18 Terrifying Photos Of Ships In Trouble

18 Terrifying Photos Of Ships In Trouble

The fight against Earth’s oceans is almost as old as humankind. Through millennia, humans have battled typhoons and waves as high as buildings. “To sail is necessary, to live is not necessary,” said Plutarch during a huge storm in the Mediterranean. Here are 18 photos that perfectly illustrate that idea.

1911: wrecked steamer fights the rough seas.

18 Terrifying Photos Of Ships In Trouble

Photo: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images


Ship ‘Endurance’ in the ice, 1915.

18 Terrifying Photos Of Ships In Trouble

Photo: James Francis Hurley/Royal Museums Greenwich


On board the ship ‘Garthsnaid’ at sea, 1920, showing sailors securing a section of the foresail which had come free from the gaskets in heavy weather.

18 Terrifying Photos Of Ships In Trouble

Photo: Alexander Harper Turner/National Library of New Zealand


Europa, one of the fastest liners in the Atlantic service, arrived in New York City on Dec. 11, 1931 approximately 24 hours behind schedule because of the unusually heavy weather in the Atlantic Ocean.

18 Terrifying Photos Of Ships In Trouble

Photo: AP


Aboard the german cargo ship MS Sabine Howaldt, during a North Atlantic winter storm, 1958.

18 Terrifying Photos Of Ships In Trouble

Photo: Buonasera/Wikimedia Commons


HMS Nottingham braves rough Atlantic seas during a high seas firing exercise, some 200 miles west of Ireland, on Sept. 11, 2004

18 Terrifying Photos Of Ships In Trouble

Photo: LA(Phot) Ray Jones/Royal Navy


A Sailor makes his way up the brow aboard the Military Sealift Command (MSC) fleet ocean tug USNS Apache (T-ATF 172) during a rare snow storm on board Naval Amphibious Base (NAB) Little Creek, Va., Feb. 3, 2005.

18 Terrifying Photos Of Ships In Trouble

Photo: Photographers Mate 2nd Class Daniel J. McLain/U.S. Navy


The cargo ship Porvenir I is seen during violent winds that caused strong swells on the coasts of Chile, on Aug. 3, 2005. Three crew members could not be rescued after falling overboard.

18 Terrifying Photos Of Ships In Trouble

Photo: NAVY OF CHILE/AP


Lightning storms rage over the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) as the ship transits the Persian Gulf, March 28, 2007.

18 Terrifying Photos Of Ships In Trouble

Photo: Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Heidi J. Giacalone/U.S. Navy


The Russian-owned “Vera Voloshina” cargo ship is seen after running aground during a heavy storm, near the Black Sea resort of Sudak, Ukraine, Sunday, Nov. 11, 2007.

18 Terrifying Photos Of Ships In Trouble

Photo: Ukranian Emergencies Ministry/AP


Flight deck personnel aboard the multipurpose amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) work night operations as thunderstorms approaches (Sept. 9, 2010).

18 Terrifying Photos Of Ships In Trouble

Photo: Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Christopher B. Stoltz/U.S. Navy


HMNZS Wellington, offshore patrol vessel (OPV) encounters rough seas in Ross Sea, on February 22, 2011.

18 Terrifying Photos Of Ships In Trouble

Photo: New Zealand Defence Force


Sailors prepare an F/A-18F Super Hornet for launch as the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) passes through a storm front on the Arabian Sea, Jan. 21, 2012.

18 Terrifying Photos Of Ships In Trouble

Photo: Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class James R. Evans/U.S. Navy


The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) passes through a sand storm on the Arabian Sea, on March 19, 2012.

18 Terrifying Photos Of Ships In Trouble

Photo: Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Benjamin Stevens/U.S. Navy


2013: The French Fishing vessel Alf during a storm in the Irish Sea.

18 Terrifying Photos Of Ships In Trouble



Photo: Royal Navy


USS Donald Cook (DDG 75), an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer transits the Black Sea through heavy blizzard, on Jan. 7, 2015.

18 Terrifying Photos Of Ships In Trouble

Photo: Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Karolina A. Oseguera/U.S. Navy


Bonus videos

18 Terrifying Photos Of Ships In Trouble

This two side-to-side videos showing the outside and inside of a cargo ship are so good.


18 Terrifying Photos Of Ships In Trouble

Here’s another cargo ship bending.


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