10 Fascinating Objects Recovered from Shipwrecks

The world’s oceans are littered with the wrecks of sunken ships, some of which are still stuffed with the cargo they were carrying and the personal effects of passengers and crew. But while anyone diving to explore a shipwreck is likely to find coins and dishware, plenty of more unusual things have also been brought back to the surface.

The right conditions—cold water, sediment, low oxygen levels, or sealed containers—can preserve objects that would normally disappear within decades, let alone centuries. Here are ten such finds, from very old champagne and lavish silk dresses to Roman fish sauce and medieval gravestones.

Related: 10 Lesser-Known Ships That Sank During Their Maiden Voyages

10 Champagne

Divers exploring sunken wrecks occasionally come across the odd bottle of undamaged alcohol. In 2010, an astonishing 168 bottles of champagne were discovered in the Baltic Sea. They came from the remains of a ship known as the Föglö wreck, or the Champagne Schooner. The ship’s history isn’t certain, but it likely sank during the 19th century.

Researchers identified several champagne houses from markings on the corks. One was Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, a company that still exists today, allowing scientists to compare the shipwreck bubbly with its modern counterpart. One of the most striking differences was sweetness. The recovered champagne contained at least 140 grams of sugar per liter, compared with only around 6–8 grams per liter in many modern champagnes.

Amazingly, wine experts were even able to taste some of it. The first impression wasn’t exactly appetizing: freshly opened samples were described as smelling of wet hair and cheese. Once exposed to oxygen, though, the champagne developed far more appealing notes of grilled, spicy, smoky, leathery, fruity, and floral character.

A few bottles from the wreck were later auctioned, with one Veuve Clicquot selling for more than $43,000. Apparently, almost two centuries underwater can do wonders for the price of a bottle.^[1]

9 Expensive Silk Dresses

Natural textiles are rarely recovered from older shipwrecks because fabrics usually break down quickly in seawater. But the Palmwood Wreck, found just off the Dutch island of Texel, was covered by sediment soon after it sank. That created unusually favorable conditions for preserving some of the 17th-century clothing aboard.

Two of the most remarkable finds were elaborate silk dresses. One features a floral motif and is made from expensive silk satin, indicating that it belonged to a very wealthy woman. Although it is now a mottled mixture of reds, browns, and creams, researchers believe the dress was originally one uniform color. The survival of an almost complete garment from this period is extraordinarily rare.

The second garment is thought to have been a wedding dress. Its silk was probably white or cream, and silver discs woven into the fabric create ornate decorations, including interlocking hearts or “love knots.” The precious metal has darkened over time, but the original dress would have shimmered.

Preserving the clothing remains a challenge even after recovery. The dresses are displayed in specially designed airtight cases filled with nitrogen to limit their exposure to oxygen and light. After surviving centuries beneath the sea, apparently the greatest threat to them now is simply being back in the air.^[2]

8 The Antikythera Mechanism

In 1901, divers recovered what initially appeared to be a corroded lump from an ancient Greek shipwreck near the island of Antikythera. As researchers began examining it, however, the object revealed a complex arrangement of bronze gearwheels that seemed technologically impossible for something created more than 2,000 years ago.

Now known as the Antikythera mechanism, the device was essentially an ancient astronomical calculator. Only about one-third of the original mechanism survives, scattered across 82 fragments, including around 30 bronze gears. Modern imaging has shown that its intricate gearing could model astronomical cycles, predict eclipses, track the movements of the Sun and Moon, and probably display the positions of the five planets known to the ancient Greeks.

Researchers believe the mechanism was operated by turning a hand crank, which moved the interconnected gears and changed the information displayed on its dials. Some of its functions remain uncertain because much of the device is missing, and scholars continue to debate exactly how its original configuration worked.

Perhaps the most extraordinary part is how far ahead of its time it seems. Nothing approaching its known level of mechanical complexity survives again for roughly a millennium. A shipwreck therefore preserved evidence that ancient Greek engineers had mastered technology historians once thought belonged to a much later age.^[3]

7 Gravestones

Maritime archaeologists had known for years that something was lying at the bottom of Poole Bay off England’s southern coast, but it was initially dismissed as little more than “rubbish.” Skipper Trevor Small thought otherwise. In 2020, he received permission to dive at the site. He discovered what is now known as the Mortar Wreck, England’s oldest known shipwreck with substantial surviving hull remains.

