Building Blocks: Shipwreck

You’ll generally recognise a shipwreck when you see one – it’s a pile of rotting planks, beams, and treasure chests, usually half-buried in the seabed, or more rarely along a beach. They’re found in various states of decay – often the front or the back of the ship will be missing, or it will sink with its bottom facing upward.

However you find one, be sure to take the time to explore it because shipwrecks are full of tasty loot. Depending on which parts of the boat are still intact, you’ll find up to three chests – supply chests, treasure chests and map chests, as well as all the wood that makes up the shipwreck itself, of course.

Supply chests are full of useful items – food, armour, fuel, and the occasional block of TNT. Treasure chests contain valuables – rarer resources like iron, gold, lapis lazuli, emeralds, and even diamonds. Finally, map chests will often contain things like paper, feathers, compasses, and – best of all – maps that show the location of buried treasure.

It’s thought that the coastlines of Earth are home to more than three million shipwrecks, which have accumulated over thousands of years. Some of the most well-known include the Titanic, the Lusitania, the Andrea Doria, and the Empress of Ireland. And if you ever come to Stockholm, you can see one with your own eyes: there's a whole museum dedicated a shipwreck.

Ships sink for all kinds of reasons – storms, piracy, warfare, poor navigation and bad design (like the Vasa ship, mentioned above) are among the most common. But for a shipwreck to be preserved for very long, you also need the right conditions underwater. Tidal currents, depth of water, the saltiness of the sea, its temperature, the presence of sealife, and whether the wreck is covered in sand and silt all play a role.

Shipwrecks are more valuable than you might think. Archaeologists value them for their historical interest. Divers value them as a place to explore. Marine conservationists value them because they can act like artificial reefs and be a home to sea life. Salvagers value them for the monetary value of their cargo and components.

Whatever the reason, you can bet that for as long as we have ships we’ll continue to have shipwrecks. So next time you’re cruising along one of Minecraft’s beautiful coasts, and you spot a shipwreck, take the time to stop, gather the loot, then harvest the timber and build something new out of the ruins. It’s what the sailors wood have wanted.