Ships and boats - ancient invention. From antiquity to modern times, great powers sought to have good exits to the seas and oceans. This made it much easier trade relations. But the growth of air travel and the decline in mass shipbuilding have turned the coasts, lonely bays and shipyards into ghosts former greatness sea vessels
Nowadays such places are quite good topic for an article
Although ships are often dismantled for scrap, many are left to rust in lonely bays, shoals and shipyards. Meanwhile, rust from ships pollutes the waters and becomes a clear sign the country's decaying industrial era. (Below is the birth, life and death of the Titanic's twin brother, the cruise ship Britannic)
A large liner like the Titanic or Britannic, and especially their death, is romanticized by Hollywood, but the life and death of merchant and military ships is not so romantic. Parts of the ships, covered with rust, stand in docks and quiet bays. Some are half submerged, some are still holding on.
Aircraft carriers and battleships are some of the most impressive ships, but they don't last forever. For example, the Soviet cruiser Murmansk sank in 1994 while being towed for scrapping in India, and the German cruiser Hindenburg was deliberately scuttled in Scapa Flow, off the Orkney Islands. Aircraft carriers, in size, can only be compared with sea tankers, and that is why their death does not go unnoticed by the public. The French, for example, did not give their aircraft carrier to India for scrapping
But the aircraft carrier Oriskany was successfully sunk near Australia... Now this place is considered the best place for diving
Of course, Oriskany was thoroughly cleaned before diving to protect against future environmental problems. But when the bulk carrier New Flame collided with a tanker in the Strait of Gibraltar, the first task was to save the ecosystem. Unfortunately, at some point the ship broke in half
There are much fewer ship cemeteries today than there were 10 years ago. All due to stricter environmental standards. Ship's cemetery on Staten Island on at the moment is the most popular and visited place among its kind. This is how a ship graveyard can be turned into Disneyland for grown up boys
If a hairdryer or mixer breaks, they will throw it in the trash without a second thought; if a washing machine or refrigerator breaks down, they will be taken to a special landfill, and what happens to ships that can no longer serve people? If old ship refers to specimens that have left a mark on history, it can be used to create historical monuments, some ships are purchased to create hotels and entertainment centers, but this happens extremely rarely. What happens to the rest? After all, there are not just a few of them, or even dozens.
Last pier
When a ship is launched for the first time, it is a joyful event not only for its creators and crew members. On such a day people usually gather at the pier huge amount people who, having absolutely nothing to do with shipbuilding and navigation, very actively take part in the holiday and consider themselves part of it. People rejoice, drink champagne, and wish all the best to the crew and the ship itself. It won't be long before they're launched into the water. new ship, then the next and the next…. Where will the old ship go? What will happen to him? The answer is obvious - as soon as the cost of maintaining the ship ceases to pay off, it will be taken out of service and it will become part of the nearest ship graveyard.
Main reason
Where do these peculiar landfills come from? Why do they arise and are so widespread throughout the world? A ship is a very expensive building. Of course, with appropriate maintenance, its service life is quite long, but the cost of some breakdowns is such that sometimes it is easier to build a new ship than to repair an old one. If you act according to the rules, then the dismantling of an unusable ship should be carried out under certain working conditions and for a fairly large pay, but in reality no one wants to do this. That is why shipowners often simply take an unusable ship to the area of so-called cemeteries and leave it there.
A little history
Until the 60s of the 20th century, the disposal of a ship that had gone out of service had to be dealt with by its owner. That is, the enterprise that built it subsequently dismantled the unusable ship into parts. However, this was so financially unprofitable that the official owners of the ships preferred to give them away for next to nothing rather than waste time on dismantling and money on paying workers. This is explained simply - shipbuilders have a good and stable income working in normal conditions labor and without putting your life in danger, and dismantling the ship actually costs nothing, although it is carried out in difficult conditions and sometimes at risk to life.
Earnings for residents of Bangladesh
If it weren't for the ship graveyards, the people of Bangladesh would have no means of subsistence at all. Officially, ship dismantling does not take place there. They are simply taken ashore, but, in fact, everyone knows that as soon as the ship docks, it will soon be dismantled into the smallest parts by local residents. International organization Labor Protection is trying to prohibit him from doing this work, because working conditions absolutely do not correspond to socially accepted requirements, but the workers themselves opposed it. After all, if they are deprived of the opportunity to visit ship cemeteries, then their families will simply have nothing to eat.
