned cuz it was in such proximity that helped arrived quickly plus it reentered service after the accident
I want to give an honorable mention to the Great Hurricane of 1780. The hurricane, which took place in October of that year, is the deadliest hurricane to have occurred in the Atlantic. Estimates put the death toll up to around 20,000. Most of these deaths were from British soldiers who patrolled the Lesser Antilles islands during the American Revolution. But it is ambiguous if most deaths were overseas or on the islands impacted by the storm. Also, historical meteorologists estimated the wind gust peaked around 200 mph in this hurricane.
I had the opportunity to visit Pearl Harbor in 2010 because I love history. It was a surreal experience for me, because I only knew about what happened by reading about it in school and watching documentaries. I could only imagine how much those brave men and women went through that day as they fought to defend the base from the enemy.
Thank you for the update, WatchMojo..!! Amazing list of the dead shipwrecks. I've heard of the most of the incidents first time today. I learn a lot by watching WatchMojo each day.
Thank you so much for your kind words! We're thrilled to hear that our list of the deadliest shipwrecks provided you with new insights. Keep watching, and we'll keep bringing you fascinating content every day!
The _USS Arizona_ will remain one of the most vital casualties of December 7th, and the _Lusitiania_ didn’t deserve to go down as it did. Thanks to both incidents, we entered the world war in which each ship met its fate: the _Lusitiania_ in WWI, and the _USS Arizona_ in WWII.
Lusitania was carrying ammunition thus going down quickly. Should be ammo on a passenger liner when you know U boats are prowling the Atlantic
During the US Civil war, an overloaded steam ship sank in the Mississippi River. It was deadlier then the Titanic. This shipwreck was forgotten about because of the war
It's on the list.
Sultana, the deadliest maritime disaster in US history
That is Sultana
Every Canadian of my generation remembers the Halifax explosion, there was a history minute about it.
They’re still teaching about it in some schools! The 4th grader I babysit came home one day about a month ago after school and hasn’t shut up about it and some other major ships going down ever since. She’s even tried to convince me to play ‘shipwreck’ a few times, which is her new game that consists of throwing a bunch of her belongings onto her bed and pretending she’s in a lifeboat, lmfao.
As an ocean liner history fan, I’m happy
Fantastic to hear! 🚢 We love having passionate ocean liner history fans like you in our community. If there's anything specific you'd like to see or learn more about in the world of ocean liners, feel free to let us know.
Surprised Cap Arcona, Goya, Stueban, and the plethora of Japanese ships lost in WW2 weren’t brought up. But good on you for remembering Empress of Ireland and Lusitania!
Amazing video watch mojo of deadly shipwreck throughout human history,fantastic job.
Titanic: nothing can sink me! Godzilla’s Dorsal Plates: “I took that personally”
Really? Not funny dude
Dude that was 112 years ago You sound like my grandma when I make a slightly morbid joke
I bet all hose missing planes in the Bermuda triangle were taken out by rodan
I'm astonished 100,000 people died in wooden boats going from China to Japan to launch an attack. That's pretty much an entire military BRANCH worth of people lost in one fell swoop.
Japanese called it The Divine Wind, or Kamikaze. It was most likely a tropical storm or a typhoon that decimated the Mongol fleet. WWII “Kamikaze” tactic was named after this in the hopes of turning away the advancing Allied forces.
@@Love2Cruise Cool backstory, but the US wasn't deterred in the slightest.
Don't forget The Dragon's Triangle and it's unpredictable weather. It makes Bermuda Triangle look like Disneyland.
@@jarrettowens6073 Better yet, it makes the Bermuda Triangle look like Silver Dollar City!
@@ColtonRMagby Excuse me, but what is Silver Dollar City?
Pretty surprised the cruiseferry m/s Estonia wasnt on the list since she is often considered the worst modern maritime disaster with 852 people dead as a result.
If I remember correctly, it was a ferry between Estonia and Sweden, and it went down some distance from Finland, didn't it.
@@Bo_D_Hansen you are correct.
On WatchMojo's first list of shipwrecks.
the gustloff was particularly interesting because the soviet knew they attacked an innocent ship and if i recall, they attempted to destroy all remains of the ships with underwater depth charges.
