This type of format was used in the recent academy awards accomplishments list and it seemed to be somewhat popular, so I thought I would try it again in a different kind of vehicle. In this list the count down from 10 to 1 will indicate the number of survivors from each fascinating maritime tragedy listed.
Sunk in 1942
On Board: 820
Survivors: 10
The USS Juneau was the second member of the Atlanta Class of Light Cruisers in service with the US Navy during the Second World War. On November 13 1942, during a battle with Japanese forces at Guadalcanal, the USS Juneau suffered severe damage to her port side. After she limped away from the battle she was intercepted by a Japanese submarine which fired torpedoes at the cruiser, striking the ship on the port side, near the previous hit. The ensuing magazine explosion blew the ship in half, killing most of the crew. The Juneau sank in less than a minute. More than 100 sailors had survived the sinking and were left to fend for themselves in the open ocean for eight days before rescue aircraft arrived. While awaiting rescue all but 10 died from the elements and shark attacks.
Interesting Fact: This sinking is not known for its 10 survivors but because it was the ship that carried the five Sullivan brothers. Because of this tragedy the U.S. War Department adopted the Sole Survivor Policy which protects members of a family from the draft or from combat duty if they have already lost family members in military service. This, in part, also inspired the 1998 film, Saving Private Ryan.The survivors reported that three of the brothers died instantly, one drowned the next day, and one survived for four or five days before drowning. You can watch a tribute to the USS Juneau here.
Sank in 1588
On Board 1300
Survivors 9
The warship Girona was a Mediterranean style galleass, or an oared fighting ship. The ship set sail in 1588 with 121 sailors and 186 soldiers on board. While anchored for repairs at Killybegs harbor, they came across about 1000 other Spaniards from two Armada ships that had run aground. Rather than stay in Ireland where they were in danger of being found by English soldiers, the Girona took the men on board despite the fact that the ship was designed for a maximum of 500. They sailed for, what was then, Catholic Scotland, where they could repair the ship and then set sail for Spain. The Girona had also collected considerable valuables and jewelry from the other wrecked ships. Shortly after it set sail on the night of October 26, 1588 it was blown into rocks and sunk at Lacada point, a few hundred feet west of the Giant’s Causeway. Of the estimated 1300 persons on board only 9 survived.
Interesting Fact: The sunken Girona’s wreck was discovered almost four centuries later in 1967 by a team of mostly Belgian marine archaeologists. They recovered what is thought to be the most valuable treasures ever recovered from a Spanish warship. The very rich haul included gold trinkets, an extremely valuable gold and ruby salamander pendant and more than 1200 gold and silver coins. The Girona is commemorated on the reverse side of banknotes (Sown above) printed by the First Trust Bank in Northern Ireland. The famous gold and ruby salamander recovered from the wreck is in the lower right side
Sunk in 1941
Appox.7000 onboard
Survivors 8
The Armenia was a double-decker passenger ship built in 1928 that was converted into a hospital ship in 1940 and operated by the Soviet Union. On November 6, 1941, Armenia’s Captain sailed the ship from Sevastopol to Yalta. In Yalta The Russian Naval Command ordered the ship to remain at port until escort vessels were available. The next day, the ship’s Captain ignored his orders and left Yalta with 5000 refugees and wounded soldiers, plus another 2,000 unregistered civilians and medical personnel on board.The German air force caught up with the Armenia and dropped two torpedoes on the vulnerable ship 25 miles off the Crimean Peninsula. The bombs split the ship in half and it sank in only four minutes. The ship was clearly marked with red crosses painted on both sides but these were ignored by the pilots during the attack. The eight survivors were picked up by a rescue boat. The photograph above is the only known photo of the Armenia taken before launching in Leningrad at the Baltic Shipyard in 1928.
Interesting Fact: Anastacia Popova was one of the eight passengers that was lucky to survive and said this: “It was really hard for me to evacuate from the city of Yalta. The Armenia was packed with wounded patients and refugees. When the German aviation attacked the boat and it started sinking, it was more than just a hellish experience. People were rushing about the deck, trying to save their lives. I jumped overboard and swam towards the shore. I was very weak and hardly had any energy. I do not even remember how I found myself on the seashore,” Local war veterans lay wreaths around the area where the Armenia went down every year on May 9th, (The Soviet Victory Day) to honour the 7,000 people who died in the tragedy.