One of the main activities
The situation is approximately the same in many other countries where there is cheap labor. Warships are rarely brought to countries such as India, Pakistan, Indonesia and others for dismantling. Unless the ship was seriously damaged and had no value for its state, but this is rather the exception than the rule. More often we're talking about about spent fishing and sailing ships. They are the ones who end up in the ship graveyard. Pakistan is one of the centers for ship recycling, and the majority of people living in this country work in this industry.
What about in other countries?
We found out what happens to 90% of decommissioned ships off the coast of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia, but where does the remaining 10% go? In some countries, for example, in Russia, ship cemeteries attract a huge number of tourists, travelers and local residents and of the ships received for recycling, only a small proportion are dismantled into parts, and the majority are specially maintained in a relatively satisfactory condition so that those who wish can admire these majestic ships.
Famous Russian ship cemeteries
A huge number of decommissioned barges and small ships can be seen in the Zaton area of Novosibirsk. This is the so-called ship graveyard. Novosibirsk has one of the large shipbuilding companies, which is located next to this abandoned port, and the moored ships provide inexhaustible material for work. Of course, none of these sailing vessels will see the sea again, but some of the parts are quite actively used in repairs.
It would be surprising if Murmansk did not find its place on the list of cities with a ship cemetery. This fishing capital has several such marinas. One of them is located near the fishing plant. Here you can see small ships and whalers.
In the North Sea district of Murmansk you can see wooden ships, which have been here for almost a century. The remains of twelve ships are located in a very picturesque bay and combined with the beauty surrounding nature produce simply unforgettable impressions on travelers.
Few people see Krasnodar as a ship cemetery, but if some business has brought a person to this city, it wouldn’t hurt to look at the ships that plied the river. This is one of the most clean places the last stop for water vessels and one of the most visited places by tourists not planned by guides.
The fate of warships
Few people manage to encounter warships among abandoned ships. This applies not only to Russia, but also to any other country. The reason is clear. No country would want to reveal secret developments even from the past, so such ships are dismantled into parts by shipbuilding companies with a special level of secrecy. Besides this, warship will always be different from other types water transport in terms of quality, therefore, even a vessel deprived of its main purpose due to age can be used for quite a long time, for example, for patrolling borders, and the parts of even the oldest vessel will definitely receive new life in modern models.
The dream of many
Shipwreck graveyards are places for thrill-seekers. What divers do not hope to find, and even after large quantity luck smiles on them every now and then. According to rough estimates alone, more than three million ships rest in the depths of the water. Sunken ships attract travelers not only because of their veil of secrecy. Many act much more pragmatically. They are just looking for treasure.
However, if the terrain in the area is not dangerous, excursions are very often organized to the places of such burials. Seeing a sunken ship with your own eyes, a person experiences simply unforgettable emotions.
The largest shipwreck sites are in the USA (Cape Hatteras), in the area of the wandering Cape Sable in Canada, in the UK (Goodwin Shoal), in the Baltic Sea (Russia), in the Caribbean Sea near the Great Antilles, near the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Sunken ships keep a lot of secrets, and the water depths that hide them attract everyone every year more tourists.
The whole world's problem
Ship cemeteries are located all over the world. We named only the most famous and largest of them. Considering the huge number of abandoned ships, which often contain toxic substances that eventually enter the soil and water, the problem of disposal of this type production costs are very acute all over the world.
On the other hand, the working conditions of workers who, being in a hopeless situation and without any means of subsistence, are forced to dismantle ships in order to feed their families, are cause for concern. In addition to exhausting labor, people are injured and even die almost every day in ship cemeteries. Naturally, no one applies for them to work, so neither insurance nor social payments a family that has lost its sole breadwinner does not receive it.
The whole world knows this problem, but a solution has not yet been found.
The creation of recycling plants is not expected, as well as the provision of normal jobs for residents of the so-called third world countries.
Ship cemeteries, even despite the very abandoned state of the ships, have a certain atmosphere that attracts romantically minded people. The opportunity to simply be close to them, look into the holds, and fantasize about adventures leaves an unforgettable mark on everyone’s soul.
