It's the fate of many ships to end up in Davy Jones's locker. In the past these doomed vessels remained far from human reach, but the march of technology has unlocked their mysteries. Let's take a look at...
The $17 Billion Cargo of the San JoséIn 2015, a joint scientific and naval operation discovered the wreck of the San José off the coast of Cartagena in Columbia. The actual site remains secret for one simple reason - this ship was estimated to be carrying as much as $17 billion in gold, silver and gems when it sank.
In 1708 the San José was carrying a lucrative cargo to help finance the Spanish war effort against Britain when it was caught by a squadron of British ships. During the ensuing battle, the powder magazine of the treasure galleon was hit and an explosion ripped through the ship - it sank with almost all of the crew and literal tons of gold coins.
Though it may have seemed fairly final, this wouldn't be the last time that the San José was fought over. Three groups have made competing claims to the loot (or at least a share of it) including Columbia (it's in their territory) Spain (who claim that they still own it, despite it having being sunk by the British) and the salvage company Sea Search Armada who claim that Columbia had "bought" the location from them in exchange for a cut of the salvage.
Of course, decontaminating the ship generated a great deal of contaminated waste. Not wanting to hold on to it, the waste was loaded into one of the most heavily engineered compartments of the USS Independence and sealed in concrete-filled barrels before the ship was scuttled. Only later did people stop to question if disposing of the irradiated ship and cargo in this way was a good idea.
Modern researchers think that there isn't too much of a risk - even isotopes like cesium and strontium only have a half-life of around 30 years. Theoretically over three quarters of the radioactive material should have decayed by this point, with readings taken from the wreck supporting this assumption. Somewhat more nebulous are the contents of those barrels of nuclear waste - the effort that went into shielding the contents makes it hard to get any readings from the compartment!
The Haunted SS KamloopsLake Superior in the USA is one of the biggest bodies of fresh water in the world. It's sometimes called an inland sea, with a maximum depth of over 400m and featuring waves nearly 9m tall in storms. With conditions like these, it's small wonder that it also holds a number of wrecks.
One such wreck is that of the steamship SS Kamloops. Clocking in at over 2,000 tons, the SS Kamloops ran cargo between Montreal, Quebec and Ontario... until in 1927 it was caught in a ferocious blizzard. The ship was last recorded covered in ice and steaming towards Isle Royale in the lake - the crew wouldn't be seen again until May 1928 when a fisherman found bodies on the shore of the isle. A message in a bottle eventually confirmed the fate of the wreck survivors - starving and freezing to death on Isle Royal.
When the wreck of the SS Kamloops was discovered in 1977, divers found that the dark and frigid fresh water had kept it well preserved. Cargo sits where it fell, but much more disturbing are the crew that didn't get off the stricken ship. The corpses have been preserved by their environment, with flesh becoming adipocere and effectively turning into "soap." One particular corpse known as “Old Whitey” still floats around the boiler room, almost seeming to glow as a result of his saponification. Divers report that he seems to follow them as they explore - in reality the drifting body is responding to the currents caused by the moving divers.
In reality, it was a perfect storm of circumstances that led to the sinking of HMS Victoria. Tryon was a commander that wouldn't explain his actions, preferring subordinates to work things out for themselves. This worked against him when he ordered the two ships to perform maneuvers needing 1,300m to achieve... when the ships were around 1,000m apart. Ignoring queries from his subordinates, Tryon doubled-down on the orders and put HMS Camperdown on a collision course with HMS Victoria. By the time he realized the situation he'd created it was too late to do much about it - HMS Victoria took the ram of HMS Camperdown and began to sink. To give him a little credit, Tryon stayed at his post and went down with the ship - his last words were reportedly "It was all my fault."
The wreck stands vertically with the bow driven into the sea bed - possibly due to the fact that the propellers were still operating when the ship went under. It remains like that over a century later, one of the few shipwrecks in that position - the Russian ironclad Russalka being one of the few other known examples.
- The $17 Billion Cargo of the San José
- The Radioactive USS Independence
- The Haunted SS Kamloops
- The Self-Inflicted Doom of HMS Victoria
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| The San José was carrying a huge haul of treasure back to Spain when it sank... (PublicDomainPictures) |
The $17 Billion Cargo of the San JoséIn 2015, a joint scientific and naval operation discovered the wreck of the San José off the coast of Cartagena in Columbia. The actual site remains secret for one simple reason - this ship was estimated to be carrying as much as $17 billion in gold, silver and gems when it sank.
