When we think of sunken cities, most of us think of Atlantis. According to Plato, it was a city of immense wealth, being rich in natural minerals and lush vegetation. Atlanteans were said to have built fantastic temples, displayed wealth, and created magnificent statues to the gods.

Having once been a privileged and favored people, the Atlanteans became greedy and “spiritually ugly,” being unable to appreciate their good fortune. So, Zeus gave Atlantis to Poseidon, and it was swallowed by the sea.^[1]

It’s a cool story. And probably just a myth. The lost city of Atlantis has never been found. However, there are many other sunken cities around the world which are totally real. Here are ten of them.

10 Dunwich

In the 11th century, Dunwich was one of the largest towns in England. However, a succession of storms in the 13th and 14th centuries eroded the coastline, and the town is now largely under the sea. Heavy storms had battered the coast around Dunwich every year for decades. The local inhabitants desperately built defensive ditches to try to hold back the waters and save the town from drowning, but they could not prevent the relentless encroachment of the sea.

Dunwich was evidently a sizeable town. Divers have found the remains of four churches and a toll house, along with numerous houses and even the remains of a ship that had later been wrecked over the town.^[2]

You can see a 3-D model of the lost city in the local museum, but diving is difficult because the water is pitch-black. Visibility is very poor, and photography is almost impossible. However, divers were able to survey the sea floor by touch and have painstakingly recorded their findings to map the area. Archaeological work is still ongoing at the site.

9 Baiae

The partially sunken city of Baiae lies around 16 kilometers (10 mi) west of Naples. Baiae, an ancient Roman town, is said to have been named after Baios, the helmsman who steered Ulysses’s ship. Baiae was said to be a pleasant place to live, having a mild climate, luxurious vegetation, and hot springs. Paradise, basically. The city boasted many luxurious villas and large public buildings and even included the kind of public baths of which the Romans were so fond.^[3]

Baiae was known for its hedonistic lifestyle, with Sextus Propertius describing it as a “den of licentiousness and vice.” It was clearly an opulent place to live, and it was one of the most important Roman cities for many hundreds of years. Baiae was home to Gaius Calpurnius Piso, who plotted to kill Emperor Nero. When Nero learned of the plan, he ordered Piso to commit suicide. Divers have discovered Piso’s villa, along with another, believed to have belonged to the emperor.

Because so many of its inhabitants were very wealthy, many more treasures may still be waiting to be found there. It is thought that volcanic activity in the area caused part of the city to sink into the Gulf of Naples, lost for hundreds of years.

Archaeological surveys of the site have been ongoing since 1941. The water in the area is clear, enabling divers to thoroughly explore and record the site. Parts of the submerged area are remarkably well-preserved, including floors with complicated mosaics, undamaged by 1700 years beneath the water. Divers have discovered roads, walls, and even statues of Ulysses and Baios, still upright, as if they had been carefully placed there yesterday.

8 Heracleion

The Egyptian city of Heracleion sank beneath the sea over a millennium ago. The city, supposedly visited by Helen of Troy and her lover, Paris, was thought to have been merely mythical until it was rediscovered in 1999 by archaeologist Franck Goddio.

The site, which is still being excavated, is rich with treasures, including huge statues up to 5 meters (16 ft) tall. The city began to sink into the sea sometime in the third century, possibly because of the excessive weight of the fabulous buildings. It was completely gone by the eighth century.

Hundreds of statues and slabs of stone inscribed in Greek and ancient Egyptian have been discovered and brought to the surface, along with gold coins and dozens of sarcophagi, which may have once contained mummified animals as offerings to the gods.

Archaeologists have also found the remains of hundreds of shipwrecks, suggesting that Heracleion was an important trading port. At the center of the city was a huge temple dedicated to Amun-Gereb, the supreme Egyptian god of the time.

When it was built, the city would have sat at the mouth of the Nile Delta, though it is now submerged under 46 meters (150 ft) of water in the Bay of Aboukir.^[4]

7 Ravenser Odd

Ravenser Odd was a medieval pirate town in Yorkshire, England. It was the first available landing ground for ships coming from Scandinavia, so the inhabitants, being little more than thieves, vagabonds, and, yes, pirates, would row out to incoming ships and “persuade” them to land there.^[5]

Citizens of Ravenser Odd were exempt from paying taxes, and the town was effectively autonomous, with its own mayor, court, prisons, and even gallows. It was also given the right to tax any ships which it had “persuaded” to come to port, which accounts for the enthusiasm of the locals.

However, the sea eventually began to overwhelm the town, and each high tide eroded it further. Walls began to collapse into the mud, and the churchyard gave up its bodies to the sea. The population began to flee, and, according to their nature, the inhabitants looted the churches as they went.

