Ship Wreck Graveyard [Modern Ruins]

Ship Wreck Graveyard [Modern Ruins]: "

Like last century's space junk, this vessel that once bore humans through a dangerous and hostile element are now decaying into the Earth. Here is a haunting gallery of the places our ships go to die.

In August, Gianluigi Guercia took this shot of a ship wrecked on the Northern Cape coastline, South Africa, on the outskirts of a De Beers-owned diamond mining town called Kleinzee. Isolated under strict security for the 80 years diamonds have been mined there, this area nicknamed the Diamond Coast hangs in limbo. According to Agence France-Presse, since 2007 De Beers has drastically reduced operations at the mine as the precious gem runs out, reducing staff from about 3,000 to 250. Photo via GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP/Getty Images

In August, Gianluigi Guercia took this shot of a ship wrecked on the Northern Cape coastline, South Africa, on the outskirts of a De Beers-owned diamond mining town called Kleinzee. Isolated under strict security for the 80 years diamonds have been mined there, this area nicknamed the Diamond Coast hangs in limbo. According to Agence France-Presse, since 2007 De Beers has drastically reduced operations at the mine as the precious gem runs out, reducing staff from about 3,000 to 250. Photo via GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP/Getty Images

This is the 'before' image. According to AFP:

Decommissioned Australian naval warship HMAS Canberra is scuttled in an area of Bass Strait inhabited by about 46 other wrecks, known as the Ship's Graveyard, some 100 kilometres south-west of Melbourne, on October 4, 2009 . . . About 16 charges located in the ship's hull were detonated creating a soft popping noise and a puff of grey smoke before water flowed through pre-made holes in the ship, sinking it in about two minutes.

Photo via WILLIAM WEST/AFP/Getty Images

This is the 'after' image. Decommissioned Australian naval warship HMAS Canberra is scuttled in an area of Bass Strait inhabited by about 46 other wrecks, known as the Ship's Graveyard, some 100 kilometres south-west of Melbourne, on October 4, 2009 . . . About 16 charges located in the ship's hull were detonated creating a soft popping noise and a puff of grey smoke before water flowed through pre-made holes in the ship, sinking it in about two minutes.

Photo via WILLIAM WEST/AFP/Getty Images

Here you see the remains of the bow of HMS Volage, a British destroyer that struck a mine off the Albanian port of Sarande on October 22, 1946. This episode was an early melee in the Cold War.
Photo via STR/AFP/Getty Images

Here you see the remains of the bow of HMS Volage, a British destroyer that struck a mine off the Albanian port of Sarande on October 22, 1946. This episode was an early melee in the Cold War.
Photo via STR/AFP/Getty Images

In November, people off the coast of Kumano City in Japan witnessed the ferry Ariake, carrying 3,300 tonnes of cargo and 28 passengers and crew, roll over and sink into the waves during a storm. Everybody on board was rescued by the coast guard. Photo via JIJI PRESS/AFP/Getty Images

In November, people off the coast of Kumano City in Japan witnessed the ferry Ariake, carrying 3,300 tonnes of cargo and 28 passengers and crew, roll over and sink into the waves during a storm. Everybody on board was rescued by the coast guard. Photo via JIJI PRESS/AFP/Getty Images

Watch the fake Victorian ship burn. This is a replica of a Dutch East India Company Prince Willem vessel. It's burning in the museum harbor in Den Helder, Netherlands. Photo via MAURICE AMOUREUS/AFP/Getty Images.

According to Getty Images:

The rotting hulks of old boats decay in the sands of Fleetwood Marshes on July 27, 2009 in Fleetwood, England. Seven boats have been rusting and rotting away on the banks of the River Wyre since the 60's and 70's. Some are the remnants of fishing boats and others, according to locals, are the skeletons of whaling boats after the practice was banned in the 1970's.

Photo via Christopher Furlong/Getty Images.

According to Getty Images:

The rotting hulks of old boats decay in the sands of Fleetwood Marshes on July 27, 2009 in Fleetwood, England. Seven boats have been rusting and rotting away on the banks of the River Wyre since the 60's and 70's. Some are the remnants of fishing boats and others, according to locals, are the skeletons of whaling boats after the practice was banned in the 1970's.

Photo via Christopher Furlong/Getty Images.

According to Getty Images:

The rotting hulks of old boats decay in the sands of Fleetwood Marshes on July 27, 2009 in Fleetwood, England. Seven boats have been rusting and rotting away on the banks of the River Wyre since the 60's and 70's. Some are the remnants of fishing boats and others, according to locals, are the skeletons of whaling boats after the practice was banned in the 1970's.

Photo via Christopher Furlong/Getty Images.