Wrecks

When it goes wrong. The Fastnet storm of 1979 that killed fifteen competitors, the 1998 Sydney to Hobart that killed six, the Pamir foundering in a hurricane with most of her cadets aboard, and the Vasa, which sank in Stockholm harbour in 1628 on her maiden voyage and was raised in 1961. Deaths are stated as what they are, with the figures given as ranges where the sources disagree.

Part of Sailing

121 moments in this segment.

1. 1847 - Pierre Clément Marie Caussé - Bâteaux dans la tempête. Early 19th-century marine painting by Pierre Clément Marie Caussé depicting shipwrecks in a storm. Fifteen competitors died in that race and 21 people in total, the other six being crew of Bucks Fizz and Tempean rather than rescuers. Eighty six boats finished, 194 retired, 24 were abandoned and five were lost or believed sunk.
2. 1853 - Deal boat going out to a wreck. Small two-masted boat going out through high breaker to a ship lying on its side in the waves. Herzogin Cecilie went ashore in the English Channel off Devon in 1936 and was wrecked there. Pride of Baltimore capsized in a microburst squall north of Puerto Rico on 14 May 1986 and four people died.
3. 1880 - An Incident during the Search for H.M.S. Atalanta. Photographed alongside in port, 1880. The 1979 Fastnet storm brought 60 knots with little or no advance warning and fifty foot waves running in conflicting directions, with a pressure low of 979 hPa. The UK Meteorological Office recorded a maximum of Force 10 while competitors estimated Force 11, and both figures belong in the account.
4. 1891 - Skeppsbrott - Sjöhistoriska museet - O. Photographed 1891. Approximately 4,000 people were involved in the rescue during the 1979 Fastnet storm, and lifeboats spent 75 hours at sea in 60 knot winds. The Royal Navy alone recovered between 125 and 136 yachtsmen, the source giving a range rather than a figure.
5. 1898 - Wrak van rivierclipper Stad Aalst. Photographed as preserved, 1898. A sailing vessel that goes ashore usually stays where it lands, which is why the wreck rather than the sinking is what the camera records. Most of the losses in this archive left no image of the event at all, only the hull afterwards.
6. 1901 - With the X Fleet, a man overboard from H.M.S. Hannibal off the Scilly Islands. Photographed alongside in port, 1901. After the 1979 Fastnet the sources say only that many safety improvements followed, without specifying mechanisms, so no particular reform is named here. What is documented from a different lineage is that the IMOCA class requires every boat to pass a 90 or 180 degree self righting test, a rule added after early class incidents.
7. 1904 - Schepen in een onweersbui op zee. Identificatie Titel(s): Schepen in een onweersbui op zee Shipping (titel op object) Zeegezichten (serietitel) Objecttype: prent. The 1979 Fastnet storm brought 60 knots with little or no advance warning and fifty foot waves running in conflicting directions, with a pressure low of 979 hPa. The UK Meteorological Office recorded a maximum of Force 10 while competitors estimated Force 11, and both figures belong in the account.
8. 1904-09 - Wreck of Adolphe 30 September 1904. You can also see the mast of the shipwreck Regent Murray in this photo. From the University of Newcastle Library's Cultural Collections. A sailing vessel that goes ashore usually stays where it lands, which is why the wreck rather than the sinking is what the camera records. Most of the losses in this archive left no image of the event at all, only the hull afterwards.
9. 1905 - Pamir (ship, 1905). ). Pamir, launched at Blohm & Voss in 1905 as a four masted steel barque and later a Gustaf Erikson grain ship, sank on 21 September 1957 in Hurricane Carrie about 600 nautical miles west south west of the Azores. The death toll is contested: the Pamir article gives 86 aboard with 6 rescued and 80 dead, while the maritime disasters list gives 138 aboard and 132 dead. Both are English Wikipedia and the disagreement is unresolved.
10. 1921 - Tank servant à la mise à l'eau d'un canot [de sauvetage à rames marqué "Life Boat"] : [ph. Photographed 1921. Approximately 4,000 people were involved in the rescue during the 1979 Fastnet storm, and lifeboats spent 75 hours at sea in 60 knot winds. The Royal Navy alone recovered between 125 and 136 yachtsmen, the source giving a range rather than a figure.
11. 1921 - Tank servant à la mise à l'eau d'un canot [de sauvetage à rames marqué "Life Boat"] : [ph. Photographed 1921. Twenty four boats were abandoned in that storm, more than 75 capsized and five sank. The sources say only that many safety improvements followed and name no mechanism, so none is claimed here.
12. 1930 - Le voilier [4 mâts barque allemand] "Herzogin Cecilie" (CNews) : [photographie de presse]. Photographed 1930. Herzogin Cecilie, a four masted iron hulled barque described as one of the fastest windjammers ever built, ran aground in the English Channel off Devon in 1936 and was wrecked.
13. 1931 - The Storm. Seascape with ship nearly sinking in the centre in rough waves, the sail torn, bow up to the right, stern among the waves to the left, ray of sunshine from top right in dark sky; after Duncan. Colour lithograph printed in grey, brown, blue. The 1979 Fastnet storm brought 60 knots with little or no advance warning and fifty foot waves running in conflicting directions, with a pressure low of 979 hPa. The UK Meteorological Office recorded a maximum of Force 10 while competitors estimated Force 11, and both figures belong in the account.
