A list of shipwrecks of Gibraltar. The vast majority of the shipwrecks are located near the west coast in or just outside the
Gibraltar harbour area within the
Bay of Gibraltar
The Bay of Gibraltar ( es, BahÃa de Algeciras), is a bay at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula. It is around long by wide, covering an area of some , with a depth of up to in the centre of the bay. It opens to the south into the Strait ...
. In addition to the ships there are other items of interest on the seabed in the vicinity. Off the end of
Europa Point
Europa Point (Spanish language, Spanish and Llanito: Punta de Europa or Punta Europa), is the southernmost point of Gibraltar (the southernmost point of the Iberian Peninsula being Punta de Tarifa 25 km southwest of Gibraltar). At the end of ...
there is said to be a large number of Roman and Phoenician anchors. Other items appear to have been dumped. In one case there are two
Sherman tank
}
The M4 Sherman, officially Medium Tank, M4, was the most widely used medium tank by the United States and Western Allies in World War II. The M4 Sherman proved to be reliable, relatively cheap to produce, and available in great numbers. It w ...
s on the eastern side and two piles of rusting cannons on the west.
Larger ships and aircraft
*SS ''Excellent'', a 1600-ton steamsail ship which sank after colliding on 29 February 1888. Roughly 260 ft in length, the wreck, at a depth of 30 m, is upside down with the engine and a boiler still visible.()
*SS ''Mount Olive''. a steamer which sank in two parts during a rescue attempt in 1890, in the inner wreck is at a depth of 20-22m and the outer wreck is at 40-49m.()
*A Bristol bomber which crashed during World War II at a depth of 35m.()
*SMS ''Cormorant'', a gunboat which sank during World War II, located at a depth of 32m.()
*Four engines of an
Avro Shackleton
The Avro Shackleton is a British long-range maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) which was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the South African Air Force (SAAF). It was developed by Avro from the Avro Lincoln bomber, which itself had been a devel ...
maritime patrol aircraft which crashed in the 1960s at a depth of 10m. They were located by divers in 1998.()
*Two
Sherman tanks dumped in the 1960s at a depth of 3m.()
*, a 3,600 ton cargo vessel at a depth of 21-3m which sank during a strong storm in 1916 just outside the
South Mole is the largest wreck in the area.
()
*A
cable laying barge artificially sunk in 1990 at a depth of 33m was later joined by many ships and other items to create a reef.()
Smaller vessels
*''Le Peipo'', a wooden cruising vessel at a depth 27-30m.()
*''Ark of Jesus Christ'', a wooden fishing boat at a depth of 19m.()
*''Helen'', a fishing vessel at a depth of 21m.()
*A Pilot boat, at a depth of 22m.()
*''Mui'', at a depth 35m.()
References
{{Shipwrecks by location
Shipwrecks
A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...
Gibraltar
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, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...