10 Underwater Shipwreck Photos That Will Take Your Breath Away
Across the Globe — Great Britain to Palau, the Baltic to the Red seas, Truk Lagoon to Thunder Bay — wherever you find divers, you'll find agreement on this: Wreck diving rocks. So allow us to show you why we can't get enough of this magnificent metal madness.
B-25 Mitchell PBJ-1H | Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands
Pete MesleyB-25 Mitchell PBJ-1H | Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands
This former bomber sits upright at 100 feet off Kwajalein Atoll, where hundreds of planes were dumped after WWII.
USS Kittiwake | Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
Jennifer IdolUSS Kittiwake | Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
I first explored the USS Kittiwake in Grand Cayman with photographer David Doubilet. After circling the ship, we entered through a side door into a small room. I saw broken mirrors on my right and a series of doorways in front of me, which Doubilet headed toward. — Jennifer Idol
Camera Gear: Nikon D610 camera, 14-24mm Nikkor lens, Nauticam D600 aluminum housing with acrylic dome, two Inon Z-240 strobes
Camera Settings: f/5, 1/60 sec, ISO 640
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Salem Express | Safaga, Red Sea, Egypt
Noam KortlerSalem Express | Safaga, Red Sea, Egypt
It’s always sad to do a dive in this wreck, a ferry that sank in 1991 with nearly 500 passengers aboard. Once you swim around the wreck and see all the personal belongings, it gives you a chill. This shot was taken from the bridge, using only natural light to capture a diver swimming by outside, exploring the wreck. — Noam Kortler
Camera Gear: Nikon D2X; Seacam housing; Tokina 10-17mm fisheye zoom lens set on 10mm
Camera Settings: f/8, 1/50 sec, ISO 100
Giannis D | Sha’ab Abu Nuhas, Red Sea, Egypt
Jordi BenitezGiannis D | Sha’ab Abu Nuhas, Red Sea, Egypt
It was my second dive of the day, so the sun was too high for the shot that I had in mind. There were a lot of divers on the scene too. Finally, after an hour diving around the wreck, I found this point of view that spoke to me. I decided to use black-and-white for this to get more contrast between the shadows of the wreck and the sun’s rays. — Jordi Benitez
Camera Gear: Canon 7D; Nauticam housing; Tokina 10-17mm lens set on 100mm; and 4-inch Saga Dive dome
Camera Settings: f/8, 1/30 sec, ISO 160
HMCS Saskatchewan | Nanaimo, British Columbia
Brandon ColeHMCS Saskatchewan | Nanaimo, British Columbia
The Saskatchewan has long been one of my favorite dives in B.C. I was there for its sinking in 1997, and I’ve been back often. Though we’ve photographed the bow many times, this whimsical shot came to me on a rainy day in October 2015, when my wife, Melissa, emerged through a hatchway into the emerald gloom with impressive guns looming overhead. — Brandon Cole
Camera Gear: Canon 5D Mark III; Seacam housing; Canon 8-15mm f4L fisheye lens, two Ikelite DS161 strobes Camera Settings: f/9, 1/80 sec, ISO 1600
Iro Maru | Palau
Aaron WongIro Maru | Palau
Toward the end of our dive, my buddy descended on this school of jacks as they began circling the Iro Maru. Instead of trying to get a picture, he decided to sit back and enjoy the show. This is what I’ve always believed: Don’t spend your time trying to get a picture if it means missing the moment. Don’t force it. If you are calm and relaxed, nature will come to you and show you the best it has to offer. — Aaron Wong
Camera Gear: Nikon D3; Seacam housing; 16mm lens
Camera Settings: f/8, 1/80 sec, ISO 200
Royal Navy Wessex MK3 Helicopter | Tidenham Quarry, Chepstow, England
Steve JonesRoyal Navy Wessex MK3 Helicopter | Tidenham Quarry, Chepstow, England
The water was clear on this day, having a bluish tint rather than the normal green. I was practicing off-camera remote-strobe lighting techniques and rigged up a strobe to the diver’s equipment that automatically triggered when my own flash went off. I liked the way the powerful beam reflected back from his mask. — Steve Jones
Camera Gear: Nikon D700; Seacam housing; Nikkor 16mm fisheye lens; two Inon Z220 strobes connected to a remote slave trigger
Camera Settings: f/8, 1/50 sec, ISO 1600
Fujikawa Maru | Truk Lagoon, Chuuk
Todd WinnerFujikawa Maru | Truk Lagoon, Chuuk
This interestingly shaped compressor — appropriately nicknamed R2-D2 — is deep inside the engine room of the WWII shipwreck Fujikawa Maru. Silt and particles dislodged by bubbles are always a problem when shooting wrecks on open circuit, so I worked as fast, yet as carefully, as I could. Unfortunately, there is a lot of collapsed debris now on this wreck, and it is probably unwise to penetrate to R2-D2 today. — Todd Winner
Camera Gear: Nikon D2X; Nexus housing; Tokina 10-17mm fisheye set on 13mm; two Ikelite 200 strobes
Camera Settings: f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO 100
BAe 146 Aircraft | Tidenham Quarry, Chepstow, England
Steve JonesBAe 146 Aircraft | Tidenham Quarry, Chepstow, England
On this cold winter’s day, I was carrying out some tests of the Orcalight Seawolf lamp in an overhead environment; the gloomy hull of this BAe 146 aircraft was perfect. Use of rebreathers prevented any silt coming down from above, keeping the water clear inside the wreck. With two lamps at 22,000 lumens each, it felt like someone had turned on the lights inside the aircraft. — Steve Jones
Camera Gear: Nikon D4; Seacam housing; Nikkor 16mm fisheye lens; two off-camera Orcalight Seawolf 22,000-lumen lamps
Camera Settings: f/8, 1/60 sec, ISO 3200
Hilma Hooker | Bonaire
Martin Strmiska/AlamyHilma Hooker | Bonaire
In 1984, the Hooker, a Colombian cargo vessel, navigated into Bonaire, concealing a shipment of marijuana in an external compartment on the hull. It was seized by the Bonaire government; authorities removed 25,000 pounds of pot stowed between a real and false bulkhead. The ship’s reputation was tarnished, but as Bruce Bowker writes on Carib Inn’s website, “With the Hilma Hooker, what began as a bad idea for someone turned into a lucky break for Bonaire and its divers.
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