14. 1932 - Le voilier Herzogin Cecilie (CN) : [photographie de presse] / [Agence Rol] ; [d'après la. Photographed 1932. Herzogin Cecilie, a four masted iron hulled barque described as one of the fastest windjammers ever built, ran aground in the English Channel off Devon in 1936 and was wrecked.
15. 1936 - Herzogin Cecilie (wrecked). "Herzogin Cecilie" on the rocks, Sour Cove, Devon, England, 1935: Elevated view of four masted barque on rocks -- Wreck of "Herzogin Cecilie" off Bolt Head, Sth Devon, April 23 1936: View from land, sailing ship between rock formations near shore. Herzogin Cecilie, a four masted iron hulled barque described as one of the fastest windjammers ever built, ran aground in the English Channel off Devon in 1936 and was wrecked.
16. 1936 - 1936 Hope Cove, Cornwall, Herzogin Cecille Shipwreck, Barque. The wreck of the four-masted barque Herzogin Cecilie at Hope Cove, Cornwall, filmed in 1936. She was an iron-hulled windjammer described as one of the fastest built, and ran aground in the English Channel off Devon that year. Windjammers of this kind carried Australian grain into the late 1930s.
17. 1939-12 - Rescue At Sea Of Japanese Sailors. Newsfilm of a rescue at sea of Japanese sailors, dated 31 December 1939. Merchant sail and early motor shipping both suffered heavily in this period. Rescue at sea before helicopters meant another vessel closing alongside.
18. 1942 - U.S. Navy sailors Pastula, Aldrich, and Dixon and life raft in which they spent 34 days. Photographed as preserved, 1942. Twenty four boats were abandoned, more than 75 capsized and five sank. The Met Office recorded a maximum of Force 10 in that storm while competitors estimated Force 11, and both figures belong in the account.
19. 1943 - Armin Reumann - Finis. Photographed 1943. Herzogin Cecilie went ashore in the English Channel off Devon in 1936 and was wrecked there. Pride of Baltimore capsized in a microburst squall north of Puerto Rico on 14 May 1986 and four people died.
20. 1949 - Pamir - nla.pic-vn4655112-v. pic-vn4655112-v, 1949, photographed alongside in port. Pamir, launched at Blohm & Voss in 1905 as a four masted steel barque and later a Gustaf Erikson grain ship, sank on 21 September 1957 in Hurricane Carrie about 600 nautical miles west south west of the Azores. The death toll is contested: the Pamir article gives 86 aboard with 6 rescued and 80 dead, while the maritime disasters list gives 138 aboard and 132 dead. Both are English Wikipedia and the disagreement is unresolved.
21. 1952 - Disasters At Sea (1952). A Pathé item on disasters at sea from 1952. Newsreels carried maritime loss regularly in an era when sea travel and sea trade touched most families. The reel is a compilation of incidents rather than a single event.
22. 1966 - Press boat - yacht - duchess. "Duchess" yacht for newmen. GULF OF MEXICO B&W/CN. In the 1979 Fastnet storm approximately 4,000 people were involved in the rescue and the Royal Navy alone recovered between 125 and 136 yachtsmen, the source giving a range. Lifeboats spent 75 hours at sea in 60 knot winds.
23. 1971 - SYND 18-1-71 START OF TRANSATLANTIC YACHT RACE. The start of a transatlantic yacht race, filmed 18 January 1971. The 1976 single-handed transatlantic race produced that competition's first fatalities, Mike Flanagan and Mike McMullen, after which size limits were imposed. Ocean racing regulation has largely been written after losses.
24. 1975 - SYND 10 4 75 ATLANTIC ATTEMPT BY SMALLEST SAILING BOAT. An Atlantic attempt by what AP calls the smallest sailing boat, filmed 10 April 1975. Very small boat crossings were a recurring newsreel subject through the 1960s and 1970s. The risks scale sharply downward with waterline length.
25. 1979 - The Fastnet Disaster of 1979. The RNLI's own account of the 1979 Fastnet Race, in which a storm struck a fleet of 303 yachts that had started on 11 August. Fifteen competitors died and twenty-one in total; the other six were the crews of Bucks Fizz and Tempean. Around 4,000 people took part in the rescue and lifeboats spent seventy-five hours at sea in sixty-knot winds.
26. 1979 - Fastnet Race 1979 Yacht Grimalkin Update TV Report. A television report on the fate of the yacht Grimalkin in the 1979 Fastnet Race. Fifteen competitors died in that race and twenty-one people in total. More than seventy-five boats capsized and five sank.
27. 1979 - The 1979 Fastnet - Storm Force 10 and Extreme Seas. John Haynes describes the 1979 Fastnet conditions from sea level, with search and rescue aircraft on 14 August reporting sixty to sixty-five knots and fifty-foot waves. The UK Meteorological Office recorded a maximum of Force 10 while competitors estimated Force 11, and both figures should stand. Lowest pressure was 979 hPa and the waves ran in conflicting directions.
