Despite this, wave after wave of treasure hunters continue to search for the fabled wreck, spurred on by the Victorian government which offered $250,000 to anyone who finds the Mahogany Ship. So far, they've all gone home empty-handed.
According to detailed research by at least two amateur historians, it's probable the so-called Mahogany Ship was not a pre-colonial ship of discovery, and even more likely there never was a wreck in the dunes between Port Fairy and Warrnambool to begin with.
The Mahogany Ship is a putative early Australian shipwreck that is believed by some to lie beneath the sand in the Armstrong Bay area, approximately 3 to 6 kilometres (1.9 to 3.7 mi) west of Warrnambool in southwest Victoria, Australia.
In Warrnambool alone—the coastline's largest city—29 shipwrecks rest at the bottom of the bay. One of those wrecked vessels is believed to be a 16th-century Portuguese caravel known as the Mahogany Ship. There's just a small issue: The ship may not be from the 16th century.
An estimated 6,000 vessels were lost on the Great Lakes with approximately 1,500 of these ships located in Michigan waters. These are unique resources. The history of Michigan can be traced by the material records of its shipwrecks. They are a wood and steel chronicle of the history of naval architecture on the lakes.
Of course, the most famous Great Lakes shipwreck was that of the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975, with none of the 29 members of its crew surviving the waters of Lake Superior. And the most deadly event was the 1958 sinking of the Carl Bradley in Lake Michigan, claiming the lives of all but two of 35 shipmates onboard.
When launched on June 8, 1958, the Fitzgerald was the largest ship on North America's Great Lakes, and is the largest ship to have sunk there. The freighter went down in a storm on November 10, 1975, taking with her the entire crew of 29.
Another report suggested the ship was crafted from mahogany, supporting the theory it was a Spanish or Portuguese caravel, and giving rise to the wreck's nickname – the Mahogany Ship. But modern-day investigations have proved difficult, because sometime in the 1880s, it vanished – supposedly swallowed up by the dunes.
The wooden ship Endurance has been located remarkably intact about 10,000 feet underwater in the Weddell Sea. The find is "a milestone in polar history," said Mensun Bound, a maritime archaeologist and the director of exploration on the expedition, called Endurance22.
The six-masted schooner Wyoming, the longest confirmed wooden ship in history. The side-wheel paddle steamer ferryboat Eureka, now a museum ship, is the longest wooden ship still afloat.
– wish the story of the Loch Ard Disaster ended with the two teenage survivors falling in love and living happily ever after. Unfortunately it wasn't to be. Eva returned to the UK after losing all of her immediate family members in the shipwreck. Meanwhile Tom continued his life at sea.
This legend may refer to the same ship as the Lost Galleon, but its own story has always placed it in a distinct location, closer to the sand hills west of El Centro, California.
The sinking of the La Bella triggered one of the most heroic rescues in Victoria's shipwreck history. The La Bella was at the end of a rough and tedious 37 day voyage, bringing timber from Kaipara, New Zealand to Warrnambool.
SS Waratah, Durban (South Africa)
The entire liner, complete with eight staterooms, music lounge and all 211 passengers and crew, was never found. Ninety years after the Waratah went down, the National Underwater and Marine Agency thought they'd finally found it, but it was a false alarm.
The Extremely Ancient Dokos Shipwreck
Among them, the Dokos wreck is thought to be the oldest shipwreck found to date. It dates before c. 2200 BCE, judging by the pottery cargo it carried.
The Pesse canoe is believed to be the world's oldest known boat, and certainly the oldest canoe. Carbon dating indicates that the boat was constructed during the early mesolithic period between 8040 BCE and 7510 BCE.
Explorers have found the deepest shipwreck ever identified, a US navy destroyer escort sunk during WWII. The USS Samuel B Roberts went down during the Battle Off Samar in the Philippine Sea in October 1944. It lies in 6,895m (22,621ft) of water.
The World Trade Center (WTC) attack, which took place on September 11th, 2001, left the world in shock; however, in the midst of this tragedy and chaos, cleanup crews discovered something amazing. In 2010, buried underneath the ruins of the Twin Towers, we found the remains of a large ship's hull.
In 2010, workers excavating the World Trade Center site discovered a 30-foot long section of the wooden vessel 20-30 feet below street level. A year later, they uncovered a three-foot section of the ship's bow.
USS Constitution, also known as Old Ironsides, is a three-masted wooden-hulled heavy frigate of the United States Navy. She is the world's oldest ship still afloat. She was launched in 1797, one of six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794 and the third constructed.
The wreck of Endurance has been found in the Antarctic, 106 years after the historic ship was crushed in pack ice and sank during an expedition by the explorer Ernest Shackleton.
Images were taken of the wreck which match the size, shape and location, all pointing strongly to this being the remains of the White Ship after 900 years underwater. Never before has modern digital technology be used to search for the wreck of the White ship, so the site remained relatively undisturbed.
The entire crew of 29 people died when the vessel sank. No bodies were ever recovered from the wreckage. Later when the wreck was found, it was discovered that the ship had broken in two. It still sits on the bottom of Lake Superior at 530 feet deep.
#5 Can You Dive To The Edmund Fitzgerald? It's illegal to dive at the site of Edmund Fitzgerald wreck since 1995, including using side-scanning sonar equipment. One of the reasons for this is that one of the dives sadly found a crew member tied outside, still wearing a life preserver, to the ship's bow.
SS Edmund Fitzgerald was an American Great Lakes freighter that sank in Lake Superior during a storm on November 10, 1975, with the loss of the entire crew of 29 men.