Sank in 1761
121 onboard
7 Survivors
The Auguste was a full-rigged sailing ship used to deport soldiers and officials from Quebec back to France after the British victory in the Battle of Quebec. In November 1761 the ship set sail to France with several wealthy people among the Auguste’s passengers. They carried their life’s savings, including considerable amounts of gold and silver. Weeks of strong winds blew the ship on to the coast of Cape Breton and the ship broke into pieces. Only 7 made it to the shore alive. One of the survivors was Sainte-Luc de la Corne who was a decorated captain in the French colonial army and who lost his entire family. He wrote this moving account of the sinking: “It would be difficult to do justice to the horror of the situation: the cries of those who remained in the vessel; the futile efforts of those who, hoping to save their lives, threw themselves into the sea; the cold drenching rain, the certainty that I had lost my children. We were prostrate from exhaustion on an unknown shore.”
Interesting Fact: For the next 200 years, the Auguste wreck eluded treasure hunters but in 1977, it was found in shallow water and was partially salvaged under government supervision. In 2000 a new group known as Auguste Expedition LLC, obtained a government permit to conduct further salvage of the wreck. They were able to excavate the wreck site and have recovered thousands of coins and historic artifacts. You can see a diver with a stack full of coins from the Auguste here.
Sunk in 1916
Onboard 1021
6 Survivors
In 1908, the HMS Invincible was the first battlecruiser of the British Royal Navy to be built. At the Battle of Jutland on May 31, 1916, the German commanders ordered the High Seas Fleet to Skager-Rack (a strait running between Norway and the southwest coast of Sweden) with the objective of attacking British cruisers and merchant ships. During the battle the Invincible took a hit to a gun turret which caused a simultaneous discharge of artillery, detonating the ships magazine and causing a massive explosion. The ship broke in two and sank in 90 seconds. A destroyer of the Royal Navy, HMS Badger was able to rescue just six of the 1021 crew members, after surviving 20 minutes in the freezing waters of the North Sea. One of the survivors, Gunnery Officer Hubert Edward Dannreuther, was the godson of German composer Richard Wagner. Although the British losses were greater than the Germans, the German fleet retreated back to its harbors.
Interesting Fact: The wreck of the Invincible was first located by the Royal Navy in 1919. The ship is protected under the Protection of Military Remains Act of 1986. Mount Invincible in the Canadian Rockies was named after the battlecruiser in 1917. This image shows Invincible shortly after the magazine explosion that split her in two. Only the bow and stern remain above water.
Sunk in 1622
265 people onboard
5 survivors
The Atocha was one of a number of ships engaged in transporting New World gold and other treasure back to Spain. On September 6, 1622, the Atocha was at the tail end of a convoy which included the ships Santa Margarita, Nuestra Señora del Rosario and two smaller vessels. About 35 miles (56 kilometers) west of Key West all five ships were hit with the full force of a hurricane. With their sails and rigging reduced to shreds the ships drifted helplessly toward the coral reefs. The Atocha was lifted high on a wave, smashed violently on a reef and pulled to the bottom of the ocean by her heavy cargo of treasure. The next day a small merchant ship, making its way through the debris, rescued five Atocha survivors (three sailors and two slaves) still clinging to the ships mizzenmast. They were all that were left of 265 passengers and crew.
Interesting Fact: In 1969, treasure hunter Mel Fisher and his crew began a relentless quest for the treasure of the Atocha. They spent years following the wreck’s elusive trail and finding nothing. In 1973 three silver bars were found which matched the weights and tally numbers found on the Atocha’s manifest. Then, on July 20, 1985, the team found the mother lode, with an estimated value of $400 million.