The vessel likely sank sometime around AD 1250 while carrying a cargo of valuable Purbeck stone. Many of the objects aboard were large stone mortars used for grinding grain, which gave the wreck its modern name.

Also aboard were two enormous grave slabs, each decorated with a different cross design. The larger measures about 6.5 feet (2 m) long and weighs roughly 440 pounds (200 kg). The smaller is about 5 feet (1.5 m) long and still weighs around 154 pounds (70 kg).

The slabs are particularly useful because they appear to have been carved but not fully polished before the ship sank. That suggests some of the skilled carving took place close to the Purbeck quarries before the monuments were shipped elsewhere for finishing. Similar slabs were fashionable monuments for important clergy and can still be found in medieval cathedrals across England.

The wreck therefore preserved more than two large stone blocks. It captured part of a medieval manufacturing and trade network while its products were literally en route to their customers.^[4]

6 Ancient Roman Fish Sauce

In 2019, a storm struck the Spanish island of Mallorca, revealing an ancient Roman shipwreck near one of its most popular beaches. Known as the Ses Fontanelles wreck, the vessel lies only about 213 feet (65 m) offshore in roughly 6.5 feet (2 m) of water. It sank in the fourth century AD and was quickly buried in sand, helping preserve both the ship and its cargo.

The vessel itself measures approximately 39 feet (12 m) long and carried hundreds of amphorae packed with food and drink. Some contained wine or olive oil, while others carried liquamen, a fermented fish sauce closely related to the condiment often called garum.

The discovery didn’t recover a completely “lost recipe”—ancient authors left descriptions of Roman fish sauces—but it gave archaeologists rare direct evidence of what the commercial product actually contained. Fish bones recovered from the amphorae indicate that the sauce was made using small fish such as anchovies and sardines.

Even more remarkably, many of the amphorae still bear painted inscriptions after roughly 1,700 years underwater. Those markings recorded information about the cargo’s contents, quantities, and the people connected to it, providing an unusually detailed glimpse into the Roman food trade.

Fermented fish guts may not sound appetizing, but Roman liquamen probably filled much the same culinary role as modern Asian fish sauces: a salty, savory, umami-rich seasoning added to all kinds of food. A Roman shipwreck has preserved not only containers of ancient food but also part of the labeling system that once helped sell it.^[5]

5 A King’s Six-Foot Sturgeon

In 1495, the Danish warship Gribshunden caught fire and sank off the coast of what is now Sweden. The ship served as the flagship of King Hans of Denmark, who was ashore when disaster struck. He had been traveling to meet Swedish nobles as part of his effort to gain control of Sweden, and the vessel carried everything needed to project royal wealth and power.

Centuries later, archaeologists excavating the wreck discovered a wooden barrel containing the nearly complete remains of an Atlantic sturgeon. The fish had been about 6.5 feet (2 m) long before someone chopped it into large pieces and packed it away for transport.

That was no ordinary shipboard meal. Sturgeon was a prestigious luxury food associated with elite dining, making the enormous fish another part of the diplomatic display King Hans was bringing to his meeting. Researchers believe it may have been intended for a feast designed to impress the Swedish nobility.

The discovery also preserves evidence of a population now gone from the Baltic. Atlantic sturgeon once inhabited the region but eventually disappeared there after centuries of fishing and environmental change. A royal fish packed into a barrel therefore became an unexpected snapshot of both medieval politics and a vanished ecosystem.^[6]

4 More Than 100 Elephant Tusks

When diamond miners discovered the Portuguese trading ship Bom Jesus off the coast of present-day Namibia in 2008, they uncovered one of the richest shipwrecks ever found along southern Africa. The vessel had sunk in 1533 while sailing toward India, taking gold coins, copper ingots, and a particularly valuable cargo to the bottom: more than 100 elephant tusks.