28. 1979 - The 1979 Fastnet Yacht Race. A reconstruction of the 1979 Fastnet Race from the shipping forecast onward, the 13:55 broadcast on 11 August having predicted southwesterly force four to five rising to six or seven. Of 303 starters, 86 finished, 194 retired, 24 were abandoned and 5 were lost or believed sunk. Reforms followed the disaster, though the specific mechanisms are not established here.
29. 1995 - USA: GULF OF MEXICO: 5 PEOPLE RESCUED FROM STRANDED YACHT. Five people are rescued from a stranded yacht in the Gulf of Mexico. Coastal strandings account for far more rescues than offshore losses. The United States Coast Guard runs the response in American waters.
30. 1997 - AUSTRALIA: RESCUED YACHTSMAN TONY BULLIMORE ON HMS ADELAIDE. Tony Bullimore aboard the Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Adelaide after his rescue. His Vendee Globe yacht Exide Challenger capsized on 5 January 1997 near 52 degrees south, 100 degrees east, about 2,500 km off Australia, when the keel snapped off. He survived four days inside the upturned hull and was rescued on 9 January 1997 when Adelaide's crew knocked on the hull and he swam out.
31. 1998 - 1998 SWD Aspect Sydney Hobart - News Report. A news report from the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. The race started on 26 December 1998 with 115 starters and 44 finishers. An intense low struck on 27 and 28 December with sustained winds over sixty-five knots and waves to fifteen metres.
32. 1998 - 20h France 2 du 13 juin 1998 - Disparition d'Eric Tabarly | Archive INA. The France 2 evening news of 13 June 1998 reporting the disappearance of Eric Tabarly. On the night of 12 to 13 June 1998, sailing from Cornwall to Scotland for a William Fife boat rally, a spar swept him overboard in the Irish Sea. His body was recovered weeks later and drowning was confirmed as the cause.
33. 1998 - Wo sailors die in Sydney Hobart race: First fatalities in the event since 1998. A broadcast report on deaths in the Sydney to Hobart race. Six sailors died in the 1998 edition: Phillip Charles Skeggs and Bruce Raymond Guy of Business Post Naiad, John Dean, James Lawler and Michael Bannister of Winston Churchill, and Glyn Charles of Sword of Orion. Larry Ellison's Sayonara won that race.
34. 1998 - Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, 1998. CareFlight footage from the 1998 Sydney to Hobart rescue. Fifty-five sailors were rescued using thirty-five military and civilian aircraft and twenty-seven Royal Australian Navy vessels, Australia's largest peacetime rescue operation. Six sailors died and five yachts were abandoned and sank.
35. 1998 - Jacques Chirac ceremonie hommage Eric Tabarly 22 06 1998. Jacques Chirac at the tribute ceremony for Eric Tabarly on 22 June 1998. Tabarly won the single-handed transatlantic race in 1964 in Pen Duick II and again in 1976 in Pen Duick VI. His results and his multihull work made ocean racing a French sport.
36. 2000 - Dunedin America's Cup Parade 7. Team New Zealand on the bus arriving for the start of the America's Cup Parade 2000. Sir Peter Blake won the 1989-90 Whitbread on Steinlager 2 with a clean sweep, took the Jules Verne Trophy with Robin Knox-Johnston in 1994 and led Team New Zealand to America's Cup wins in 1995 and 2000. On 5 December 2001 he was shot dead by pirates aboard the research vessel Seamaster near Macapá in Brazil, aged 53.
37. 2000 - Dunedin America's Cup Parade 8. Team New Zealand arriving at Dunedin Airport for the America's Cup Parade 2000. The attackers were convicted and imprisoned.
38. 2000 - Dunedin America's Cup Parade 5. Photographed 2000. Sir Peter Blake won the 1989-90 Whitbread on Steinlager 2 with a clean sweep, took the Jules Verne Trophy with Robin Knox-Johnston in 1994 and led Team New Zealand to America's Cup wins in 1995 and 2000. On 5 December 2001 he was shot dead by pirates aboard the research vessel Seamaster near Macapá in Brazil, aged 53.
39. 2003 - Men convicted of murdering NZ sailor to appeal. Men convicted of murdering a New Zealand sailor appeal, filmed in 2003. Sir Peter Blake was shot dead by pirates aboard the research vessel Seamaster near Macapa, Brazil on 5 December 2001, aged fifty-three. The attackers were convicted and imprisoned.
40. 2005 - Usmc- -m-7095z-003. Photo by Sgt. L. Zimmer III. The 1979 Fastnet storm brought 60 knots with little or no advance warning and fifty foot waves running in conflicting directions, with a pressure low of 979 hPa. The UK Meteorological Office recorded a maximum of Force 10 while competitors estimated Force 11, and both figures belong in the account.
41. 2006 - LARC of BMU-2. Photographed 2006. After the 1979 Fastnet the sources say only that many safety improvements followed, without specifying mechanisms, so no particular reform is named here. What is documented from a different lineage is that the IMOCA class requires every boat to pass a 90 or 180 degree self righting test, a rule added after early class incidents.
42. 2006 - Zeelandschap met schipbreukelingen. Identificatie Titel(s): Zeelandschap met schipbreukelingen Naufrage (titel op object) Objecttype: prent. Fifteen competitors died in that race and 21 people in total, the other six being crew of Bucks Fizz and Tempean rather than rescuers. Eighty six boats finished, 194 retired, 24 were abandoned and five were lost or believed sunk.
