Theme 3: Safety – Shipwrecks and Maritime Disaster
Learning from past maritime disasters to develop a global perspective and integrate lessons learned to advance maritime safety, resilience and sustainability.
Maritime Archaeology resources
Linking together maritime collections in the UK.
This page is approximately a 4 minute read
The remnants of maritime culture—both on land and underwater—tell an enduring story of our global maritime and industrial heritage. In addition to the Heritage Centre’s archival resources, Lloyd’s Register Foundation promotes and supports data repositories and research focused on maritime archaeology. Below, we highlight a selection of resources and projects that connect maritime collections across the UK and beyond.
Unpath'd Waters
Over the course of three years (2022-24), the Unpath’d Waters research project delved deep into the UK’s maritime heritage collections, connecting, reimagining and presenting them using the latest technologies available in the heritage sector. The project was part of the Towards a National Collection (TaNC) programme, funded by UKRI’s Arts and Humanities Research Council.
Aiming to increase interaction with the UK’s maritime heritage, the project brought together more than 25 partner organisations, including museums, archives, and universities. Each partner contributed with expertise or sharing data from collections in their care.
Unpath’d Waters investigated the links between different collections and developed digital solutions to facilitate access to records by researchers and the public. At the same time, ways to bring heritage to life were explored, to reach those audiences that are not usually thought about in maritime heritage.
The Unpath'd Waters Portal is a publicly accessible online catalogue containing 100,000 records of marine data from across the UK. Focused primarily on shipwrecks, the data is available in different formats and was previously scattered across a variety of organisations, including museums, archives, and private collections. This project has linked together these resources for the first time, making them easily accessible to all.
Science and the Sea focuses on enhancing methods and techniques for accurately identifying shipwrecks in the Irish Sea. By connecting marine scientific data with historical records and maritime collections from around the globe, the project seeks to improve our ability to understand, locate, and manage wreck sites within UK waters. As part of this activity, a series of StoryMaps was developed and is now available online.
The Needles Voyager is an interactive tool that allows users to explore the numerous shipwrecks and maritime sites around the Needles rock formations off the Isle of Wight. It highlights ships, lighthouses, defensive structures, piers, and aircraft remains beneath the waters off Britain’s south coast, uncovering the stories of the people and artifacts connected to them.
The final report of Unpath'd Waters
The final report of Unpath'd Waters is available online. Published on February 19, 2025.
Wreck Site
Wreck Site is the largest global repository of shipwreck information online, linking together information from several national hydrographic offices. The portal features charts and coordinates of underwater features and cultural heritage, technical details and casualty records, as well as ship biographies and photographs. People stories are also featured on the website.
MAST and the Royal Navy Loss List
The Maritime Archaeology Sea Trust (MAST) seeks to understand, interpret, and champion the UK's underwater cultural heritage. MAST provide access to archaeological data through their online offer. The Royal Navy Loss List, partly funded by Lloyd's Register Foundation, records wreck information of British Navy and Auxiliary vessels, including technical details, cause of loss and location, and other contextual details.
Ship Losses in the Greek Seas
Ship Losses in the Greek Seas is an open-access dataset of 20th-century Greek shipwrecks developed by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, funded via the Lloyd's Register Foundation Small Grants programme. The dataset link together information held by the Heritage Centre with local Greek port authority records and published periodicals. An interactive online portal allows users to filter records by cause of loss, cargo, route, and technical details.
Maritime Archaeology Trust
The Maritime Archaeology Trust (MAT) investigates underwater cultural heritage in UK waters, including shipwrecks and intertidal structures. MAT's Shipwreck Centre & Maritime Museum houses thousands of artefacts from shipwrecks and the seabed. MAT also provides resources for divers and maritime enthusiasts. Lloyd's Register Foundation supports MAT's maritime research projects focused on Anderson's Bristol Fleet and shipwrecks of iron-hulled sailing vessels in the UK.
Nautical Archaeology Society
The Nautical Archaeology Society (NAS) focuses on the research and recording of underwater and coastal heritage. NAS publishes the peer-reviewed International Journal of Nautical Archaeology and furthers research on individual shipwrecks and port infrastructure. NAS also provides a series of online and in-person courses centred on maritime heritage skills and education.
Enhancing Welsh shipwreck records in Coflein
Coflein provides an online catalogue of Welsh heritage to the public, including industrial and maritime heritage. A joint project of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales and Lloyd's Register Foundation sought to enhance records of shipwrecks part of the National Monuments Record of Wales, accessible via Coflein, with information from the Lloyd's Register Casualty Returns.
Related Content
Shipwreck records
The Heritage Centre offers shipwreck research resources from the 18th century onwards, including photographic collections and detailed unpublished Wreck Books.
Classification and Survey: Ship plans and survey reports
Totalling over 1.1 million documents, the ship plans and survey reports document the inspection, classification and maintenance of vessels undertaken by Lloyd’s Register surveyors.