They were attacking what they thought was a ship full of escaping nazis. I don’t think they realized how many civilians were there until afterwards
Look at Dunkirk. Still bombing a ship after it sank. Those German pilots are ruthless.
The sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff occurred during Operation Hannibal, where the German navy commandeered all available ships to evacuate people, civilians and military personnel, as well as move military equipment. The most available ships happened to be passenger ships, so, unfortunately, that made them fair game. Also, they made the decision to put deck guns on the Gustloff, which really did not help.
Surprised the USS Indianapolis didn’t get an honorable mention or placed in the top ships
USS Indianapolis should’ve made this list, at least as an honorable mention
Technically most of them survived the actual sinking but it's what happened after that made it notable
316 survived. That’s only a fourth of the crew
@@4EverEndeavour well the reason watch mojo didn't include it is because it didn't kill 1000 people well it was close
@@4EverEndeavour you got to know that sharks were involved
What’s the one rule to always remember after watching these videos, easy don’t go into the elevator when the ships going down.
It’s good to see my 2 favourite historic ships (Lusitania & Yamato) in a video along with other great ships. I’ve been fascinated of shipwrecks for almost 25 years. Although I’m very disappointed of the editor for using a photo of the Hiei instead of the Yamato but it’s good to see footage from the 2005 film was used. I also went to the Yamato museum in Kure last year where some of the filming took place.
The HMS Victory portrayed here and characteristics given is the *current* HMS Victory, built in Chatham and Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar. She is still in active service. The one you are refering is the previous one.
Bismarck wasn't in the Atlantic a "year and a half" The ship had an 8 month career and had only one offensive operation that lasted 8 days in May 1941, codenamed Rheinübung and it ended with the Bismarck's sinking.
They also made no mention of the planes from the Oak Royal that disabled her rutter.
MV DOÑA PAZ the first tragedy of the Philippines Sulpicio Lines(now named as Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corporation )followed by the series of other disasters connected to this shipping lines
That was the Canadian's version of the Titanic sinking
Number 3, if I recall, the actor that portrayed John Jacob Astor in the James Cameron film Titanic was a survivor of this sinking.
I'm surprised u left off the uss Indianapolis
Historians must really love that high quality films of famous wars and disasters are available to serve as exciting visual aids.
The Imperial Russian Navy's defeat during the Russo-Japanese War are in my opinion, the most shocking in the history of water crafts.
SS Marquette & Bessemer 2 sank in a Lake Erie gale on December 9, 1909 with all 33 hands. SS Pere Marquette 18 sunk in a Lake Michigan gale on September 9, 1910 with 33 lives lost. SS Milwaukee sank in rough waters off Wisconsin on October 22, 1929 with 52 lives lost.
Nobody knows which German vessel fired the fatal shot that detonated " Hood's" magazine. Eugen's guns had a higher muzzle velocity and combined with plunging fire, it could just as easily have been a shot from " Eugen"
Waiting to see if the Herald of Free Enterprise makes it.
The Bismarck was sunk on her first voyage. It did not “terrorize British shipping for a year and a half”
I remember the emperess from mystery hunters centuries ago. Still spooks me...
Your history of the Bismarck is incorrect. The battleship never "terrorized Atlantic shipping lanes for a year and a half." She was sunk only days after setting out on her first major operation without ever firing at a merchant ship. Perhaps you're thinking of earlier German ships, such as Graf Spee or Scharnhorst and Gneisenau?
That's what i thought as well.
Out of White Star Line 3 Olympic Class liners only 1 wasn’t sunk. Titanic hit an iceberg Britannic hit a mine Olympic was scrapped
Olympic had a track record for sinking everything else 😅 she was the only passenger liner to have rammed and sunk a u boat in WW1. That ship was badass asf
I have now witnessed the infographics show on a watchmojo top list😂🤣
A few entities on this list are major plot points in some of Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt novel series which I highly recommend reading
The Bismarck did NOT have a career that lasted a year and a half. That ship was sunk on her maiden voyage by the Royal Navy. However the German Navy had been sinking merchant ships bound for Britain since the outbreak of WWII.