The Great Drowning came in January 1362, and a ferocious storm and unusually high tides submerged Ravenser Odd for good.

6 Kekova

A town situated on the Turkish island of Kekova was submerged by an earthquake in the second century AD. Historical records are somewhat sketchy, but it appears that the island was a prominent place during the Byzantine era. It is possible to see the ruins beneath the clear, blue waters of the Mediterranean, and locals earn extra money by taking tourists on boat trips to view them.^[6]

The area has been protected since 1990, though visitors are welcome. You will be able to see half-sunken ruins emerging from the water and buildings complete with stone staircases which descend into the sea, which is impressive. However, the site is protected, and snorkeling is, unfortunately, not permitted.

5 Atlit Yam

Atlit Yam lies 1 kilometer (0.6 mi) off the coast of Israel, in the Mediterranean Sea. It is so completely preserved that human skeletons lie undisturbed in their graves, and its stone circle remains standing.

Atlit Yam is one of the earliest sunken cities known to man. There are large houses with stone floors, fireplaces, and even wells (though they are somewhat redundant now). The site was buried for around 9,000 years until quarrying in the area exposed some of the remains. In 1984, while searching for shipwrecks, Ehud Galili, a marine archaeologist, recognized what they were and began work to protect and preserve the site.

Being so old, exposure to air would put some areas of the site in danger of decay, so artifacts are not removed from the seabed unless they are in danger of being destroyed by the underwater conditions. Archaeologists wait for currents to shift the sands so that they can chart what lies beneath them.

The site includes a monolithic stone circle, of the sort you might find at Stonehenge, though smaller (and wetter), and an analysis of human remains found at the site showed evidence of tuberculosis, indicating that the disease is 3,000 years older than was previously thought.^[7]

4 Shicheng

Shicheng (or Lion City) in China was purposely flooded in 1959 in the creation of the Xin’an Dam. At that time, 300,000 people were relocated from the area to make way for the construction, leaving the city to its fate. The city itself was approximately 600 years old and featured stunning classical Chinese architecture.

Shicheng lay undisturbed until 2001, when the Chinese government undertook a survey to see what remained of it, and interest in the site began to grow. Divers found well-preserved statues of not only lions but also phoenixes, dragons, and other animals, as well as ancient buildings dating to the 16th century.

Today, there are regular opportunities for divers to explore the ruins, which lie up to 40 meters (131 ft) under the surface.^[8] The town is amazingly well-preserved, the cold waters preventing even the wooden staircases of houses from rotting.

3 Neapolis

In 2017, archaeologists discovered the lost city of Neapolis, off Tunisia, which had been drowned by a tsunami 1,700 years earlier. The remains still show the streets, monuments, and hundreds of containers which were used to produce garum—a kind of fish sauce which was popular at the time (ketchup not being invented yet).

Neapolis was an important industrial area in the Roman era and was thought to be the major center for the production of fish sauce in the Roman world. The ruins cover a 50-acre area, which, it is believed, was submerged after a tsunami in July AD 365. It was the same tsunami that destroyed Alexandria and was caused by an earthquake of at least magnitude 8.0.^[9]

To date, apart from the fish barrels, archaeologists have discovered little in the way of treasures. However, archaeological work is ongoing at the site, so you never know; they may discover more culinary-related items any day. Who’s hoping for chips?

2 Cambay

In December 2000, scientists claimed to have discovered a huge lost city in the Gulf of Cambay (aka the Gulf of Khambhat), off the west coast of India. Lying 37 meters (120 ft) beneath the water, the site stretches 8 kilometers (5 mi) long and 3.2 kilometers (2 mi) wide and is believed to be over 9,000 years old.

The site was found by chance while scientists were conducting a survey about pollution. Among the artifacts reported to have been discovered at the time were sections of wall, sculptures, and human remains.^[10]

Since then, both the age of the artifacts and whether the stone ones are truly man-made have been disputed. If they are what they’re claimed to be, they’d be a significant find, 4,000 years older than the Indus Valley Civilization. It has been speculated that the possible city was submerged by rising waters during the last ice age. If that is the case, one wonders how many other ancient cities are lying at the bottom of the sea.

1 Olous

Olous lies in shallow water under a clear, blue sea off the northern coast of Crete. Olous became an important port town during the first millennium BC and was so wealthy that it had its own currency.

Olous was said to the city of fountains. Afraid that pirates would steal their treasures, the inhabitants are said to have dug 100 fountains in the surrounding mountains. The wells beneath 99 of them contained only water, but the last one contained the combined riches of the old town. It has never been discovered.

