12 Incredible Historical Shipwrecks You Can Actually Visit Any Time You Want

On September 1, 1968, the Santa Maria ran aground while passing the Cape Verde islands on its way to Brazil and Argentina. It carried many goods from the Spanish government in thanks to countries who aided it during an economic downturn. After a local tugboat tried to save the ship unsuccessful, it was abandoned there, not before all the precious cargo was carefully removed.

Constructed at the same shipyard as the Titanic in 1942, it ran aground in 1968 during a night of dense fog near Costinesti. Some say that Evangelia was deliberately wrecked by the owner to collect the insurance money as the sea was tranquil that night despite the fog.

Lying off the southern waters of Provo in the Turks and Caicos Islands, the La Famille Express was built in 1952 and served in the Soviet Navy until 1999. The circumstances of the wreck are not clearly known, except that it ran aground during the Hurricane Frances in 2004 and was never salvaged, expect by looters.

Driven ashore near the town of Katapola, on Amorgos island in Greece by pirates in 1979, it has since become one of Amargos Island’s most popular landmarks.

Built in 1940, it was sold off in 1993 to be retrofitted for new service. But enroute, it encountered a terrible storm that required the crew to abandon ship, and the SS America ran aground on the west coast of Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands. Within two days, the pounding surf of the Atlantic broke the ship in two. The stern section collapsed and sank in 1996, while the bow remained intact. In November 2005, the port side of the bow section collapsed and the hull to begin to break up, and by 2007 the entire ship had collapsed and fallen into the sea. Today, the little that’s left can only be seen at low tide.

Built in 1952, the boat underwent numerous owners and name changes. Eventually due to the companies’ financial situations, the Mediterranean Sky was impounded in 1997, and grounded in the Eleusus Gulf in Greece in 2002 after taking on water. In January 2003, Mediterranean Sky keeled over on her side where she remains awaiting her fate.

Built in 1974 with a double hull similar to the Titanic, it nevertheless was sunk by a previously uncharted rock off the Solomon Islands, where it now sits ashore.

Known locally as the “Sugar Boat,” it sank in the River Clyde in Scotland in 1974 after colliding with a BP tanker when a severe gale hit the west coast. Although the wreck lies in shallow waters there has never been any attempt to salvage the remains as issues such as ownership and insurance were never resolved.

A small, 67 meter freight ship built in 1950, how it became abandoned is unknown. What is known however, is that it has been dislodged from previous beaches and ran aground multiple times until finding its current location in Laconia, Greece, on December 23, 1981.

A French Barge that ran aground in Maori Bay in South Africa while being towed by a Russian tugboat on June 26, 1994, it was once the biggest floating crane in Africa until towing lines broke and hit the rocks in a storm. However, due to it’s position on the rocks, very little was ever salvaged and was considered a total loss.

The HMAS Protector, constructed in 1884, served as a large flat-iron gunboat in numerous wars including the aftermath of the “Russian scare” of the 1870s, the Boxer Rebellion, World War I and World War II. During July 1943, the Protector was requisitioned by the US Arm but later sunk for use as a breakwater off New Guinea. Her rusting remains are still visible to this day.

Built in 1905 as one of the first turbine-driven steamers in the world, it and a sister ship were lost at sea during a cyclone until the SS Maheno washed up on shore. Now one of Australia’s most famous landmarks, there’s very little left sitting on the beach to explore.