List of maritime disasters


The list of maritime disasters is a link page for maritime disasters by century.
For a unified list of peacetime disasters by death toll, see.

Pre-18th century

Peacetime disasters

All ships are vulnerable to problems from weather conditions, faulty design or human error. Some of the disasters below occurred during periods of conflict, although their losses were unrelated to any military action. The table listings are in decreasing order of the magnitude of casualties.
YearCountryDescriptionDeathsImage
1495Kingdom of Denmark

Wartime disasters

Disasters with great loss of life can occur in times of armed conflict. Shown below are some of the known events with major losses.
YearCountryDescriptionLives lostImage
Roman RepublicSinking of the Roman fleet in the First Punic War – In the First Punic War, between the Roman Republic and Carthage, a Roman fleet that had just rescued a Roman army from Africa was caught in a Mediterranean storm.90,000+
1274
1281		Mongol EmpireKamikaze – The Mongol fleet destroyed by a typhoon.100,000+
1588Spain|1506