1. The Titanic. Believe it or not, as famous as this shipwreck is, it is not the most expensive shipwreck of all time, though it did hold that title for 77 years. When the Captain chose to sail in the icy waters, believing his ship to be indestructible, he took a seven million dollar ship to Davy Jones’ Locker. What’s worse, it was the Titanic’s first trip to sea. These days, that same 7 million is worth over $150,000,000. And that says nothing about the loss of life, which we all know was substantial. So, what disastrous shipwrecks could possibly top turning the world’s most luxurious oceangoing vessel (of its time) into a glorified ice cube tray? Keep reading.

1. The Exxon Valdez. Apparently, Prince William Sound is one bitch of a place to have an oil spill. The Exxon Valdez’ leak was nowhere close to history’s biggest oil slick, but the remote location made it inaccessible to most cleanup equipment. Only helicopters and boats could approach the ship, which rammed into the reef while the Captain was away from the helm. So what was the bill? Exxon Valdez had to shell out a cool two and a half billion dollars. Just in case, you want to count zeroes, that’s 2,500,000,000.

1. Prestige Oil Spill. What do you do when you’re the Captain of an oil tanker carrying 77,000 tons of fuel oil and one of your tanks burst in a storm? That’s right, you call the nearest port for emergency help. Apparently when that port is in Spain, however, they tell you adios. And then when France and Portugal give you the same message (OK, technically the messages were adeus and au revoir), each country telling you to stay the hell out of their coastal waters, you know you’re really screwed. So, what is there to do other than shit your pants? Eventually, you break in half and dump 20 million gallons of oil into the ocean, for total damages of twelve billion dollars.

Boat accidents can be devastating. That’s why there’s boat insurance. It says something that the worst boat disaster is surpassed in damages only by a space shuttle explosion and a nuclear meltdown.

The ship remains were discovered this summer by divers, who found the twenty bottles of champagne, still packaged, still amber, and still bubbly. By all appearances, the champagne, originally produced sometime during the 1870s or 1880s was still drinkable.

The divers may not have been wine speculators, but apparently, they enjoy a bit of the bubbly themselves. Originally bringing a single bottle to the surface predominantly for the purposes of identifying and dating the shipwreck, the divers decided to celebrate with the champagne when they discovered that it still appeared drinkable. And, indeed it was still drinkable.

According to one of the divers, the champagne “had a sweet taste and you could taste oak and it had a very strong tobacco smell.” It is not yet certain how many bottles were on the shipwreck, or if the champagne bottles are indeed of Cliquot vintage. What is certain is that those men downed a very expensive bottle of champagne.

If the bottles are what they are believed to be, they are expected to instantly become the most expensive champagne in the world. The most expensive wine of any sort, for that matter. Each bottle is estimated at half a million Swedish kroner. That’s about $68,000 for us Americans. Bottom line, those are some damned expensive bottles of champagne. By comparison, 1907 Heidsieck Monopole, a Bordeaux found on a shipwreck was previously the world’s most expensive bottle of wine and sold for a comparably paltry $35,000 per bottle. It kind of makes you wonder if the ship’s captain had any idea how valuable his cargo would be someday when he was trying to decide how much boat insurance to take out.

To make matters worse, maritime law is usually different than land law. You need an attorney who specializes in your kind of accident. Here are some steps you can take to make sure you get the right one:

1. Start with your friends and family. Word of mouth is still the most reliable means of advertisement anyways. Ask around at work and at family gatherings to see if anyone’s had a positive experience with a particular attorney.
2. Move to the yellow pages. If you can’t find a lawyer this way, go through the telephone listings and the local advertisements. This will give you a list of attorneys to go from. Keep in mind that anyone can put a listing in the phone book, so the size and design of the ad has nothing to do with how good a lawyer they really are. Alternatively, depending on where you live, you may be able to use the state bar association website to locate attorneys in your area.
3. Create a list of candidates and research them. You’ll need to contact each attorney and ask for references. Ask if they’ve dealt with your kind of case. Even your specific injuries matter, so ask if they have experience in that area. Find out whether they’ve dealt with specific boat insurance companies before. Also make sure they’re listed with the state bar association.
4. Interview your top two candidates. Most attorneys offer a free initial consultation. Make sure and go to both of them, even if the first is impressive. If you and the lawyer feel like you’re a good match, you should proceed. If neither works for you, go back to your list.
5. Don’t just settle for an “OK” lawyer. You want a lawyer who can really handle your case. If your case were that simple, you wouldn’t need an attorney in the first place. Hold out for the right attorney, even if it means going back to the start again and again.