No one is sure of the exact cause of the destruction of Olous. The city may have been destroyed as a result of a volcanic eruption, or it may have sunk gradually through natural erosion.^[11]

If you wish to visit Olous, it is possible to see the sunken city via snorkel. However, as the ruins are part of an active archaeological excavation, nothing can be removed from the site—unless, of course, you find that 100th fountain, in which case, who would ever know?

Ward Hazell is a writer who travels, and an occasional travel writer.

For a long time, if you wanted to get around the world you were going to have to go by water at some point. And the thing about water is that everything is literally smooth sailing on the surface. When things go wrong, however, then you sink. In general, sinking sucks. It’s cold, you can’t breathe, pressure can crush you and all kinds of stuff will eat you. Please avoid sinking at all costs. 

Historically, not everyone or everything has avoided sinking and sometimes the stories of what happened are a lot weirder than you’d think. 

10. The USS Bowfin Is the Only Submarine That Ever Sank a Bus

Submarines, on both sides, sank thousands of ships during WWII. They have proven to be some of the most valuable naval assets a country can have. They are so good at what they do that the USS Bowfin managed to sink a bus. Think about that for a second.

A bus, to clarify, is not an aquatic vehicle. Nevertheless, back in 1944, after a refit at Pearl Harbor the Bowfin set out to sea. It made its way after a Japanese convoy to some islands close to Okinawa. There were three vessels moored in the harbor alongside a pier with a crane and some supplies and such.

Seizing an opportunity, the Bowfin fired three torpedoes, then made a quick position change and fired off three more. The result was the destruction of several Japanese vessels but also the pier. That meant, in addition to sinking enemy ships, the Bowfin managed to take out the crane and a bus that had been parked on the pier as well. It is the only recorded case of a submarine taking out public transportation. 

9. L Ron Hubbard Claimed to Have Sunk Two Mystery Submarines During WWII 

Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard really loved the sea. There’s a whole aquatic division of Scientology that’s a gong show of a story for another time, but Hubbard himself was also a naval man and served at sea in the military. Or, at least, he had some colorful stories about it.

Back in 1943, Hubbard was serving in WWII. According to him, he was an absolute MCU-level hero like Captain America. According to the Navy, not so much. He claimed to have sunk two Japanese vessels in May of that year, just off the Oregon coast. The problem was that the Navy could find no evidence of the vessels, though it seems he had his crew open fire on a log at one point. Hubbard later claimed it was a coverup because the military didn’t want anyone to know the Japanese got so close to the shore.

Hubbard would later lose his command after accidentally sailing into Mexican waters and firing guns at an island for no reason. 

8. North Korea Claimed to Sink a US Vessel That Was Already Decommissioned

Lots of things can be hard to unravel in the fog of war and some fine details have likely been lost to history all over the world in every conflict in recorded history. Sometimes it’s less being unsure of who fired first or what kicked off which battle where and more someone just lying. But if you are going to lie, you want to try to do it believably. North Korea has not mastered this.

North Korea claimed that, back in 1950, they sank the USS Baltimore. She was a heavy cruiser and it would be significant to any military’s history to have taken that ship out. However, official records state that the Baltimore was decommissioned in 1947.

7. The US Military Sank a Radioactive Aircraft Carrier Near San Francisco 

When a boat is sunk on purpose by the military or a company that owns it, it’s called scuttling. There’s nothing wrong with it and sometimes it’s even used to make artificial reefs for fish and cool places to go scuba diving. It’s an effective form of recycling. But you’d hope that, if someone does scuttle a ship, they let people know it’s happening. Especially if the ship is radioactive.

The USS Independence was an aircraft carrier that was involved in nuclear bomb tests. As a result, the ship ended up absorbing more than its fair share of radiation. They used it as a target ship at Bikini Atoll. 

They brought the vessel back to San Francisco in the late 1940s to study nuclear decontamination and then, in 1951, they took it 30 miles offshore and scuttled it. Experts stated the ocean is a good buffer against radiation and the contamination is minimal so the fear of it getting into fish you might eat is also minimal. Which doesn’t mean non-existent, of course. Just minimal. 

6. Titanic’s Sister Ship Sank a U-Boat

RMS Olympic was launched in 1910 and it was the largest ship in the world at the time. It was the first of three revolutionary ocean liners, the third of which was far better known – the Titanic. But before the Titanic stole her thunder, the Olympic was a big deal. She was actually one of the vessels that responded to the Titanic’s distress call when it sank.

Because WWI broke up, no one was taking massive cruise liners across the sea and the Olympic was tweaked with a gray paint job, covered portholes, and other adjustments to make it less noticeable to enemy vessels. She became the HMT Olympic and served as a troopship. The paint job was changed to dazzle camouflage, and she was outfitted with guns.

In 1918, the Olympic crew spotted a German U-boat in the English Channel and countered its torpedoes by full-on ramming the enemy ship, sinking it.