43. 2006 - Shin-nihonkai,hamanasu-cutter boat,新日本海フェリー「はまなす」カッターボート、. Photographed 2006. The 2024 Sydney to Hobart review found mandatory helmets would not have prevented either of that year two deaths, and recommended mandatory automatic man overboard detection and greater required crew experience.
44. 2008 - Louisa Hartwell. Very Old Post card image of the Cromer Lifeboat Louisa Heartwell. Approximately 4,000 people were involved in the rescue during the 1979 Fastnet storm, and lifeboats spent 75 hours at sea in 60 knot winds. The Royal Navy alone recovered between 125 and 136 yachtsmen, the source giving a range rather than a figure.
45. 2008 - MOcean 002. mOcean Boats / Sailbox Boatsharing - Events - Training. After the 1979 Fastnet the sources say only that many safety improvements followed, without specifying mechanisms, so no particular reform is named here. What is documented from a different lineage is that the IMOCA class requires every boat to pass a 90 or 180 degree self righting test, a rule added after early class incidents.
46. 2008 - Adventurer Sir Richard Branson is sailing toward another record as he tries to go from New York to E. Richard Branson sails toward another record attempt, filmed 22 October 2008. Record attempts by sponsored adventurers ran alongside professional ocean racing through this period. The outright crewed multihull transatlantic mark went to Banque Populaire V in 2009.
47. 2009 - RNLB William Bennett. Post card image of the Sheringham RNLB William Bennett. Image created before 1904. Twenty four boats were abandoned in that storm, more than 75 capsized and five sank. The sources say only that many safety improvements followed and name no mechanism, so none is claimed here.
48. 2010-02-21 - Students Rescued On the High Seas After Concordia Sailing Ship Sinks. Students are rescued after the sail training ship Concordia sank off Brazil. Everyone aboard survived. The Albatross, a Dutch schooner running a school ship programme, sank in a squall on 2 May 1961 about 125 miles west of the Dry Tortugas.
49. 2010-02-22 - Students Survive Two Days at Sea. 1986 before the Norwegian tanker Toro found them.
50. 2010 - Man overboard drill DVIDS257614. S. 7th Fleet command ship USS Blue Ridge debrief on the scene of a simulated class alpha fire as part of a general quarters drill. S. 7th Fleet staff arrived in Busan for Exercise Key Resolve/Foal Eagle 2010. The 2024 Sydney to Hobart review found mandatory helmets would not have prevented either of that year two deaths, and recommended mandatory automatic man overboard detection and greater required crew experience.
51. 2010-12-28 - Accident Investigation - Ms. Bridget Hogan, - The Nautical Institute. Bridget Hogan of the Nautical Institute discusses marine accident investigation. Formal investigation after a loss is what converts a disaster into a rule change. The Fastnet 1979 inquiry led to reforms, though the specific mechanisms are not established here.
52. 2011 - Vasa (ship, 1627), 64 Gun Warship, Stockholm, Sweden - Murat Özsoy 09. 2011, photographed as preserved. Vasa was built between 1626 and 1628 and sailed about 1,300 metres on her maiden voyage on 10 August 1628 before a gust filled her sails at Tegelviken and heeled her far enough to force open gunports under water. Her centre of gravity was too high.
53. 2011 - Vasa (ship, 1627), 64 Gun Warship, Stockholm, Sweden - Murat Özsoy 11. Swedish warship built between 1626-28. The ship foundered after sailing about 1,300 m (1,400 yd) into her maiden voyage on 10 August 1628. Salvaged in 1961. Reportedly thirty people died.
54. 2011 - Vasa (ship, 1627), 64 Gun Warship, Stockholm, Sweden - Murat Özsoy 10. 2011, photographed as preserved. Vasa was built between 1626 and 1628 and sailed about 1,300 metres on her maiden voyage on 10 August 1628 before a gust filled her sails at Tegelviken and heeled her far enough to force open gunports under water. Her centre of gravity was too high.
55. 2011 - Vasa (ship, 1627), 64 Gun Warship, Stockholm, Sweden - Murat Özsoy 14. 2011, photographed as preserved. Vasa was built between 1626 and 1628 and sailed about 1,300 metres on her maiden voyage on 10 August 1628 before a gust filled her sails at Tegelviken and heeled her far enough to force open gunports under water. Her centre of gravity was too high.
56. 2011 - Vasa (ship, 1627), 64 Gun Warship, Stockholm, Sweden - Murat Özsoy 21. 2011, photographed as preserved. Vasa was built between 1626 and 1628 and sailed about 1,300 metres on her maiden voyage on 10 August 1628 before a gust filled her sails at Tegelviken and heeled her far enough to force open gunports under water. Her centre of gravity was too high.
57. 2011 - Le voilier de course Le Pingouin. Photographed 2011. In the 1979 Fastnet storm approximately 4,000 people were involved in the rescue and the Royal Navy alone recovered between 125 and 136 yachtsmen, the source giving a range. Lifeboats spent 75 hours at sea in 60 knot winds.
58. 2011-08-18 - Ticehurst's role in tragic Sydney to Hobart race. Australian television examines a radio operator's role in the 1998 Sydney to Hobart race. The coroner found the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia had abdicated its responsibility to manage the race. Race director Phil Thompson resigned and the club tightened crew eligibility requirements.
