Family and Friends 6 (Reading 7)

Famous Shipwrecks

Sailing can be dangerous and many ships and boats have sunk and there are many ships lying at the bottom of the sea in oceans all over the world.

Studying shipwrecks is important to historians because shipwrecks contain clues about what life was like at the time that they sank.

The Atocha was a Spanish ship that sank in a terrible hurricane in 1622. It was carrying gold, silver and jewels. People were sent to get the treasure because it was very valuable. However, the ship was lying more than 16 metres under the sea. At the time, it was very difficult to dive down so far.

Then, in the same year, there was another hurricane and the shipwreck was destroyed and the treasure was lost. The treasure lay lost beneath the sea for over 360 years. In 1969, a man called Mel Fisher started to search for the treasure. This time, divers had proper equipment. After 16 years, he found the parts of the wreck and most of the treasure. He put the treasure in a museum in Florida, where you can see it now.

The Titanic was a passenger ship built in 1911.

It was called the 'unsinkable ship' because of its amazing design. No one believed it could sink. On 10th April 1912, the Titanic left England for New York City on its first voyage.

Four days later, the ship hit an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean. The ship sank and over a thousand people drowned. For a long time, underwater explorers searched for the missing wreck. In 1985, they discovered it four kilometres beneath the surface. The ship was broken and it was impossible to move, but they were able to examine the ship and bring back thousands of items, such as clothes and letters and other personal things. These things have helped historians understand more about the people who sailed on the Titanic.