Ships and boats are the oldest inventions. From antiquity to modern times, great powers sought to have good access to the seas and oceans. This greatly facilitated trade relations. But the growth of air travel and the decline of mass shipbuilding have turned the shores, lonely bays and shipyards into ghosts of the former greatness of seagoing ships. Now, such places are a good topic for an article.
Although ships are often dismantled for scrap, many are left to rust in lonely bays, shoals and shipyards. Meanwhile, rust from ships pollutes the waters and becomes a clear sign of the country's decaying industrial age. (Below is the birth, life and death of the Titanic's twin brother, the cruise ship Britannic).
A large liner like the Titanic or Britannic, and especially their death, is romanticized by Hollywood, but the life and death of merchant and military ships is not so romantic. Parts of the ships, covered with rust, stand in docks and quiet bays. Some are half submerged under water, some are still holding on.
Aircraft carriers and battleships are some of the most impressive ships, but they don't last forever. For example, the Soviet cruiser Murmansk sank in 1994 while being towed for scrapping in India, and the German cruiser Hindenburg was deliberately scuttled in Scapa Flow, off the Orkney Islands. Aircraft carriers, in size, can only be compared with sea tankers, and that is why their death does not go unnoticed by the public. The French, for example, did not give their aircraft carrier to India for scrapping
But the aircraft carrier Oriskany was successfully sunk near Australia... Now this place is considered the best place for diving.
Of course, Oriskany was thoroughly cleaned before diving to protect against future environmental problems. But when the bulk carrier New Flame collided with a tanker in the Strait of Gibraltar, the first task was to save the ecosystem. Unfortunately, at some point the ship broke in half.
There are much fewer ship cemeteries today than there were 10 years ago. All due to stricter environmental standards. The ship cemetery on Staten Island is currently the most popular and visited place among its kind. This is how a ship graveyard can be turned into Disneyland for grown up boys
Graveyard of old ships.
Not only people and all other living organisms find their final refuge, but also everything that man has created with his own hands. An exception here is the numerous equipment, various vehicles which sooner or later become unusable. Like people, machines have their own cemeteries. Not every one of them is immediately disposed of, and some have been waiting for it for many decades.
1. Anchor Cemetery in Portugal
The anchors were collected and placed in orderly rows.
In Portugal, not far from Tavira, there was once a large and prosperous fishing base on the island. The local fishermen better times They traded in tuna and sardines. However, over time, fish resources were exhausted, and the base fell into disrepair. This happened back in 1968. The fishermen abandoned almost everything on the spot: gear, ships and anchors. For a decade most everything either rotted or was scrapped, except for the anchors. Over time, the tourism business flourished on Tavira and the anchors scattered along the entire coast were collected and arranged into a huge cemetery composition, thus becoming a local landmark.
2. Taxi cemetery in China
Economic growth triggered the decline of the taxi market.
Not so long ago, the most popular mode of transport in China was a taxi. They accounted for almost 80% of all city transport traffic! The situation has changed thanks to the rapid economic growth China, which radically increased the number of active consumers, each of whom could already afford a personal one. It’s not difficult to guess that many Chinese taxi companies then began to downsize, and some even closed down altogether. Some of the cars were, of course, sold, but most were simply thrown into a landfill. Nobody wanted to take yesterday’s taxi on the secondary market, especially Chinese production. And so another car cemetery appeared. It is located in the city of Chongqing.
3. Ship graveyard in Nouadhibou
Ships were abandoned right at the port for bribes.
In Mauritania, in the country's second largest city, Nouadhibou, there is one of the largest ship graveyards in the world. This cemetery, by the way, appeared unofficially and even illegally. Starting in the 80s, the local port management began to allow unwanted ships to be left on the beach or right in the water near the port. Of course, permission was given for a certain “remuneration.” This happened, by the way, immediately after nationalization in the country fishing industry. And since the city of Nouadhibou is also one of the poorest places in the world, many people began to live in abandoned and unnecessary ships.
4. Train Graveyard in Bolivia
The trains have been around since the decline of the mining industry.