59. 2011-12-26 - Sydney to Hobart Yacht race HF recording1998. An HF radio recording from the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. Single sideband radio was how the fleet and the rescue services communicated across Bass Strait. The coroner later criticised the Bureau of Meteorology for insufficient storm-warning communication.
60. 2012-04-30 - Sail Training Yacht Concordia Capsizes off Brazil Coast. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada reports on the capsize of the sail training yacht Concordia off Brazil. All aboard survived and were rescued after two days in liferafts. Sail training losses have a long record, from Albatross in 1961 to Marques in 1984.
61. 2012 - Pride of Baltimore - -G-HA574-141. Photographed alongside in port, 2012. Four died including Captain Armin Elsaesser; the remaining eight survived over four days in a partially inflated liferaft before the Norwegian tanker Toro found them. Pride of Baltimore II was launched in 1988.
62. 2012 - Injured British sailors arrive in port after being rescued by Coast Guard. Injured British sailors arrive in port after being rescued by a coast guard. Injury offshore usually means a long wait for a vessel or helicopter within range. Ocean racing rules require medical and survival training for this reason.
63. 2012-10-29 - Hurricane Sandy Sinks Replica Three-mast Ship; Helicopter Rescue Saves Stranded Passengers. A replica three-masted ship sank in Hurricane Sandy off Cape Hatteras on 29 October 2012 and a helicopter rescue saved most of the crew. The vessel was a Bounty replica built for film work and later sailed as an attraction ship. Two people did not survive.
64. 2013 - Coast Guard enforces safety zone during Battle of Lake Erie Bicentennial -G-VH840-318. Photographed 2013. Pride of Baltimore, a reproduction Baltimore clipper topsail schooner launched on 27 February 1977, sailed over 150,000 nautical miles in nine years as the city's goodwill ambassador. On 14 May 1986, about 250 nautical miles north of Puerto Rico, she was struck by what is described as a microburst squall, possibly a white squall, with winds reaching 80 knots, and capsized.
65. 2013 - Coast Guard Station Cleveland Harbor ensures safety at Cleveland Tall Ships Festival -G-V. Photographed alongside in port, 2013. Four died including Captain Armin Elsaesser; the remaining eight survived over four days in a partially inflated liferaft before the Norwegian tanker Toro found them. Pride of Baltimore II was launched in 1988.
66. 2013 - RNLB Duncan. Photographed under sail, 2013. Twenty four boats were abandoned in that storm, more than 75 capsized and five sank. The sources say only that many safety improvements followed and name no mechanism, so none is claimed here.
67. 2013 - British sailor dies during America's Cup practice; fire department comment. A British sailor died during America's Cup practice in San Francisco in 2013 and the fire department comments. Andrew Simpson was killed when the Artemis Racing AC72 capsized and broke up during training. The 2013 match was won 9-8 by Oracle Team USA, who had started two races down as a penalty for illegal AC45 modifications.
68. 2013 - Damaged America's Cup catamaran recovered from water, officials comment on crash. The damaged America's Cup catamaran is recovered from the water in San Francisco in 2013. The AC72 was a wing-sailed foiling catamaran and the class was pushed hard in its first season. Foils had entered the America's Cup that year.
69. 2013-06-27 - Lost at Sea 6 27 13 WABC TV David Dyche. An American television report on the schooner Nina, lost on passage in the Tasman Sea in 2013. Her owner David Dyche was aboard with his family and crew. The search was suspended that July.
70. 2013-07-27 - Nina Search Continues 1928 Schooner Missing. The search for the missing schooner Nina and her seven crew was suspended by the New Zealand rescue coordination centre on 5 July 2013 and the families appeal for help. Those aboard were David Dyche, Rosemary Dyche, David Dyche IV, Kyle Jackson, Matthew Wootton, Evi Nemeth and one other. The boat was on passage across the Tasman Sea.
71. 2014-03-28 - SPL Princess Anastasia Top Port Side Quay 10 Port of Tallinn 28 March 2014. Photographed alongside in port, 2014. The 2024 Sydney to Hobart review found mandatory helmets would not have prevented either of that year two deaths, and recommended mandatory automatic man overboard detection and greater required crew experience.
72. 2014 - PAMIR, B. Kroupa. Photographed 2014. Pamir, launched at Blohm & Voss in 1905 as a four masted steel barque and later a Gustaf Erikson grain ship, sank on 21 September 1957 in Hurricane Carrie about 600 nautical miles west south west of the Azores. The death toll is contested: the Pamir article gives 86 aboard with 6 rescued and 80 dead, while the maritime disasters list gives 138 aboard and 132 dead. Both are English Wikipedia and the disagreement is unresolved.
73. 2014-10-12 - The Vasa Museum , Stockholm, Sweden ( Ultra 4K ). A walk through the Vasa Museum in Stockholm. Vasa was built for Gustav II Adolf between 1626 and 1628, was 69 metres long, and capsized and sank on her maiden voyage on 10 August 1628 after less than a nautical mile. She is the only preserved seventeenth century ship in the world and carries hundreds of original carved sculptures.
