Shipwreck Anatomy... where's the rest of the ship ?

[Urban Legend]

I've been following this forum for many years now and this question comes up time and time again...

Where's the rest of the ship ?
I realize that in a shipwreck that happens near the shore...
Hurricane force winds... mammoth seas..reefs..tides.. currents..and even urban development can all play a factor in finding the better half of a shipwreck..

I'm wondering how the top of a shipwreck can separate from the hull and keep floating ?
And ... when that happens...how do you go about searching for the rest of the ship... especially when the debris field can go for miles ?.. where do you start.?

 

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[Salvor6]

Mel Fisher kept telling me over and over that the Maria Galante of the 1715 fleet was carrying bales of tobacco wrapped in sail cloth and covered with tallow, a type of tar. When the upper decks separated from the lower hull the bales acted like lift bags, keeping the deck afloat while it drifted for miles until it finally sank. That is one scenario.

Where do you start? At the beginning.

 

[Mackaydon]

I once went searching at sea for a wreck. I found dense material on the seafloor where "X" marked the spot where survivors wrote that salvors would find the wreck. But I never found the vessel even though I searched (1) further on the ship's original course, (2) towards the land and (3) in the path of the current; three different directions; but to no avail. Eventually, others found the wreck over a mile away. Apparently she had retained some bouyancy after discharging objects; reducing her speed to the bottom as she drifted, submerged, in the current. What I had failed to property consider was not the actual speed of the current but rather the effect of partial buoyancy. I blame this failure on my high school trigonometry teacher.
Don......

 

[Urban Legend]

I hadn't considered buoyancy of the cargo..
I can see where knowing the ships manifest as well as any written accounts of the incident would greatly increase the odds of discovery..

 

[Urban Legend]

Coral reefs mask a lot of wrecks ..
If it is determined that a significant find is embedded in or even under a reef.... How do you go about proceeding with the recovery ?
At what point is it a shipwreck covered with Coral...or a Coral Reef with a shipwreck in it ?

 

[Urban Legend]

With so much development along the treasure coast..
I can't help but wonder how many shipwrecks are buried beneath the roads and buildings lining the shoreline..

 

[Salvor6]

Urban Legend why do you have all these questions? Are you actively searching for a particular wreck? What experience do you have?

 

[Urban Legend]

Urban Legend why do you have all these questions? Are you actively searching for a particular wreck? What experience do you have?

I'm not actively researching any particular area or shipwreck.