5. There Are Over a Half Dozen Nuclear Subs Sunk at Sea

Nuclear submarines have been around since 1955. With that much history, you can safely assume not all of them are in service anymore, but you may not want to know what happens to all of them since the story is not a comforting one. Not every nuclear sub made it safely back to harbor to be decommissioned in a safe and friendly manner. 

There are at least 8 nuclear submarines which have been lost at sea. That means nuclear reactors and weapons sunk to the icy depths and maybe no one knows where anymore. The general consensus is that this isn’t so bad, since the reactors are shielded and could keep them safe for centuries, by which time most of the fuel will have died, anyway. Fun!

Russia has planned to retrieve some of their lost vessels: K-159, which sank in 1963, and K-27, which was scuttled in 1982 despite being mildly radioactive. So far nothing has happened on that front. 

4. Garfield Phones From a Sunken Shipping Container Have Washed Ashore for Decades

The sea returns all kinds of things to the land over time. Some things can be lost at sea for years before it washes up somewhere. For about 40 years, Garfield phones have been washing up on shore in Brittany and it’s also thanks to a sunken ship with the most impressive cargo of all time. 

In 2019, after being plagued by the phones for years, a shipping container full of them that sank in the ’80s was finally identified. The container had been swept into a cave that could be accessed at low tide, like a strange pirate treasure. 

3. An Overflowing Toilet Sank a U-Boat

U-boats were terrifying during the war and sank as many as 3,000 Allied vessels. That’s obviously a lot of lives lost and damage caused so anything that could take out a U-boat was welcome. And, in one case, it was a toilet that did one in.

U-1206 was in the war towards the end of combat and was one of the most advanced vessels in the fleet. For whatever reason, German engineers decided that removing the septic system to save space was a good idea. Instead, the subs just shot waste into the sea. The problem was that it only worked near the surface. 

After failing to figure the toilet out on their first voyage, the captain called in an engineer who turned the wrong valve and began to flood the sub with seawater and poop. Why was there a valve that let that happen? Who knows?

The mix of poop and seawater flooded the battery room, which was conveniently located under the bathroom. The batteries began to release poisonous gas as a result. 

Flooding and filling with gas, the sub had to surface, and it needed to do so quickly. They fired torpedoes to increase buoyancy and then surfaced right in front of allies who attacked. Most of the crew was taken prisoner and U-1206 sank.

2. The Eastland Sinking Killed More People Than the Titanic

Some nautical disasters can be chalked up to bad luck, but not all of them. The Eastland Disaster was a tragedy and the blame for the death toll falls on extremely poor planning. Unlike the Titanic, the Eastland didn’t head out onto the open sea; it was on Lake Michigan. And when it sank, nearly 850 people died. 

The Eastland was a passenger liner, taking 2,573 passengers from Chicago out across the lake to a park for a day trip and picnic. The boat, one of five carrying employees of Western Electric Company, was already known to be unsteady and had nearly capsized more than once in the past. 

On the day of the fatal voyage, it was listing, in port, before all the passengers were even on board. Rather than cancel the trip, the crew simply tried to use ballast to balance the boat. They fixed it, then it started listing the other way. 

At 7:25 a.m. it was listing 25 degrees to port and was taking on water. At 7:30 it headed out anyway and then rolled to its side. Because there were so many people on board, even though it happened right at the port with people watching, hundreds were crushed under the boat and couldn’t be saved. 844 people in total died.

No one was ever held accountable for the deaths and the cause was speculated to be indirectly related to the Titanic. The boat was outfitted with new lifeboats after the sinking of the Titanic, which didn’t have enough for its passengers. The Eastland’s lifeboats are believed to have made the boat top-heavy, which caused the instability. 

1. The Whaling Ship Essex Was Sunk By a Sperm Whale

The whaling ship Essex sank on November 20, 1820, and may qualify as the most dramatic sinking in history next to the Titanic, at least in terms of the overall impact it has had on culture. This seems hard to understand at first since everyone knows the Titanic and, probably, very few people know the Essex. But it’s less that the Essex sank that it’s famous, and more why it sank.

The Essex was rammed by a sperm whale. It was out on a two-and-a-half-year whaling voyage when it encountered a pod. Smaller boats were sent out to harpoon the whales and one was hit.

At the same time, one whale broke away from the pod and it was a big one. Reports said it was 85 feet, much larger than the average 65 feet for adult sperm whales.  It headed straight for the Essex and smashed into the hull. The size and speed were too much, even for a 238-ton whaling vessel. The hull buckled, and the boat sank. 

If the story sounds vaguely familiar, it may be because this was the inspiration for Herman Melville’s Moby Dick.