143 people on board
Sank in 1840
4 Survivors
The Lexington was the fastest means of transport between New York and Boston From 1835 to 1840. On January 13, 1840, it carried 143 passengers, the crew and 150 bundles of cotton from its pier on Manhattan’s East River bound for Stonington, CT. The ship was four miles away from Long Island when the first officer noticed that wooden parts and linings of the chimney were on fire. As the crew tried in vain to put out the flames the cotton on the ship caught fire spreading the flames at a rapid rate. In the effort to save themselves, the crew prepared the ship’s three lifeboats. Since the crew was not able to get to the engine room to shut off the boilers the first life boat was sucked into the paddle wheel, killing its occupants. The ropes used to lower the other two boats were cut incorrectly causing the boats to capsize when they hit the water. The ship sailed out of control and drifted northeast as the fire spread throughout the entire ship. At midnight the passengers were forced to jump into the sub-zero water. Those who had nothing to climb onto in the water succumbed to hypothermia. The ship finally sank, with the flames still licking the surface of the water. The four survivors were Chester Hilliard, the only passenger to survive, Stephen Manchester, the ship’s pilot, Charles Smith, one of the ship’s firemen and David Crowley, the second mate who drifted for 43 hours on a bale of cotton, coming ashore 50 miles east, at Baiting Hollow in Long Island.
Interesting Fact: An attempt was made in 1842 to raise the Lexington. As the ship was brought to the surface briefly, a 30 pound (14 kg) of melted silver was recovered. The chains supporting the hull snapped, and the ship broke apart and sank back to the bottom of the Sound. Today the Lexington sits in 140 feet of water, broken into three sections. There is, allegedly, still gold and silver that has yet to be recovered.
![Hms Hood [Top]](http://listverse.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/hms_hood-top.jpg)
Sunk in 1941
On Board 1415
Survivors 3
HMS Hood was a 42,100 ton battlecruiser built in 1920 for the Royal Navy. It held the position of world’s largest warship for more than two decades. In May 1941 Hood and the new battleship Prince of Wales were sent out to search for the German battleship Bismarck, which had left Norway for the Atlantic. On the morning of May 24th, the two British ships found the Bismark just west of Iceland. During this Battle of the Denmark Strait, one or more of Bismarck’s fifteen-inch shells found HMS Hood’s magazines and detonated in a massive explosion, killing all but three of her crew of 1,415. The event shocked the British nation and the entire world. The three survivors were Ted Briggs (1923–2008), Robert Ernest Tilburn (1921–1995) and William John Dundas (1921–1965). They were rescued about two and a half hours after the sinking by the destroyer HMS Electra.
Interesting Fact: Admiral Chatfield, in The Times article, summed up the sinking by saying “She was destroyed because she had to fight a ship 22 years more modern than herself. This was not the fault of the British seamen. It was the direct responsibility of those who opposed the rebuilding of the British Battle Fleet until 1937, two years before the Second Great War started”
Sank in 1917
On Board: 845
Survivors: 2
The HMS Vanguard, was a 19,250-ton St. Vincent class battleship built for the Royal Navy. She became part of the Grand Fleet and operated in the North Sea and participated in the Battle of Jutland, (see number 6) in 1916. While anchored at Scapa Flow on July 9th 1917, the HMS Vanguard was destroyed by an accidental ammunition explosion and sank instantly. No formal cause for the explosion was ever found by the Court of Inquiry. Some experts believe it was most likely due to a fire in a coal bunker that smoldered away, undetected, long enough to heat the cordite stored in the adjoining bulkhead and eventually triggering an explosive reaction. The destruction of the Vanguard remains the most catastrophic accidental explosion in the history of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the worst accidental losses of the Royal Navy. Private Williams and Stoker Cox pictured above were the only two survivors.
Interesting Fact: The Vanguard was the fourth British ship to be lost during World War I from similar internal explosions, but the precise cause remains unexplained. You can see a tribute to the HMS Vanguard here.
Sank in 1857
On Board 122
1 Survivor
The Dunbar was a well known ship that catered to wealthy travelers between Britain and Sydney. On August 20th 1857, after 81 days at sea, the Dunbar arrived off Sydney in heavy rain. Impaired vision from the weather obscured the cliffs at the entrance to Port Jackson. The captain of the ship, James Green, had made a number of visits to Port Jackson but on this trip the captain may have believed they were overshooting the entrance at North Head and tried to make a quick turn in. The ship broached and was driven by a swell into huge cliffs. The impact brought down the topmasts and the ship began to break up almost immediately. One crewman, and sole survivor, James Johnson (shown above), found himself hurled onto the rocks where he managed to gain a stronghold. Johnson clung to his precarious hold on the rock ledge for two days before he was noticed from the cliff top. The lifeless bodies of the other passengers were flung up against the South Head cliffs with sharks fighting off those trying to recover the dead. The wreck of the Dunbar is still one of the worst disasters to have occurred in New South Wales, and it is remembered each year by memorial services held at St Stephen’s Church in Newtown, where many of the Dunbar victims were buried in a mass grave.