If they never turned on the lights the gustloff wouldn't be under the sea
No mention of the Edmund Fitzgerald. It sank to the bottom of Lake Superior on Nov. 10, 1975. Only 29 people perished. The late Singer-Songwriter Gordon Lightfoot wrote a song about the infamous Shipwreck. No one to this day knows how the ship split in half.
thet weredoing biggest sinkings by kill count
It was on WatchMojo's first list.
It's possible it split when the bow hit the bottom of the lake
I really can't believe that these ships actually sank
The SS Cap Arcona, the SS Thielbek and the MV Goya were not mentioned.
The Titanic was the deadliest ship wreck in peace time as it happened before WWI and remains one of the deadliest shipwrecks. Sure some ships that sank during the war had more deaths then Titanic, but that was a result of being hit during the war
The Titanic may be the most famous ship to sink in peacetime, but the title of the deadliest shipwreck in peacetime goes to the Dona Paz. Approximately 4,000 people on her but only 24 survivors
On the Wilhelm Gustav I have an image of the ship taken just days prior to its last journey
My family and I visited the Shipwreck Museum in Upper Michigan. The standout shipwreck was the Edmund Fitzgerald. Yup, I'm among those disappointed with the exclusion.
Watch their first list
This is a list of the deadliest shipwrecks, not the most famous.
For the Titanic, the amount of lifeboats was irrelevant. They barely launched the lifeboats they did have. If there were more they wouldn’t have been launched.
True and then the lifeboats weren’t even full
You forgot the HMAS Sydney D48
We all Jin Sakai was the real reason that Japan defeated the mongrels, lol. But on a serious note I love history and I'm glad we have the ability to learn from these mistakes as to not repeat these tragedies.
I have an original ww 2 photo taken from a deck of another ship of the Wilhelm Gustloff
That's cool 😎
MV Doña Paz is still sad to hear despite all these years. :(
Never heard of the Lancastria....terrible!
#1 I bet it was also partly because of the Dragons Triangle and it's unpredictable weather. Makes the Bermuda Triangle here in the United States look like Disneyland.
Well this was 😮
Dec 6th 1917, At roughly 9:05 am the Mont Blanc & Imo collided...Many blinded..And the snow storm that happened the night of the 6th also drove up the deaths... saddest part the Capt of the Mont Blanc fled and was sent back to France the explosion does not show up on his sailing records & he got a sailing award ...Halifax sends a Christmas 🎄 to Boston every year as a thank you for their assistance after the explosion. The Richmond District was rebuilt and is known as the Hydrostone (well part is)
What about the Edmund Fitzgerald and the Yarmouth Castle?
The Edmund Fitzgerald was featured in their first list
This list is by loss of life
R.I.P R.M.S TITANIC 😢
MS Estonia and SS Cap Arcona needed dishonourable mentions..
Yall realllyyy outsourced an infographics episode.
Commercial for 7 Seas vitamins here highly ironic!!!!!
While most of the examples were chosen good, I have to give a major critque to the last example (the Mongol Invasion of Japan). It is highly debated if the first invasion actually suffered significantly by storms and thus losses were not later invented to - together with the fate of the second fleet - tribute the defeat of the Mongol to divine intervention. And for the seond fleet we should also not forget that the fleet could only be havoced by storms, because the Japanese did their best to slow down the invasion, pin the invaders at the beaches and by this prevented the Mongols (to a big part consripted Koreans and Chinese) from finding save ports.
If you count historical fleet-battles for this list - why not the Battle of Actium?
Sad that the General Slocum is missing. More than a thousand people died and this disaster basically killed the whole german community in New York
How about the lost roman ships because of the storms during the first punic war?
HMS Victory never sank. Victory is one of the best known and celebrated and greatest ships from the 18th century and is still in active service and is very much intact.
There are multiple HMS victories.
Hello good afternoon
Most deadly or deadliest?..
MV Doña Paz 😢
Am I the only one who finds the idea of making a film on the Titanic (or any disastrous event, like a film about a serial killer) to be low-key wrong? Like you're profiting off tragedies, let's be honest lol
Stories are meant to be told.
