Searching for ShipwrecksQuiz | Updated 10 years agoOften shipwrecks are found by accident but sometimes they are discovered after long and painstaking research of historical records. The accidental discoveries are usually shallow water shipwrecks found by divers. This is typical of wrecks discovered off Australia’s west coast in the 1960s and 1970s after the invention of Scuba. Many of these ships were traders heading for the Spice Islands to the north of Australia. When the maritime spice trade from Europe began, the ships hugged the coast of Africa after rounding the Cape of Good Hope before setting out across the Indian Ocean. This route was slow and dangerous with the chance of attack by pirates along the African coast and light winds near the equator making for slow progress. In 1611 Dutch captain Hendrik Brouwer discovered a quicker and more dependable route to the East Indies. After leaving Cape Town he sailed down to latitude 40° south and met the strong westerly winds (the Roaring Forties) that drove his ship swiftly across the Indian Ocean. This maritime freeway took months off the voyage but added the danger of running into the forbidding west coast of Australia where the outlying reefs were waiting to trap any unfortunate ship that strayed too far east. The discovery of HMAS Sydney (II) and HSK Kormoran was the result of exhaustive research over many years both in Australia and overseas. But because the search area was in deep water many kilometres off the coast, the search had to wait until the invention of a deep water searching tool that could economically scan hundreds of square miles of ocean floor up to 5 kilometres deep. With the development of side scan sonar primarily used in the search for oil and gas, and the use of ROVs (Remotely Operated Vehicles), deep-water wreck hunting became a possibility. Shipwreck Timeline Wrecks in Australia and Around the World Here are a few of the many thousands of shipwrecks that have been discovered over the years in oceans around the world. With each wreck a website is provided that can be a starting point for your research. c. 350 BC Greek Cargo ship, off Chios and the Oinoussai islands in the eastern Aegean Sea. livescience.com greek shipwreck ancientgreece.co.uk geography challenge c. 860 Unknown Arab China trader, Belitung Island, Indonesia. Discovered in 2000. A replica of the Arab trader, Jewel of Muscat, has been constructed in Oman and was launched on 18 October 2009. jewelofmuscat.tv 1545 Mary Rose, in the Solent near Southsea south coast, England. Henry VIII’s favourite warship . maryrose.org 1622 Tryall, also known as the Trial, off the North West Cape, Western Australia. English China Trader. museum.wa.gov.au shipwrecks en.wikipedia.org Tryall 1629 Batavia, Abrolhos Islands, Western Australia. Dutch merchant ship. museum.wa.gov.au shipwrecks 1656 Vergulde, Draeck, Ledge Point, Western Australia. Dutch merchant ship. museum.wa.gov.au shipwrecks en.wikipedia.org Vergulde Draeck 1712 Zuytdorp, near Shark Bay, Western Australia. Dutch merchant ship. museum.wa.gov.au shipwrecks 1727 Zeewijk, Abrolhos Islands, Western Australia. Dutch merchant ship. museum.wa.gov.au shipwrecks 1797 Sydney Cove, off Preservation Island Bass Strait, southern Australia. Merchant sailing ship. en.wikipedia.org Sydney Cove parks.tas.gov.au 1736 1811 Rapid, Point Cloates, Western Australia. American China trader. museum.wa.gov.au shipwrecks 1841 James Matthews, Woodman’s Point, Western Australia. Ex-slave trader. museum.wa.gov.au shipwrecks 1872 SS Xantho, Western Australia. Subject of the Western Australian Museum's Steamships to Suffragettes exhibition. museum.wa.gov.au shipwrecks Xantho 1876 SS Georgette, off Redgate Beach Western Australia. Coastal steamship. museum.wa.gov.au shipwrecks en.wikipedia.org SS Georgette 1878 Loch Ard, Mutton Bird Island, Victoria. Clipper ship. en.wikipedia.org Loch Ard 1912 Koombana, off Port Hedland. Coastal passenger and cargo steamship. en.wikipedia.org Koombana en.wikipedia.org Port Hedland 1912 Titanic, North Atlantic, south east of Newfoundland. Passenger Liner. en.wikipedia.org RMS Titanic 1915 Lusitania, Atlantic off Southern Ireland. Passenger liner. en.wikipedia.org RMS Lusitania 1941 Bismarck, Atlantic Ocean, 380 nm south of Cork, Ireland. German Battleship. en.wikipedia.org German battleship Bismarck 1941 HMAS Sydney (II), off Shark Bay Western Australia. Australian warship. findingsydney.com 1941 HSK Kormoran, off Shark Bay Western Australia. German raider. findingsydney.com en.wikipedia.org German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran 1998 Sydney Hobart yacht race. 5 yachts sank off the east coast of Australia. en.wikipedia.org 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race en.wikipedia.org Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race Try the searching for shipwrecks multiple choice answer quiz. Take the quiz now Activity Choose one of the ships from the Shipwreck Timeline and do some research to find out more about it. Here are some questions to start you off. What type of ship was it? Where was the ship going? What was its cargo? Who discovered the wreck and how was it found? What artefacts were found on the wreck site? What do these artefacts tell us about the ship and the people who sailed in it? Where are the artefacts now? Take the Searching for Shipwrecks quiz ‹ Whose History Selected Bibliography ›