Shipwrecks
Additional Materials

Lost Arctic Whaling Fleet

NOAA archaeologists have discovered the battered hulls of two 1800s whaling ships nearly 144 years after they and 31 others sank off the Arctic coast of Alaska in one of the planet's most unexplored ocean regions.

Search for the Lost Arctic Whaling Fleet

The Search for the Lost Whaling Fleets of the Western Arctic expedition, conducted in August of 2015, brought the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries’ Maritime Heritage Program to the remote and challenging Alaska region for the first time in the more than four decades since the creation of the National Marine Sanctuary Program.

In Search of the Lost Whaling Fleets

TLearn more about the disaster that caused the loss of 32 whaling ships and many lives off the coast of Alaska.

NOAA, BOEM: Historic, 19th Century Shipwreck Discovered In Northern Gulf Of Mexico

During a recent Gulf of Mexico expedition, NOAA, BOEM and partners discovered an historic wooden-hulled vessel which is believed to have sunk as long as 200 years ago.

The Lāna’i Project 2009

The 2009 Return to Shipwreck Beach project represents a collaborative and multidisciplinary resource survey set on the island of Lāna`i. Through the investigation of our maritime heritage resources, in this case an historic wreck site of a Hawaiian inter island steamship, we gain a better understanding of our own maritime past, and of the historic value of this special coastal and marine place.

Mapping USS Hatteras Wreck

A team of archaeologists, scientific divers and technicians assembled by NOAA joined forces September 10, 2012 to create a three-dimensional sonar map to document the storm-exposed remains of the USS Hatteras, the only Union warship sunk in combat in the Gulf of Mexico during the Civil War.