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In this collection, we look at 12 of the most famous ships that have ever sailed the high seas. From antiquity to the 20th century, these ships were famous for various reasons, some for their technical innovations, others for their sheer size, still others for their precious but ultimately lost cargo or the passengers they carried to new worlds. Throughout history, certain ships have grabbed the record for the quickest mode of travel or become the largest moving objects ever made by humans. Others have gained fame through tragedy, becoming victims of war or enduring wrecks still explored today.
Our choice of 12 of the most important ships in history is:
RMS Titanic was 269.1 metres (882 ft 9 in) in length and lived up to its name with a displacement of 66,000 tons. The main anchor alone weighed 15.5 tons. Equivalent to an 11-story building, the ship was the largest moving object made in history up to that time.
Questions & Answers
What does the SS stand for on boats?
- SS in a ship's name stands for Steamship, for example, the SS Great Britain. Such ships were powered by steam engines.
What does RMS stand for on boats?
- RMS in a ship's name stands for Royal Mail Ship, for example, the RMS Titanic. Such ships carried mail across the world.
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About the Author
![Mark Cartwright]()
Mark is WHE’s Publishing Director and has an MA in Political Philosophy (University of York). He is a full-time researcher, writer, historian and editor. Special interests include art, architecture and discovering the ideas that all civilizations share.
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Uploaded by Mark Cartwright, published on 11 June 2025. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.
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