Interesting Fact: In 1866 The Cawarra, a paddle-steamer, sank in Newcastle harbor, New South Wales, Australia. Of the 61 passengers and crew on board there was only one survivor. The sole survivor was rescued by a lighthouse-keeper named James Johnson, the same man who survived the Dunbar nine years earlier.
I heard a british sailor refer to the hms hood as the *****of fleet. Only time I remember laughing at the history channel.
Best list i've seen here in a looooong time, thank you!
Only criticism I can think of is I was expecting to see the ARA Belgrano.
Woo hoo a Blogball list! Guaranteed top quality stuff! Excellent.
this format is brillliant
its *almost* more changelling than the list content itself
now, if we could only get blogball and tyb together
to make a animal list with descending number of organs or
appendages —
it would be the end-all be-all in listdom badassery of all time
10+1
9+2
8+3
7+4
6+5
11×5=55
lol – good call
10×11 (the next #) = 110
110/2 = 55
i was kind of expecting titanic hehehe
Number 10 on this list had 10 survivors, 9 had 9, 8 had 8, etc. Titanic had 705 survivors (reports vary) , so it didn't fit in with the format.
Wow, great list.
If you add up all the deaths, you end with approximately 13,052 dead. If 55 survived, then only 1 in 237 people lived, or 0.4%. I know that these are extreme cases and not all incidents will be so deadly, but there is a reason I do not go on boats. If in an accident and you don't die right away by drowning, you are left to fend off dehydration and sharks, like in the movie "Open Water."
Worst movie ever by the way.
Very good list , always interesting to read about this kindve thing , especially the naval battles of WW2 . no.10 reminds me of the USS indianpolis story the sea captain tells in "Jaws". Have to say really enjoyed this list .
My grandfather was in the Navy when Number 10 happened and knew people on that boat. He told me about how people on other ships/aircraft knew that the ship had sunk, but when they reported it the paperwork got mixed up so no one searched for the Juneau survivors for over a week. According to Wikipedia:
"The B-17 bomber crew, unwilling to disobey orders not to break radio silence, did not pass the message about searching for survivors to their headquarters until they had landed several hours later. The crew's report of the location of possible survivors was mixed in with other pending paperwork actions and went unnoticed for several days. It was not until days later that headquarters staff realized that a search had never been mounted and belatedly ordered aircraft to begin searching the area. In the meantime, Juneau's survivors, many of whom were seriously wounded, were exposed to the elements, hunger, thirst, and repeated shark attacks."
If something like that happened in today's military, every Naval Officer even remotely involved would probably be brought up on charges. That's not even considering the media firestorm…
Jesus how do you over look something like that………How do you survive soemthing like that ? If the bomb dosent get you , you land in the water , if you dont accidentally swallow oilslick on the water , -you have to stay afloat so you dont drown, if you dont drown, you can dehydrate – if you dont dehydrate you can die from exposure to the sun . if you dont die from exposure to the sun -you can freeze to death at nght . and even if you survive all this for days and days some assbastard shark can just waste your ass in one bite .
Oh well im sure there was no harm done , the survivors and the millitary personell involved in the rescue *****up probly look back on the mistake now and laugh and laugh ….
I'm surprised this list didn't include the Struma.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Struma_(ship)
A tragic, but interesting piece of nautical history–Thanks for the link Natan.
Blogball's list has followed a clearly defined format, and his choice for sole survivor entry had the added bonus of having a weird coincidence linked to that lone survivor.
I had never heard about this before, makes me ashamed to be British! That anyone could have abandoned them is disgusting!