If you ever decide to travel to Bolivia, then know that in the southern part of the country, the main tourist attraction is the antique train cemetery there. The cemetery is located about three kilometers from the city of Uyuni. As you might guess, in its glorious past, the city of Uyuni was a train distribution center. For this reason it lies in many ways. Trains were primarily engaged in the delivery of minerals to ports. Train lines were built by British engineers in late XIX centuries. But after the city's mining industry collapsed due to resource depletion, trains were no longer needed. Later, the authorities turned this cemetery of equipment into an open-air museum.
5. Tank cemetery in Afghanistan
The dark legacy of war.
On the outskirts of the city of Kabul, in Afghanistan, you can find a huge cemetery military equipment, predominantly Soviet, which was left here back in the 80s of the last century. Due to the fact that in Afghanistan today the recycling sector of the industry is very poorly developed, there is every reason to believe that all this equipment will continue to be useless to anyone. However, local authorities regularly search the cemetery for equipment that can be restored. Such vehicles are repaired and returned to service with government forces operating against the Taliban.
6. Ship cemetery in Muynak
The ships got stuck in sand traps.
In the 70s of the 20th century, the city of Muynak, in Uzbekistan, was a very busy place with a thriving fishing industry. Was the only one port city countries. However, today the city is in decline due to the rapidly receding coastline Aral Sea. It is precisely because of the drying of the sea that today one can see the old sides of ships, aged in abandoned traps. Most of them are already 150 kilometers from the water!
7. Airplane graveyard in the USA
The desert is a wonderful conservative.
Desert - best place, for secure storage of something that could go bad very quickly. In any case, if this “something” is a variety of techniques. This is exactly what the Americans thought and organized a huge aircraft cemetery in the Mojave Desert. It is located near the desert airport of the same name and 100 km from Los Angeles. The heat of the desert perfectly protects the remains of aircraft from rust. Some of the planes here have been dismantled for spare parts, but some have simply been mothballed and can be put back into service. They began to bring equipment to this cemetery in the 70s of the 20th century.
8. Chittagong Ship Graveyard
Hell for ships.
This place should be called not a “cemetery”, but a hell for ships. Unneeded ships from all over the world end up here. The only difference from the places listed above is that in Chittagong ships are actually actively scrapped. However, this place is very scary. Workers work here for pennies, and safety regulations are not observed at all.
Sailing has existed for several thousand years. And all these millennia, about two thousand ships perish annually. Statistics say that almost every day a large ship with a displacement of about a hundred tons, or maybe more, sinks. Of course, in ancient times, much fewer ships were built, but then there was no equipment; there were not even primitive radios on board the vessels to send a signal for help. And therefore, then many more ships perished, which turned the seabed into a real graveyard of ships.
"The Great Ship Devourer"
The Atlantic Ocean with its seas is the leader in the number of ships that rest forever in its waters, their number amounts to hundreds of thousands of ships. Ships that were built by the most different peoples at a variety of time intervals. For example, the coast of France is literally crammed with sunken ships - about three thousand of them, very different, modern and ancient. And yet it was a drop in the ocean from total number of all ships that sank in the waters of the Atlantic.
In this underwater burial there are even places where ships literally sank on top of each other, where ancient ships are crushed to the seabed by medieval caravels, and longships lie under frigates and corvettes, and steel plating hangs over them all modern ships. Such piles of dead ships occur precisely in those areas of the seabed where fairly busy sea routes passed, and where sailors were in wait for treacherous underwater rocks and reefs, quicksand.
Not far from the port of Dover, on the south-east coast of England, are the notorious Goodwin Shoals - large group banks that change their contours with the tides and can move from place to place. The sailors nicknamed this place “The Great Devourer of Ships.” Over the past two centuries, people have drowned here large number ships containing about 50 thousand people who disappeared without a trace in the wandering sands. In the 60s of the last century, geologists managed to drill a fifteen-meter sand layer with a drill and take soil samples from there. And imagine their surprise when they found rusty pieces from the ship’s skin and half-rotten ship wood in the samples. It seems that the “Great Devourer” is literally stuffed with sunken ships.
It’s not hard to guess what treasures are hidden in the huge belly of the “Great Devourer”, in the wandering Goodwin Sands!
Who is cursed, and who is God's grace?