74. 2015 - Wyvern IMG 1662. Continuing on her journey, probably Alesund. The Norwegian vessel Wyvern was wrecked between Baltic islands in 2013 and one Dutch crew member died attempting a rescue.
75. 2015 - Wyvern IMG 1666. A distant shot of the tall ship Wyvern heading for Norway. The Norwegian vessel Wyvern was wrecked between Baltic islands in 2013 and one Dutch crew member died attempting a rescue.
76. 2015 - Wyvern IMG 1592. Norwegian sailing ship coming up on Sumburgh Head. The Norwegian vessel Wyvern was wrecked between Baltic islands in 2013 and one Dutch crew member died attempting a rescue.
77. 2015 - Wyvern IMG 1656. Photographed under sail, 2015. The Norwegian vessel Wyvern was wrecked between Baltic islands in 2013 and one Dutch crew member died attempting a rescue.
78. 2015 - Riksäpplet Niklas Eriksson. Photographed as preserved, 2015. Fifteen competitors died in that race and 21 people in total, the other six being crew of Bucks Fizz and Tempean rather than rescuers. Eighty six boats finished, 194 retired, 24 were abandoned and five were lost or believed sunk.
79. 2016 - Pride of Baltimore II pennant MD1. The Pride of Baltimore II's pennant at Chestertown, Maryland, USA. Pride of Baltimore, a reproduction Baltimore clipper topsail schooner launched on 27 February 1977, sailed over 150,000 nautical miles in nine years as the city's goodwill ambassador. On 14 May 1986, about 250 nautical miles north of Puerto Rico, she was struck by what is described as a microburst squall, possibly a white squall, with winds reaching 80 knots, and capsized.
80. 2016 - Pride of Baltimore II MD1. The Pride of Baltimore II on the Chester River, Chestertown, Maryland, USA. Four died including Captain Armin Elsaesser; the remaining eight survived over four days in a partially inflated liferaft before the Norwegian tanker Toro found them. Pride of Baltimore II was launched in 1988.
81. 2016 - At Meriturva. Sea safety training for yachtsmen at Meriturva with colleagues from Reaktor Indoor sea rescue training course in Finland. In the 1979 Fastnet storm approximately 4,000 people were involved in the rescue and the Royal Navy alone recovered between 125 and 136 yachtsmen, the source giving a range. Lifeboats spent 75 hours at sea in 60 knot winds.
82. 2017-06-07 - GoPro: Coast Guard Rescues Sinking Yacht. Coast Guard footage of a rescue from a sinking yacht. Helmet cameras have made routine rescues visible in a way they were not before. The footage is filmed by the rescue crew themselves.
83. 2017-11-05 - Rescued US sailors arrive in Japan, along with dogs. Rescued American sailors arrive in Japan with their dogs. The pair had been adrift in the Pacific for months after their sailboat lost propulsion. Long drifts are survivable when a boat stays afloat and water can be made.
84. 2017-11-05 - Rescued sailors still hungry for more adventure. Sailors rescued from a long Pacific drift say they still want to go to sea. Recovery of nerve after a loss is a recurring theme in sailing testimony. Tony Bullimore returned to ocean racing after four days inside an upturned hull in 1997.
85. 2018 - A C-17 Globemaster aircraft from the Alaska Air National Guard’s 249th Airlift Squadron f. Photographed in detail on deck, 2018. Twenty four boats were abandoned, more than 75 capsized and five sank. The Met Office recorded a maximum of Force 10 in that storm while competitors estimated Force 11, and both figures belong in the account.
86. 2019-04-11 - Explore like Sir Peter Blake. The Sir Peter Blake Trust encourages exploration in Blake's name. Blake won the 1989-90 Whitbread on Steinlager 2 with a clean sweep of line, handicap and overall honours. In 1997 he became head of expeditions for the Cousteau Society and later a UN Special Envoy for the Environment Programme.
87. 2019 - Peter Iredale interpretive sign. 2019, photographed as a wreck. A stranded sailing hull often stays where it went ashore for decades, corroding in place. It is the commonest surviving photograph of a wreck because the sinking itself was almost never witnessed by a camera.
88. 2019 - Not much left of the Peter Iredale in Fort Stevens State Park. Photographed as a wreck, 2019. Most of the losses in this archive left no image of the event at all, only the hull afterwards. That is a structural feature of the record rather than a gap in the harvest.
89. 2019 - What remains of the Peter Iredale in Fort Stevens State Park. 2019, photographed as a wreck. A stranded sailing hull often stays where it went ashore for decades, corroding in place. It is the commonest surviving photograph of a wreck because the sinking itself was almost never witnessed by a camera.
90. 2019 - Chile-02950 - La Rose. March, 2012 - "La Rose'" crashed onto the rocks approaching Hanga Piko in heavy swells. 'La Rose' was unsalvageable, it is now on shore and made a great canvas for a painting. Anders Franzén rediscovered Vasa in 1956 and she was raised on 24 April 1961 after 333 years on the bottom. Mary Rose, which sank in 1545, was raised in 1982, and yielded far less rigging material than Vasa because only blocks stored below decks survived.
91. 2020-12-11 - Rescued at Sea - Coastguard Helicopter SAR. A coastguard helicopter search and rescue operation lifts a crew from a yacht. Helicopter winching is the standard method in coastal and near-offshore waters. Beyond helicopter range a casualty depends on shipping.