This list is too nautical. Hehe. Seriously though this has been the most interesting, well thought out and researched list I have read for some time. I've enjoyed reading it immensely and learned quite a bit. I had only heard of the Jutland ships and the HMS Hood before. It seems that the Royal Navy between 1900 and 1930 were tired of being so easily dominant in the oceans and designed their ships to explode hollywood style at the drop of a hat. I imagine this was designed to startle the opposition into running away as happened at Jutland.
Well I won't be getting on a boat anytime soon! Great list
I kind of think that the dunbar guy james johnson has a secret. And he looks a bit like wolverine too. Being the only survivor twice is quite impressive.
i can bet you 11 guys survived on the juneau but they thought. What the hell. I want to make it to blogballs list. We have to push atleast one guy under water. Any volunteers?
Ps hms hood should have been first not 3rd, or atleast 2nd
Or maybe the dunbar guy killed some of the survivors. People would do extreme things to be number one on a blogball list. Hey i wouldnt judge them.
The fate of james johnson is incredible. He even saved another sole survivor later in his life. I’ve always loved these kind of stories (not because of the tragedy aspect). Superb list! Very interesting and informative. Personally i knew only about 3 of these sinkings. I was glad that older events have been included(mainly la girona).
That’s what i like about listverse, we’ve always got something new to learn.
@ arsnl
he rescued a man later in his life, still that’s quite incredible 
james johnson was not the only survivor twice but once
great list ! well done. the lists were getting pretty ordinary lately so it was refreshing to read such an intelligent list.
I wonder how it would have felt like for those very few people who survived when thousands around them died?
They must have felt very very lucky. And very awkward.
Hey Blogball–Haven't read one of your lists in a while This one is excellent, and love the extra challenge you gave to yourself by writing within such a format.
Nice addition of the Atocha. I remember the worldwide buzz as bits and pieces of her were brought to the surface. One of the biggest and most widely publicized shipwrecks , my adventurous young self yearned to be able to become a treasure hunter. But in those days I also thought that treasure hunters went around finding a new treasure 7 times a week.
I'll admit I expected to find this list really boring- I've never had an interest in anything naval and I get sea sick on a pedalo! But I really enjoyed this and learnt lots of new things! Thanks very much x
Great list, but number 1 seems suspicious! The same man was sole surviver twice and the police suspected no foul play? I'm thinking he probably killed the other passengers and ate their faces with a nice bottle of chianti only to sink the ships afterwards. Either that or he was one lucky mofo!
Hey Jesper you may want tyo re-read the entry. He survived one sinking, then as a lighthouse keeper he saved another man from a sinking ship. …Just sayin'
pretty sad knowing all these people died… good list though…
What an awesome list. I've always had an interest in shipwrecks and this just adds to it. I had heard of a few of them but the Dunbar is the most famous around here, for obvious reasons (I'm an Aussie).
There's been so many ships destroyed up and down the East Coast. Last year a friend and I went camping and found a plaque dedicated to the thousands of lives lost at sea during the 1800s. I can't recall the exact details, but it was something like 3 ships a month lost during one10 year period? Which is shocking when you actually think about it.
Awesome list, Blogball! Enjoyed the read (even with such a somber feel). As soon as I read the title, I thought of the show The Deadliest Catch in which some ships went down and had one or two survivors.
…..and for those that know me, picture 4 was the only scary one. The rest I couldn't get any sense of dimension on, but 4 I could. I'm happy to report that I won't need a new pair of britches, but I will need a new mouse (it got launched…pun intended)
Great list, of course, Blogball.
Am I missing something, though? I don't see where it says that James Johnson was sole survivor twice.
Great list, Blogball. Of course.
The HMS Hood was, in fact, a piece of ***** from launch. It was obsolete right off the drawing board, as well inadequately armored, and poorly designed. There were reports that, every time she fired her guns, bolts would fly off the bulkheads. It was not only that the Bismarck had larger and more powerful guns than the Hood, it was that the Hood was not designed well enough to take *any* kind of direct hit.
True. Hood was not a battleship she was completed in 1920 as a battle-cruiser ( less armour = more speed ) a concept that was seen as a failure at Jutland in 1915 when 3 British battle-cruisers, Queen Mary, Indefatigable and Invincible, blew up in quick succession after being raked by plunging shot.