@@shona5512 The Titanic movie about a made-up love story needed to be told? Why? Lol
Depends how you look at it , I see Raising awareness
@@diegochiesa-grover1600 By turning it into a love story lmao
The HMS Victory is alive and well in Portsmouth harbour, at least the one everyone knows about is. More research required.
MV Doña Paz had more casualties than Titanic, but there's no romance tragedy film in her honour.
There was no room for romance on that ship. It had nearly 3000 more passengers than it was supposed to. Also, the ship didn't have the world watching it, because it wasn't the largest, grandest ship built, unlike the Titanic.
I’ll never forgive Rooster Teeth for canceling Ship Hits the Fan. One of the best nautical accidents related podcasts. Rooster Teeth really sucks now.
I think some people believe that the gods of Japan came to aid of their people and created a huge storm that destroyed the Mongolian invaders.
Why is Lusitania called rms when she was not by white star line? She was built by the cardnal liner not white star line ship
RMS stands for Royal Mail Steamer. Any steam ship that has the Royal Mail contract and transporting the Mail has that title. Once a ship loose's that contract, it goes back to its original title, usually SS with British steamers
What about the Edmund Fitzgerald?
The Edmund Fitzgerald was sunk due to hurricane weather on lake superior
here's an idea, how about we just stop calling ships unsinkable,"
if you want to look in to more deadly Ships look at Estoina how sink 1994 852 people died in the baltic sea under very bad weather. 1682 the warship Vasa sank after 1300 m in to her maiden vogage around 30 people died... In 1961 the Vasa was salvaged, today we can see her in the Vasa museum in Stockholm. Vasa was horrible built and that is way she did sink... A other horrible fire at sea was Scandinavian Star in 1990 159 people was killed -. the ship did not sink but it was a horrible fire and to this day we don't know how or that started the fire..
These ones are more interesting than some of what mojo listed.
April 16, 2014
When showing Yamato they keep showing Kongo class battleship smh
The Punic wars when Romans died at sea multiple times
Actually I have heard of the sultana 🤓🤓🤓
Few statements sound more ignorant than 'unsinkable ship'
To be honest The Titanic SHOULD'VE been in the top 5 on the list, also get info thanks 👍
The Titanic lost 1522 people, which was mentioned in a previous list as of course being no. 1, and her sister ship Britannic lost 30 people mostly killed by the ships still rotating propellers with a few from the sea mine explosion and being less than what was mentioned in this list
Let me guess top 20 , all the 20 is Titanic crap , it's like the only fucking tragedy that happen since creation .
My definition of shipwreck is different than yours.
First
You will never get anything for a pointless comment number and it's not even a race
If the titanic is on here ill lose my shit
You have just lost you 💩 😂
What do you mean? Unfortunately the Bismarck suffered damage. What kind of pro Nazi shit is that😤😤🔴🔴💯💯
Ive heard of the SULTANA... but since it was full of Confederate traitors and terrorists... meh .
Number 18 is why, to this day, i will not buy a Japanese made vehicle.
Do you still use a carriage and horse?
@@rossklein7603what does that even mean
@@MisterBewst because every country has a dark past
I stopped watching when you said the HMS VICTORY was destroyed. It still exists today and still in RN service.
Sorry, you are incorrect. The Royal Navy has had 6 vessels named ' Victory' since 1569. The one you are referring to was the last one to bear the name. This video referred to the 4th incarnation. The HMS Victory which was Nelsons Flagship, was launched in 1765, this 'Victory' was wrecked in 1744, some 20+ years earlier.
With the curiosity brain I have. It didn't take long to find the answer that you are clearly right. I knew the name Victory but didn't know what it was for. How could I...a simple citizen who only knew the name do a 5 sec research and see that WatchMojo is clearly wrong here. From my understanding is that the HMS Victory still exists and is put aside as a museum. Given it has had renovations but it's a fact that it's still alive and kicking to this day. Giving a dislike for this video, how could they mess up this bad....
@@jcorbett9620 The one in the video was clearly Nelson’s flagship.
@@dylanstevenson2966 it was the 1st bloody segment as well
@@jcorbett9620you are absolutely correct! 💯