92. 2021-04-13 - USCG boat heads toward a capsized 175-foot commerical lift boat April 13, 2021 - -G-G0108. Photographed 2021. A sailing vessel that goes ashore usually stays where it lands, which is why the wreck rather than the sinking is what the camera records. Most of the losses in this archive left no image of the event at all, only the hull afterwards.
93. 2021-12-24 - The Sydney to Hobart yacht race is about to get even tougher with a new category | ABC News. Australian television previews tougher conditions for a Sydney to Hobart race. Bass Strait produces the race's worst weather because a shallow strait meets a deep ocean swell. The 1998 and 2024 editions both turned on the first night out.
94. 2022-06-06 - The wreck of the training sailing ship SV Concordia. A Russian-language account of the loss of the sail training ship Concordia. She capsized off Brazil in 2010 and all aboard were rescued. Sail training vessels carry young crew, which is what makes their losses distinct.
95. 2023-02-08 - Huge wave capsizes boat as rookie U.S. Coast Guard swimmer rescues man from ocean. A wave capsizes a boat as a United States Coast Guard rescue swimmer recovers a man from the water. Rescue swimmers enter the sea from a helicopter to reach casualties directly. It is the standard method where a vessel cannot close safely.
96. 2023-03-09 - Ombord på Vasa - avsnitt 1. Research leader Fred Hocker takes viewers into the sterncastle of Vasa in the first episode of the museum's series on the ship's interior spaces. Vasa's upper works were where the weight sat that made her unstable, and the ship went over on her maiden voyage in 1628. Spoken in Swedish.
97. 2023-03-09 - Ombord på Vasa - avsnitt 4. Fred Hocker takes viewers onto Vasa's gun deck in the fourth part of the museum's series on the ship's interior. Vasa carried her gunports low and they went under as she heeled, which is how she flooded on 10 August 1628. Spoken in Swedish.
98. 2023-03-14 - The Vasa Museum: A MUST - VISIT Attraction in Stockholm. A visitor's tour of the Vasa Museum in Stockholm, which houses the only largely intact seventeenth century ship in the world. Vasa sank on her maiden voyage in Stockholm harbour on 10 August 1628 after sailing barely a nautical mile, and she was raised in 1961. More than ninety-five per cent of the hull is original timber.
99. 2023 - Rettungsboot Nr. 2 der Viermastbark Pamir. Photographed under sail, 2023. Pamir, launched at Blohm & Voss in 1905 as a four masted steel barque and later a Gustaf Erikson grain ship, sank on 21 September 1957 in Hurricane Carrie about 600 nautical miles west south west of the Azores. The death toll is contested: the Pamir article gives 86 aboard with 6 rescued and 80 dead, while the maritime disasters list gives 138 aboard and 132 dead. Both are English Wikipedia and the disagreement is unresolved.
100. 2023 - Shipwreck marker, Dolphin. Built on the Bellinger River 1878, measured 76.1 x 20 x 7. Went on the rocks in Brunswick River 19th February 1887. On 23rd February after being refloated she went on to shore again and soon went to pieces. Sponsored by Julie & Scott Clark".
101. 2023 - Shipwreck marker, PS Rose. Photographed alongside in port, 2023. A sailing vessel that goes ashore usually stays where it lands, which is why the wreck rather than the sinking is what the camera records. Most of the losses in this archive left no image of the event at all, only the hull afterwards.
102. 2023 - Shipwreack marker, Alexander Newton. Photographed alongside in port, 2023. Herzogin Cecilie went ashore in the English Channel off Devon in 1936 and was wrecked there. Pride of Baltimore capsized in a microburst squall north of Puerto Rico on 14 May 1986 and four people died.
103. 2023 - Colin Jack-Hinton Maritime Gallery, 2023. View of part of the Colin Jack-Hinton Maritime Gallery, MAGNT Darwin: the main exhibits visible in the image are (L to R) a 'Galeazzi Diving Bell', Tujuan, a traditional Indonesian merchant boat (or lambo), and Hati Marege, a replica traditional Sulawesian sailboat (or padewakang). Fifteen competitors died in that race and 21 people in total, the other six being crew of Bucks Fizz and Tempean rather than rescuers. Eighty six boats finished, 194 retired, 24 were abandoned and five were lost or believed sunk.
104. 2023 - AUS Perth, Fremantle, Fremantle Sailing Club 023. Photographed under sail, 2023. Most of the losses in this archive left no image of the event at all, only the hull afterwards. That is a structural feature of the record rather than a gap in the harvest.
105. 2023-07-25 - Carnage on the sea 142 yachts out of 430 retire from the Fastnet Race due 46mph winds and 12ft waves. 142 of 430 yachts retire from a Fastnet Race in heavy weather. The 2023 edition had a record 424 starters and 258 finishers. From 2021 the race finish moved to Cherbourg, extending the course past 700 nautical miles.
106. 2024-09-15 - Fatal Fall Prompts Safety Review on UK Sail Training Ship, Pelican of London.. A fatal fall aboard the UK sail training ship Pelican of London prompts a safety review. Working aloft is the standing hazard on a square-rigged sail training vessel. Sail Training International requires at minimum half of each crew to be young people aged fifteen to twenty-five.