In 1708 the San José was carrying a lucrative cargo to help finance the Spanish war effort against Britain when it was caught by a squadron of British ships. During the ensuing battle, the powder magazine of the treasure galleon was hit and an explosion ripped through the ship - it sank with almost all of the crew and literal tons of gold coins.
Though it may have seemed fairly final, this wouldn't be the last time that the San José was fought over. Three groups have made competing claims to the loot (or at least a share of it) including Columbia (it's in their territory) Spain (who claim that they still own it, despite it having being sunk by the British) and the salvage company Sea Search Armada who claim that Columbia had "bought" the location from them in exchange for a cut of the salvage.
The Radioactive USS Independence
A relic of WWII, the USS Independence was scheduled to go out with a bang in 1946. She was selected as part of the target fleet used for the Bikini Atoll nuclear tests, resulting in her being exposed to two plutonium implosion-type “Fat Boy” bomb detonations. The ship was damaged and irradiated, but didn't actually sink - instead she was towed to San Francisco for decontamination protocol testing and finally scuttled via torpedo in 1951.Of course, decontaminating the ship generated a great deal of contaminated waste. Not wanting to hold on to it, the waste was loaded into one of the most heavily engineered compartments of the USS Independence and sealed in concrete-filled barrels before the ship was scuttled. Only later did people stop to question if disposing of the irradiated ship and cargo in this way was a good idea.
Modern researchers think that there isn't too much of a risk - even isotopes like cesium and strontium only have a half-life of around 30 years. Theoretically over three quarters of the radioactive material should have decayed by this point, with readings taken from the wreck supporting this assumption. Somewhat more nebulous are the contents of those barrels of nuclear waste - the effort that went into shielding the contents makes it hard to get any readings from the compartment!
 |
| The SS Kamloops sank beneath Lake Superior during a deadly blizzard... (standuppaddle) |
The Haunted SS KamloopsLake Superior in the USA is one of the biggest bodies of fresh water in the world. It's sometimes called an inland sea, with a maximum depth of over 400m and featuring waves nearly 9m tall in storms. With conditions like these, it's small wonder that it also holds a number of wrecks.
One such wreck is that of the steamship SS Kamloops. Clocking in at over 2,000 tons, the SS Kamloops ran cargo between Montreal, Quebec and Ontario... until in 1927 it was caught in a ferocious blizzard. The ship was last recorded covered in ice and steaming towards Isle Royale in the lake - the crew wouldn't be seen again until May 1928 when a fisherman found bodies on the shore of the isle. A message in a bottle eventually confirmed the fate of the wreck survivors - starving and freezing to death on Isle Royal.
When the wreck of the SS Kamloops was discovered in 1977, divers found that the dark and frigid fresh water had kept it well preserved. Cargo sits where it fell, but much more disturbing are the crew that didn't get off the stricken ship. The corpses have been preserved by their environment, with flesh becoming adipocere and effectively turning into "soap." One particular corpse known as “Old Whitey” still floats around the boiler room, almost seeming to glow as a result of his saponification. Divers report that he seems to follow them as they explore - in reality the drifting body is responding to the currents caused by the moving divers.
The Self-Inflicted Doom of HMS Victoria
The HMS Victoria was the flagship of the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet, under the command of Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon. With such a pedigree, it seems almost inconceivable that it would be rammed and sunk by the subordinate HMS Camperdown during a horribly misjudged set of maneuvers.In reality, it was a perfect storm of circumstances that led to the sinking of HMS Victoria. Tryon was a commander that wouldn't explain his actions, preferring subordinates to work things out for themselves. This worked against him when he ordered the two ships to perform maneuvers needing 1,300m to achieve... when the ships were around 1,000m apart. Ignoring queries from his subordinates, Tryon doubled-down on the orders and put HMS Camperdown on a collision course with HMS Victoria. By the time he realized the situation he'd created it was too late to do much about it - HMS Victoria took the ram of HMS Camperdown and began to sink. To give him a little credit, Tryon stayed at his post and went down with the ship - his last words were reportedly "It was all my fault."
The wreck stands vertically with the bow driven into the sea bed - possibly due to the fact that the propellers were still operating when the ship went under. It remains like that over a century later, one of the few shipwrecks in that position - the Russian ironclad Russalka being one of the few other known examples.
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