Centuries underwater had preserved the ivory well enough for scientists to extract DNA. Genetic analysis showed that the tusks came from African forest elephants and represented at least 17 distinct maternal lineages. Yet only four of those genetic lineages have been identified so far among modern West African elephant populations.

Chemical signatures in the ivory produced another surprise. Although the elephants were genetically forest elephants, many had lived in savanna or mixed woodland environments rather than deep rainforest. That means forest elephants occupied a wider range of habitats before centuries of hunting and landscape change reshaped their populations.

The ivory was valuable cargo in the 16th century. Today, those same tusks are even more valuable scientifically. What began as merchandise for an expanding global trade network has become a genetic record of elephant populations that lived nearly 500 years ago.^[7]

3 A 340-Year-Old Mystery Dairy Product

When the Swedish warship Kronan exploded and sank during a battle in the Baltic Sea in 1676, hundreds of sailors died, and much of the ship’s contents disappeared beneath the seabed. Archaeologists have since recovered thousands of objects from the wreck, ranging from weapons and coins to clothing and personal possessions.

Then they found something considerably smellier.

Inside a container protected by clay and sediment was a thick, yellowish substance that appeared to be some kind of dairy product. Researchers initially described it as cheese, although it may instead have been butter or another milk-based food. Either way, more than three centuries underwater had not done wonders for its aroma.

Expedition leader Lars Einarsson compared the smell to a mixture of yeast and Roquefort cheese. The substance had remained relatively contained while buried, but bringing it to the surface altered the pressure and caused some of the pungent material to begin leaking.

Scientists may never be able to order the contents neatly from a 17th-century menu, but the find provides rare evidence of perishable food carried aboard a warship. Coins and cannons may survive underwater fairly well. A 340-year-old mystery dairy product is considerably less expected.^[8]

2 Ancient Roman Eye Medicine

Around 140–130 BC, a Roman trading vessel sank off the coast of Tuscany near the ancient Etruscan town of Populonia. When archaeologists explored the wreck more than 2,000 years later, they discovered what appears to have been part of a physician’s medical kit.

Among the finds was a sealed tin container holding six remarkably well-preserved gray tablets. Chemical analysis revealed zinc compounds, starch, animal and plant fats, pine resin, pollen, and other ingredients. Their composition strongly suggests they were medicinal rather than cosmetic.

Researchers believe the tablets were probably used to treat the eyes. Zinc compounds still appear in some modern dermatological and ophthalmic products, while the tablets’ flat, round shape may offer another clue. The Latin word collyrium, used for eye preparations, derives from a Greek term referring to small round loaves.

Other objects recovered nearby included wooden medicine containers and an instrument that may have been used for bloodletting, reinforcing the idea that a medical practitioner was aboard.

Ancient medical recipes survive in written texts, but these tablets are something much rarer: the medicine itself, still sitting inside its container after more than two millennia beneath the sea.^[9]

1 Perfume from the Titanic

When Titanic sailed from Southampton in April 1912, one passenger carried a particularly fragrant collection of samples. Adolphe Saalfeld was a German-born chemist and perfumer living in Britain who planned to introduce his company’s fragrances to potential American customers.

Saalfeld survived the sinking, but his luggage—and the perfume samples inside it—went down with the ship.

Nearly nine decades later, an expedition to Titanic recovered a leather case associated with Saalfeld. Inside were dozens of small glass perfume ampoules, many still sealed. In all, 65 intact vials were recovered.

A few containers broke during recovery, releasing scents that had remained trapped since 1912. The survival of the perfume was remarkable: fragile glass bottles had endured the ship’s violent sinking, decades of pressure more than 2 miles (3.8 km) beneath the North Atlantic, and nearly 90 years in darkness.

Saalfeld never recovered his samples, and accounts from his family suggest the disaster remained with him long after he returned home. The little bottles therefore preserve something more personal than many objects brought up from famous wrecks. They were ordinary pieces of one passenger’s working life, still carrying traces of the world he expected to enter when Titanic reached New York.^[10]