The Deadliest Shipwrecks in History
Monday, October 5, 2026
“What a resurrection there will be from the caverns of the deep when the sea gives up her dead!” – C.H. Spurgeon
In 1945, the MV Wilhelm Gustloff, an ocean liner converted into a German troop transport, was torpedoed off the Prussian coast with 7,000-10,000 people aboard. Only a handful survived.
In 1987, a passenger ferry in the Philippines named the Dona Paz collided with an oil tanker in the Tablas Strait. Both ships caught fire and nearly everyone aboard both vessels died, an estimated 4,386 passengers.
In 1865, the SS Sultana, a Mississippi River steamboat, exploded due to a boiler failure while overcrowded with more than 2,000 passengers, making it the deadliest U.S. maritime disaster in history with an estimated 1,800 casualties.
In 1912, the HMS Titanic struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage. Due to a shortage of lifeboats, more than 1,500 of the 2,224 people aboard perished in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic.
In 1991, a passenger ship named the Salem Express struck a reef between Jeddah and Safaga, sinking within 10–20 minutes. Most of the passengers were Moroccan-French pilgrims and more than 1,000 of them drowned.
That’s roughly 18,000 deaths caused by just five shipwrecks over a span of 126 years. How many more people have died over the centuries on the world’s oceans, seas, lakes, and rivers is anyone’s guess.
However, those people will not remain in their maritime graves forever. I Thessalonians 5:16 tells us that “the dead in Christ shall rise first” during the Rapture. I believe that may be what Charles Spurgeon is referring to in today’s quote, because that resurrection will be a glorious one.
Tragically, there will be a second resurrection just prior to The New Heaven, the New Earth, and the New Jerusalem (see Revelation 21). That resurrection is described in Revelation 20 and is immediately followed by the Great White Throne Judgment where unbelievers will be judged according to their works, found wanting, and – because their names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life – they will be cast into the lake of fire for all eternity. What a horrible fate… and one that can be avoided by trusting in Jesus Christ as Savior.
“The sea gave up its dead, and Death and Hades gave up their dead, and each one was judged according to his deeds.” Revelation 20:13 (BSB)
- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President
