So much has been made of shipwrecks in modern lore. Books, stories, movies and TV specials have all capitalized on our undying fascination with sea disasters. "A Night To Remember", "Last Voyage" even "Speed 2" have taken us on a stark and even sentimental journey to these actual and fictitious events so that we may live, though vicariously, the terror and heart numbing jolt of the sudden occurrence that begins the slow and agonizing death of an object often believed to be invulnerable to mishap.

This page will provide introductory information on some famous and a few not-so-famous ships that made headlines and shocked readers, if only for a moment over their morning coffee and maybe even lived on to be retold in popular media.

Please read this page with a mind to the trend toward the new generation of cruise ships -larger than any before, ignoring traditions of design such as deeper hulls (or draft), high freeboard, shortened bows and broad sterns, all of which make the vessel more top heavy and less likely to take high seas in stride. Ask yourself (or a travel agent familiar with the new ships) - who's next?!