Shipwrecks as historical sites, graves, and memorials
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| Author keywords |
disaster, death, memorial, monument, recovering the dead, ship as grave, controversy, shipwreck |
| Abstract |
Whether they are “famous” ships that have been rediscovered, or iconic craft like Viking ships, battleships, and pirate craft, shipwrecks are physical connections to a seemingly “vanished” past, resting eerily in the deep, sometimes amazingly well preserved, and evoking global, national, community, and family responses and calls to protect and preserve them. Some reflect human achievement, others human failures and follies, and some became famous as tragedies. Occasionally, the call has come after discovery to raise, recover, and display them, but in other cases, especially with great loss of life, the shipwrecks have been seen as memorials and as graves, even when there are no visible bodies. The ocean is one of humanity’s largest graveyards, both for individuals who drowned or were otherwise lost on the water, as well as those whose bodies were committed to the deep after dying on board |
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