When I saw the title I was expecting 55 different stories about different people who had been survived from ship sinkings and I was like: "Oh man, this is gonna be one hell of a long list!" Needless to say I was wrong.
Haha ya man me too.
I thought hms hood was scuttled by my home town in the entrance to portland harbour, dorset?
Something to do with stopping german u boats entering??
That was the previous HMS Hood, a dreadnought from before WWI. It was scuttled there, I believe, just after that war. The HMS Hood in this list is the WWII vessel, built, I believe, in the 20s.
Very impressively ordered list. Blogball lists never disappoint.
Nice list
@ames & akash. Ups my bad. I was busy so i did a fast reading. Yes he saved a guy a sole survivor. He wasnt a sole survivor twice. I guess thats how unbelievable stories start. Some dumb guy read something in a hurry, it started a rummor and from then on everybody starts wondering, is it true, is it not?
Yeah i know, someone also wrote this but still: INDIANAPOLIS???
i was reading the list and kept asking myself " Did they forget the Indie?"
Very good list anyway. Well done! Lots of info i didn't have!
Bye
The Indianapolis had 317 people survive. The list starts at 10 survivors and counts down to 1.
Oh, right! Sorry for me being silly.
USS Indianapolis would have made for a nice bonus mention in the end.
This list is clearly too ocean-centric. When will Listverse realize that not all of is are lazy Oceanicans?
The south-eastern Pacific region, including Australia and New Zealand, is sometimes referred to as "Oceania", so I and Jamie are clearly Oceananian, and I, at least, resent your slur of "lazy".
Boats sink in rivers and lakes, too. Perhaps the list is too aquacentric.
Enjoyed the read learned something today -Thanks
Great job Blogball. I like how your format brings out some lesser-known stories that would probably be overlooked in just a straightforward “10 sunken ship tragedies” type of list.
Wow, thanks for the scare list!
My intended and I are going on a cruise, soon… Damn!
Very interesting list. What was that gigantic warship from Renaissance times, which sank like fifteen minutes after it was launched? Any survivors known?
Are you sure about the numbers on "The Armenia"?
I mean, today the largest cruise ship in the world (Oasis of the Seas) can carry up to 6300 passengers and it´s a Massive ship, believe me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1fmAVVPNDA&fe…
So according to #7, how big was The Armenia or how extremely overcrowded was it to result in so many loses?
As for the list, we know Blogball always delivers
The Mary Rose. Henry VIII’s ship building programme culminated with the massive Henri Grace a Dieu of 1500 tons, which had four masts, six towering decks and half-decks and nearly 400 guns. A much smaller vessel, Mary Rose of 600 tons, became the second most powerful ship in his fleet and something of a royal favourite. She was a carrack, designed to fight at close range and was expected to carry a large compliment of armed men to serve as boarding parties.
At that time the King’s ships operated mainly in the Channel to maintain links with English possessions around Calais. In July 1545, Mary Rose led the English fleet out from Portsmouth harbour to challenge French galleys in the distance. Having outrun the vessels in her company and coming under fire, she put about to await support. At this moment it’s not unlikely that the large number of troops on her top deck made her unstable. A sudden strong gust of wind caused her to heel hard over, her lower gun-ports were still open and the sea gushed in to fill her like a bucket. She quickly sank taking all the passengers and crew with her.
Why was it that these few men survived? And don't say it was god because what about all the others that died? What i'm trying to put is that what did they do to survive that many others fail to do? Where they just at the right spot at the right time or did they know what to do? And of course not many people know what to do but what if they saw some opening and took it? Or did they just watch Bear Grylls?
I think if your stranded in the ocean, like in the case of #10, for 8 days and have no food or water and are consistantly being circled by sharks…I'm going to say it's pure chance. Maybe in the case of surviving the exposure and lack of water or food you could say it's more about your general health, but with sharks I'm going with chance.
This list was awesome, but I would've thought the USS Indianapolis would have been there, if only to give us a chance to quote Robert Shaw's monologue from JAWS…
Thanks for the comments everyone. I really appreciate it.
As Maggot pointed out, this format tends to make us examine some lesser known incidences than you might get from a regular list. I hope to try it again with another subject matter.
