Rust In Pieces: Poignant pictures capture tragic beauty of world's most haunting shipwrecks


The history of humanity is filled with stories of tragic naval catastrophes that took a heavy tool in both blood and treasure, leaving behind only wooden or steel carcasses exposed to the elements.

According to a United Nations report, there are more than three million shipwrecks on the ocean floor alone, most of which will forever remain out of view to rust away and be consumed by living organisms.

However, the fate of other remnants of shipwrecks is different. Those ill-fated vessels that ended up grounded or sank close to shore may yet be explored, cataloged and photographed, sharing their ghostly, crumbling beauty with the world as they fade away.

Decommissioned, burned, long-neglected boats, liners and once-proud freighters can be seen rising from the frothy waves like ghost ships the world over, from the Gulf of Mexico to Hawaii, from Alaska to Greece, from Shipwreck Beach in Angola to Rogue River in Oregon, according to Gizmodo .

While no longer serving any obvious purpose, the ships continue to write their tragic narrative in rust, fighting a losing battle against nature that will inevitably win in the end.

Lying on their side in the water, or proudly thrusting their decaying, corroded bows in the air, shipwrecks are assaulted by wind and water day and night, their hulls and keels wasting away under the abrasive touch of currents and squalls.



Wounded giant: This splintered vessel was photographed rising from the water off Jafrabad, Bangladesh.

Grounded: This long-forgotten vessel came to rest off the coast of Tarfaya, a small port town on the southwestern coast of Morocco

Tragic fate: A year on from the Costa Concordia tragedy in which 32 people lost their lives when the cruise ship ran aground on the Italian island of Giglio, the giant vessel still lies keeled over

Sad stories: Coastal steamer LAL-KI wrecked on Point Augusta, Alaska, in 1917, left; wrecked ship on a beach in Guam

Historic catastrophe: This decaying 19th century shipwreck was captured in northern Gulf of Mexico

Wartime disaster: This ship perished in The West Loch Disaster during World War II at the Pearl Harbor U.S. Naval Base in Hawaii, when on May 21, 1944, an explosion ignited a fire that ravaged six vessles and killed 163 sailors

Rusted remants: The ocean liner SS America, also known as the American Star, was wrecked in 1993 off Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands during a thunderstrom after a long career stretching back to 1939

Picturesque: Dimitrios, a small freight ship built in 1950, became stranded in 1981 on the beach in Laconia, Greece, after what was rumored to be a cigarette smuggling operation gone awry

A vessel grounded in Ushuaia harbor in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, left; Shipwreck lying on its side on the Mississippi, Lasalle, St. Louis, Missouri, right

Watery graveyard: The Panagia F is only one stranded vessel on the aptly named Shipwreck Beach in Praia Santiago, Angola

Forgotten: This small, peeling boat was stranded on Ushuaia, Argentina

Defiant: This wreckage ia covered in rust but is still standing tall in the shallow waters in Western Sahara

Naval carcass: The skeletal remains of this wreckage rise from the surf on the small island of Roatán, Islas de la Bahía, Honduras

An unknown ship sunken off Panama, left; Winds raking the husk of the SS Gairloch, Oakura, Taranaki, New Zealand

The SS Falcon was wrecked off the Dover coast in Langdon Bay, UK, in 1926, after its cargo of hemp and matches caught fire

The meager remains of a ship resembling fish bones can be seen on Quail Island in New Zealand

Safe harbor: A ship by the name Olivia found its final resting place in Ushuaia, Argentina



