Ship graveyard

French navy graveyard at Landévennec near Brest

A ship graveyard or ship cemetery is a location where the hulls of scrapped ships are left to decay and disintegrate, or left in reserve. Such a practice is now less common due to waste regulations and so some dry docks where ships are broken (to recycle their metal and remove dangerous materials like asbestos) are also known as ship graveyards.

By analogy, the phrase can also refer to an area with many shipwrecks which have not been removed by human agency, instead being left to disintegrate naturally. These can form in places where navigation is difficult or dangerous (such as the Seven Stones, off Cornwall, or Blackpool, on the Irish Sea); or where many ships have been deliberately scuttled together (as with the German High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow); or where many ships have been sunk in battle (such as Ironbottom Sound, in the Pacific).

As of January 2020, with 30% share India has the highest global revenue and highest share of global ship breaking (number and volume of ships broken).^[1]

List of ship graveyards

Africa

Wrecks all along the peninsular coast at Nouadhibou, in Mauritania
Many wrecks along the Skeleton Coast in Namibia

Asia

Several locations near the Aral Sea
The ship-breaking yards of Alang (India), Chittagong (Bangladesh), and Gadani^[2] (Pakistan)

Europe

France

United Kingdom

The River Tamar downstream of the Royal Albert Bridge used to be used as a mooring site for mothballed vessels, including submarines, of the Royal Navy. These have now all been removed.
Portsmouth Harbour hosts a number of ex Royal Navy vessels, awaiting removal for scrapping.
Forton Lake in Gosport, near Portsmouth, is host to approximately thirty vessels, several of which saw action in World War II.

North America

United States

The US Navy "phantom fleet" at Suisun Bay, to the north of San Francisco Bay
Witte's Marine Salvage - the Staten Island boat graveyard.^[3]
Bikini Atoll was designated as a ship graveyard for the U.S. Pacific fleet; it later became known as a nuclear testing facility.
Mallows Bay, Maryland.^[4]
Green Jacket Shoal, Rhode Island

Oceania

Australia

New South Wales:

Stockton Breakwater (Newcastle)
Homebush Bay Ships' Graveyard (Sydney)
Pindimar Bay Ships' Graveyard/The Duckhole (Myall Lakes)

Northern Territory:

Darwin Harbour East Arm

Queensland:

Bishop Island Ships' Graveyard (Brisbane)
Tangalooma Ships' Graveyard (Moreton Island)
The Bulwer Wrecks (Moreton Island)
Curtin Artificial Reef

South Australia: As of November 2020^[update] there are 19 ships' graveyards in South Australia.^[5]

Near Port Adelaide, in the Port River and environs:^[6]

Others

Tasmania:

Little Betsey Island Ships' Graveyard (Hobart)
East Risdon Ships' Graveyard (Hobart)
Strahan Ships' Graveyard (Strahan)
Tamar Island Ships' Graveyard (Launceston)

Victoria:

Barwon Heads Ships' Graveyard (Port Phillip Bay)

Western Australia:

Careening Bay Ships' Graveyard
Rottnest Island Ships' Graveyard (off Rottnest Island)
Jervoise Bay Ships' Graveyard
Albany Ships' Graveyard (Albany)

References

^ India eyes 60 per cent share of global ship recycling business; higher GDP contribution, Economic Times, 30 December 2019.
^ Gadani Beach
^ http://www.opacity.us/site55_staten_island_boat_graveyard.htm
^ United States Coast Pilot. Vol. 3 (43rd ed.). Washington, D.C.: National Ocean Service. 2010. p. 313. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
^ "Ships' graveyards of South Australia". Government of South Australia. Department for Environment and Water. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
^ "Port Adelaide (Ships' Graveyards)". South Australian Department of Environment and Heritage. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
^ Hartell, Robyn; Richards, Nathan (2001). Garden Island, Ships's Graveyard. Heritage SA, Department for Environment and Heritage. pp. 1–6. ISBN 0-7308-5894-4.
^ Richards, Nathan (1997). The History and Archaeology of the Garden Island Ships' Graveyard, North Arm of the Port River, Port Adelaide, South Australia (PDF) (BA(Hons) thesis, Archaeology)). Flinders University. pp. 26–30. Retrieved 13 June 2012.

(in French) Ship graveyards
(in French) Ship graveyard on the Rance
(in French) Ship graveyard at the port of Guilvinec-Lechiagat
(in French) Ship graveyard at Magouër
Google maps view of ships graveyard

[breakkro1-1] India eyes 60 per cent share of global ship recycling business; higher GDP contribution, Economic Times, 30 December 2019.

[2] Gadani Beach

[3] ttp://www.opacity.us/site55_staten_island_boat_graveyard.htm

[2010CoastPilot-4] United States Coast Pilot. Vol. 3 (43rd ed.). Washington, D.C.: National Ocean Service. 2010. p. 313. Retrieved May 5, 2010.

[dewgraveyards-5] "Ships' graveyards of South Australia". Government of South Australia. Department for Environment and Water. Retrieved 22 November 2020.

[6] "Port Adelaide (Ships' Graveyards)". South Australian Department of Environment and Heritage. Retrieved 12 June 2012.

[gardenislandbook-7] Hartell, Robyn; Richards, Nathan (2001). Garden Island, Ships's Graveyard. Heritage SA, Department for Environment and Heritage. pp. 1–6. ISBN 0-7308-5894-4.

[8] Richards, Nathan (1997). The History and Archaeology of the Garden Island Ships' Graveyard, North Arm of the Port River, Port Adelaide, South Australia (PDF) (BA(Hons) thesis, Archaeology)). Flinders University. pp. 26–30. Retrieved 13 June 2012.

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