A reasonable question arises: why did the ships fall into the trap when they found themselves aground? Was it impossible to get around it? There are at least three reasons why ships so often sank in these waters: fog that deprived navigators of visibility, storms that threw helpless ships onto the sands, and very strong currents that took ships off their intended course. And if the ships found themselves aground, then they had to be removed from there only before the low tide, otherwise they would forever be captured by the Goodwin sands. Considering the spherical shape of the bottom of sailing ships, one can guess that after low tide the ship lay on its side. And the next tide raised the water level by as much as five meters, not counting the strong current, which was already completely flooding the sailboat lying on its side and already doomed to death from the very beginning, which never had time to take a normal position.
If the ship was stranded during a storm, then its death was instantaneous: the waves immediately overturned and sank the craft.
A slightly different picture was observed for steamships and motor ships. Having a flat bottom, when they ran aground, they remained in their normal position for some time. However, the very first tide washed a thick layer of sand onto their side, which was washed out by waves from the other side. The ship capsized within a few days, and water completely flooded its premises. If the craft was stranded with its bow and stern facing the current, then in this case the sand was washed out from under the bottom from the bow and stern. And then the bow of the ship sagged, and the ship simply broke in half. As a rule, these were fairly loaded ships.
The Goodwin Shoals are a curse for seafarers. But residents of the southeast coast considered them “ by God's grace" The inhabitants of these places believed that God was sending them ships with cargo. They prayed and waited impatiently for the Lord to remember them again and for another ship to run aground.
Death of tamarisk sarcophagi
In southeastern Italy, in the Gulf of Taranto, there is another cemetery for sunken ships. Archaeologists have already examined the remains of 16 ships, which is only a small percentage of the total number of ships lost in this place. They were especially surprised by one ship, the cargo of which was somewhat strange: unfinished sarcophagi and marble slabs mined in Turkey. American archaeologist Peter Throckmorton began researching such a mysterious ship and its cargo. After a thorough examination of the ship, its side patches, ceramics and coins found on board, it was possible not only to determine the route, but also the specific time of the crash (the ship was a good hundred years old), i.e. It is enough to clearly recreate the picture of the tragedy that occurred off the Italian coast more than two thousand years ago.
The ship with a cargo of Turkish marble and tamarisk sarcophagi was heading west. After stopping off the coast of Greece and loading marble from a Greek port, the ship headed along the coast of Greece, trying, like all ancient sailors, not to lose sight of the coast. When the ship crossed the Ionian Sea, a gusty wind began in the Gulf of Taranto off the coast of Italy, which intensified every minute. The captain ordered to throw out the anchor, which was immediately torn off, and the ship began to drift towards the shore. As Peter Throckmorton says: “Even the strongest ropes broke and sank, followed by the second anchor. Ship in pitch darkness stubbornly tried to reach the six fathom line, where the open sea began. But the wind grew stronger, and the captain had no choice but to throw out all the remaining anchors. And also constantly pray to live until the sun rises. At dawn there was a very small chance to save people, even at the cost of losing the ship and cargo. It was last hope captain, but it was not destined to come true: literally 500 yards from land, the ship sank. The old vessel could not withstand the impact of the elements. This happens when old ships are mercilessly used, and when repairing, black iron is used instead of bronze.” The ship was destroyed not only sea element, but also the greed of its owner, who did not make major repairs to his ship, which led to the death of people, the loss of the ship and the cargo on board.
Killers are worms
Another ship was discovered off the coast of Cyprus, which also became a victim of greed and money-grubbing. It seems that the ship sank literally out of the blue; it was practically undamaged and sank where there were no underwater rocks, no reefs, no quicksand. And only after almost 2,500 years were archaeologists able to solve the mystery of the disaster. Having lifted the bow of the ship from the bottom, archaeologists were amazed: the entire bow of the ship was literally riddled with tiny channels - traces of wood-boring worms. And, naturally, the first high wave became the last one. The owner of this ship also spared money for major repairs, loaded his ship with the heaviest millstones in the port of the island of Samos, adding a huge number of amphorae on the island of Rhodes (it was from these amphorae that it was possible to determine the date of the crash - the fourth century BC). And as a result, the ship and the entire crew died. Archaeologists managed to raise this ship, restore its original appearance, making it again the way it was in last time left the port to set sail. Today this ship, a contemporary of the great Alexander the Great, is exhibited in front of the University of Cyprus for anyone who would like to see it.