107. 2024-12-26 - Two deaths in Sydney to Hobart yacht race + Grampians bushfire rages on | ABC NEWS. An Australian news bulletin covering the two Sydney to Hobart deaths alongside other stories. Both deaths came from crash gybes on the first night. They were the first in the race since 1998.
108. 2024-12-26 - Two die in separate incidents in Sydney to Hobart yacht race | ABC NEWS. Two sailors died in separate incidents on the first night of the 2024 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, the first deaths since 1998. Nick Smith of Flying Fish Arctos was struck by the boom and Roy Quaden of Bowline by the main sheet. Both occurred during crash gybes, uncontrolled manoeuvres in which the boom swings across the boat with great force.
109. 2024-12-26 - Sailors killed in Sydney to Hobart race identified | 9 News Australia. Australian television names the two sailors killed in the 2024 Sydney to Hobart race. The race ran from 26 December 2024 to 3 January 2025 with 104 starters and 74 finishers. Conditions were strong north-easterlies, similar to 1998.
110. 2024-12-27 - LawConnect takes out line honours in Sydney to Hobart yacht race marked by tragedy | ABC News. LawConnect takes line honours in the 2024 Sydney to Hobart race, marked by two deaths. Christian Beck's LawConnect finished in 1d 13h 35m 13s. The race record remains LDV Comanche's 1d 09h 15m 24s from 2017.
111. 2024-12-27 - Sydney Hobart race to continue after two fatalities. The 2024 Sydney to Hobart race continued after the two fatalities. The decision to continue after a death is the organisers' and is made race by race. Seventy-four of 104 starters finished.
112. 2024-12-28 - Sydney to Hobart crews reflect on race struck by 'tragic' deaths | ABC News. Crews reflect on the 2024 Sydney to Hobart race after two deaths. A review commissioned by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia found that mandatory helmets would not have prevented either death. It recommended mandatory automatic man-overboard detection systems and greater required crew experience.
113. 2025-01-18 - What Happened in the Sydney-Hobart Race?. A sailing programme reviews the 2024 Sydney to Hobart deaths and what they mean for offshore crews. Both sailors were struck during crash gybes. The subsequent review recommended automatic man-overboard detection and greater required crew experience.
114. 2026 - Tall ship Pride of Baltimore II participates in the Sail 250 Virginia Parade of Sails. Photographed 2026. Pride of Baltimore, a reproduction Baltimore clipper topsail schooner launched on 27 February 1977, sailed over 150,000 nautical miles in nine years as the city's goodwill ambassador. On 14 May 1986, about 250 nautical miles north of Puerto Rico, she was struck by what is described as a microburst squall, possibly a white squall, with winds reaching 80 knots, and capsized.
115. 2026 - Pride of Baltimore II passing BAP Union at Sail250 in NYC, 2026 21. The Pride of Baltimore II passes the BAP Union on the Hudson during Sail250. Pride of Baltimore, a reproduction Baltimore clipper topsail schooner launched on 27 February 1977, sailed over 150,000 nautical miles in nine years as the city's goodwill ambassador. On 14 May 1986, about 250 nautical miles north of Puerto Rico, she was struck by what is described as a microburst squall, possibly a white squall, with winds reaching 80 knots, and capsized.
116. 2026 - The Pride of Baltimore II passes another sailboat at Sail250 in NYC, 2026 22. Photographed 2026. Four died including Captain Armin Elsaesser; the remaining eight survived over four days in a partially inflated liferaft before the Norwegian tanker Toro found them. Pride of Baltimore II was launched in 1988.
117. 2026 - Book, Bookcase Containing Pocket Sundial, Mary Rose. Possessions of the Master Carpenter. On the right (6) is a leather wrist guard for archery. Mary Rose was built before 1545, sank in 1545 and was raised in 1982. Her wreck yielded far less rigging material than Vasa, only the blocks that had been stored below decks.
118. 2026 - Master Gunner's Chest and Tools, Mary Rose. Photographed as preserved, 2026. Mary Rose was built before 1545, sank in 1545 and was raised in 1982. Her wreck yielded far less rigging material than Vasa, only the blocks that had been stored below decks.
119. 2026 - 13-29 RNLB Helen Hastings "Shannon" Class lifeboat. Photographed alongside in port, 2026. In the 1979 Fastnet storm approximately 4,000 people were involved in the rescue and the Royal Navy alone recovered between 125 and 136 yachtsmen, the source giving a range. Lifeboats spent 75 hours at sea in 60 knot winds.
120. 2026 - Lifeboat- , Dingle Peninsula, Co. Kerry, Ireland. Fenit RNLI lifeboat visiting the Maharees, Castlegregory, during the annual Currach Regatta at Scragane Bay. Twenty four boats were abandoned, more than 75 capsized and five sank. The Met Office recorded a maximum of Force 10 in that storm while competitors estimated Force 11, and both figures belong in the account.
121. 2026 - Thames Clipper lifebuoy life ring Wandsworth London England 01. Photographed 2026. Twenty four boats were abandoned, more than 75 capsized and five sank. The Met Office recorded a maximum of Force 10 in that storm while competitors estimated Force 11, and both figures belong in the account.