Shipwreck

A shipwreck is what remains of a ship that has wrecked, either sunk or beached. Whatever the cause, a sunken ship or a wrecked ship is a physical example of the event: this explains why the two concepts are often overlapping in English. A shipwreck could be called a wreck if the structure is still recognizable or a wreckage if it is not recognizable anymore. The United Nations estimates that there are more than 3 million shipwrecks on the ocean floor.
Types of shipwrecks
Historic wrecks are attractive to maritime archaeologists because they preserve historical information: for example, studying the wreck of Mary Rose revealed information about seafaring, warfare and life in the 16th century. Military wrecks that were caused by a skirmish at sea are studied to find details about the historic event and reveal much about the battle that occurred. Discoveries of treasure ships, often from the period of European colonisation, which sank in remote places, leaving few living witnesses, such as the Batavia, do occur but only very infrequently.