Photo via MiguelVieira

Fortunately, at least these days, there are few public boating disasters. When a passenger boat does sink, it makes international news. Technological advancements both in the area of boat construction and in navigation systems pretty much assure us that there will never be another Titanic.

The S.S. Eastland

And that’s what you think about when you think about boating disasters: the Titanic. There was another boating disaster, back in 1915 in Chicago, just three short years after the sinking of the Titanic, another ship sank. This ship, the S.S. Eastland, was a passenger ship used for touring the Great Lakes. When this boat rolled over while tied to the dock on the Chicago river, it became the shipwreck disaster with the largest loss of life on the Great Lakes.

In all, 844 passengers and crew were killed when the S.S. Eastland rolled over. This was more than half of the 1,517 that perished in the Titanic disaster, in a ship that was much smaller in size.

An avoidable disaster

One of the truly tragic aspects of the S.S. Eastland disaster is that it could have been avoided. The ship was known to have design flaws, not the least of which was the high center of gravity. There were many incidents leading up to the 1915 disaster that should have served as warning signs.

The Titanic connection

There is a connection between the Titanic and the S.S. Eastland, and one that may also have contributed to the disaster. After the Titanic, the federal Seaman’s Act was passed. This act required many ships, including the S.S. Eastland, to be retrofitted with additional lifeboats. It is likely the extra weight of these lifeboats that made the ship more susceptible to tipping.

2752 passengers boarded the Eastland on the morning of July 24, 1915. The ship was packed, with many passengers traveling to the upper decks, adding to the top heavy situation. The ship began to list, and the crew attempted to stabilize it with little success. At 7:28 AM, a large number of passengers moved to the port side of the boat to see a passing canoe race. When that happened, the Eastland rolled over onto its side. Hundreds of people were trapped below deck. In spite of the fact that the ship was less than 20 feet from the wharf, those 844 met a tragic end.

The boat, which got stuck on the southbound City Drive at around 11:20 AM, was stuck for about an hour and a half. The bridge wasn’t damaged, but the boat was a little bit worse for the wear. According to the the Orange County Register, the boat may only have wound up with a few scratches on the roof.

The accident blocked a lane of traffic, but it only caused mild slowdowns due to onlookers trying to get a good view. You can find pictures of the accident at the Register’s website.

This wasn’t the first time this year that a boat got stuck under a bridge in California. Back in April, a 65-foot boat became wedged under the San Mateo Bridge. This boat, however, was in the water, rather than on dry land.

This boat, named Big Timber, lost control after heavy winds pushed it into the bridge. The boat had set out from Oyster Point with three people on board. Around a half mile from shore, the boat’s propulsion malfunctioned leaving the boat at the mercy of the winds and the waves.

No one was injured into the accident, but there was concern about diesel fuel being spilled into the bay. In addition, that accident did cause severe traffic issues. The boat caused a lane of traffic to be closed for nearly a full day, including during the morning commute. The boat wasn’t removed from under the bridge until three days later.

It took the better part of a day for officials to figure out the best way to remove the vessel. The accident caused the boat’s fuel tanks to be ruptured, so teams from the Coast Guard scoured the nearby shoreline and the waters to check for a fuel spill. Fortunately, there was no evidence of any environmental impact or damage. The Coast Guard was able to empty fuel out of the tanks, and also circled the boat as a precaution in case there would be a leak.

The salvage operation was delayed in part due to the high winds that were responsible for whipping the craft into the bridge in the first place. They also had to wait for high tide, where the water levels would rise to around 10 feet.

The bridge did not sustain any structural damage, although the boat did crape against the span and knock out some chunks of concrete as well as some light poles.