Hey, your great at making list and I really hope you make some more in the future! Your fan
no roblem we appreciate being appreciated, now get off your ass and write us another one . the people demand more!!
lol
Great list everyone! Nice one Blogball, where is the titanic or is there no confirmed on how many survivors where there? well great list anyway.
Great list, as usual.
I have been to the Gap and to St Stephen's cemetery, but was only vaguely aware of the Dunbar story. One of my great-great-grandmothers had the surname Dunbar, but I don't know if there's a connection.
Also in Australian history is a ship called the Loch Ard, which sank on the spectacular and dangerous south coast near what is now called the Loch Ard Gorge. There were 2 survivors.
There's an ad for holiday cruises at the top of the page. Any takers?
When Henry I of England was preparing to return from his holdings in France in 1120, he was offered the use of a brand new, state-of-the-art galley called the White Ship to make the journey across the Channel. He had already made his own arrangements to travel, but he thought it a nice gesture to give the use of the great White Ship to his seventeen year old son.
Henry set sail leaving the young William to follow. Wine flowed freely and in the evening the lively young blades in the prince’s party challenged the captain of the White Ship to overtake the King’s vessel. Fifty oarsmen heaved to pull clear of the harbour of Barfleur, but the ships captain was probably as tipsy as his passengers and in the darkness the boat struck an half-submerged rock. The ship capsized almost immediately, and although it was still close to the land the cries and screams of the 300 passengers and crew were mistaken for drunken revelry by those ashore.
The White Ship was the Titanic catastrophe of the Middle Ages, a much vaunted high-tech vessel wrecked in the pursuit of speed on its maiden voyage. Only one survivor was plucked from the sea the following morning, a butcher from Rouen who had leapt aboard to collect some debts owed to him. The lack of a male heir led to nineteen years of civil war in England when Henry died.
All of you people seemed to enjoy the list, but I just do wish that Listverse make it a point to examine the list right and give an appropriate title. You may disagree with me people because you like list, heck just the author, but you can't deny the fact that this list is too "west-centric". Like the "too american", this too falls into the category of the author being bias. When people don't see any part of the world mentioned in the title, the expect the author gathering materials all over the world, but sad to say, the content isn't. It may be notable to the author, as it is biased, but your countrymen and friends ain't the only people in the world; Listverse is for everyone, right. Well, hate me if you want, but for all I care, I don't even know you, nor you know me, but all I want is that they make appropriate actions with this, and into making the title of the lists in Listverse right. Thank you.
My tuppence worth. Personally I don't have a problem with titles. Heck, it's only fun, and it takes only a few moments of time to decide if I wish to read something or skim past it. Many subjects are Western-orientated because a great many of the people who contribute to the site are 'Westerners' and they write about what they know about and are comfortable with. Having said that, during my short time here I've noticed a swathe of good stuff with an exotic flavour and as far as I know Lists can be submitted by 'anyone' regardless of nationality.
I'm pretty shocked the Loch Ard isn't on this list
Great list and I like the format. Well done.
Cool list, but the description for the Juneau is wrong. Saving Private Ryan was very llosely based on Frederick Niland, who parachuted into France with the 101st Airborne prior to the D-Day invasion. Niland was a member of Easy Company, the company that was featured in the Book Band of Brothers and the HBO series of the same name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niland_brothers
I live 10 minutes from where the Auguste sunk, two members of my family were part of the diving team.
Two survivors I find interesting are Violet Jessop who survived the sinking of the Titanic as well as the sinking of the Britannic a few years later, and Linda Morgan, the teenager girl who was asleep on aboard the Andrea Doria when the Stockholm crushed her cabin, A crewman aboard the Stockholm found the girl, still in her bed in the wrecked bow of his ship when he was inspecting the ship to see if it was still seaworthy.
Titanic much?
Great list. Good enough to provoke my first comment on this site ever.
I really though. Poon Lim would be first. Poon survived 133 day at sea after the ship he was on was sunk by a German U-boat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poon_Lim
That being said, I hadn’t heard of most of these. Great list.
What a cool and interesting list. All I can say is that I do not want to be anywhere near the ocean the day the sea delivers the dead.