Ask anyone the biggest maritime disaster in modern history, and most people would immediately say Titanic. With a loss of more than 1,500 lives, that was indeed terrible. But in terms of loss of life, the Titanic doesn't even make the top 20.

What follows is an incomplete but engrossing list, compiled from a host of books and credible Internet databases, with which to impress your friends when the onboard conversation turns – academically, we hope – to maritime disasters. Because – let's face it – while we all go out on the water in search of a good time, it is the bad times that become the stuff of stories. The worse the problem, the bigger the story.

SMITHSONIANThe Titanic, before an iceberg caused her demise.Of course, boats sink all the time. Few are the weeks that go by in which some vessel, be it ferry or freighter, does not kiss the ocean floor, and it may seem morbid to dwell on them. But many of these disasters have led directly to improved safety requirements at sea, including mandates such as life boats, floatation and safety drills, or new and better environmental practices.

And some tragedies simply stand above the rest, owing the loss of life, the circumstances of the sinking or even the heroics involved. Much of this history has been embedded in the public consciousness, cataloged by the names of the ships. Titanic. Lusitania. Andria Doria. Exxon Valdez. And there are many more cases – some far more deadly – that have not.

WILHELM GUSTLOFF, LUSITANIA

Unsurprisingly, many of the worst events occurred during wartime. Large ships loaded with troops or refugees were targeted by submarines on both sides of the conflict during World War II. The worst disaster ever in terms of loss of life – one that beats out Titanic many times over – was the German steamer Wilhelm Gustloff. It was torpedoed by a Russian sub on Jan. 30, 1945, with a loss of 5,900 to 7,000 lives.

Another well-known World War II disaster was the British transport Laconia, which was sunk on Sept. 12, 1942, by a German sub. The U-156 crew didn't realize that the Laconia was carrying 1,800 Italian prisoners of war. A total of 1,649 people were lost in that disaster.

ASSOCIATED PRESSThe bow of the Titanic, as she sits now on the bottom of the ocean.The Titanic made everyone familiar with the concept of "women and children first." Until then, there was no such custom.On May 7, 1915, the RMS Lusitania was sunk by a torpedo fired from the German submarine U-20. England and Germany were at war at the time, but the United States was not involved. However, this action, in which 1,198 people lost their lives – including 128 of the 139 Americans aboard – helped push the United States into World War I.

DONA PAZ, TITANIC

The worst peacetime maritime disaster was the loss of the Philippine ferry Doña Paz, which collided with the oil tanker Vector south of Manila on Dec. 20, 1987. Some of the tanker's 8,800-barrel cargo caught fire. The fire quickly spread to the Doña Paz, which sank in minutes. The official death toll on the overcrowded ferry was put at 1,565 (plus 11 crew members from the Vector), though there are reports that claim the total was more than 4,000.

The story of Titanic striking an iceberg off Newfoundland on April 14, 1912, is perhaps the best known of maritime disasters – even before Hollywood got hold of it – owing to its status as the maiden voyage of a luxury liner with a passenger manifest that included some of society's upper crust. The story captured imaginations and continues to do so. Just last year, a life vest from the Titanic was auctioned for more than $100,000.

Over the years, people have pointed to several weaknesses in Titanic: a more brittle form of iron used in its construction and substandard rivets, to name two. But the real reason for its demise was human error – it was proceeding too fast, too far north, in an effort to set a record. Titanic set a record, but not the kind the owners wanted. This disaster led to creation of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, commonly referred to as SOLAS, which, among other things, specified how many lifeboats must be carried, mandated safety drills and contained several provisions concerning distress signals. It also resulted in the establishment of the International Ice Patrol, which is carried out by the U.S. Coast Guard. (For a story on the ice patrol, see link.)

The Titanic made everyone familiar with the concept of "women and children first." Until then, that evacuation protocol had not always been followed. One stark example occurred during the sinking of the paddlewheel steamer USS Arctic, of the Collins Line. It collided with the French steamer Vesta on Sept. 27, 1854, off Newfoundland, resulting in the death of 322 people, including the wife and two children of the shipping line's owner. Of the 87 men rescued, 65 were crew members. No women or children survived.

CANADIAN ROYAL NAVYA pen-and-ink rendering of the RMS Lusitania.The second-worst passenger vessel loss after the Doña Paz was Le Joola, a Senegalese ferry. It capsized Sept. 26, 2002, off the coast of Gambia with a loss of 1,863 lives. Only 64 people survived. Like the Doña Paz, it was overloaded; the maximum number of passengers it should have been carrying was 535.

The last major trans-Atlantic passenger vessel to sink was the SS Andrea Doria, an Italian luxury liner that collided with the passenger ship MS Stockholm off Nantucket on July 25, 1956. There were 46 fatalities, and 1,660 people were rescued. The cause for the collision was never officially announced, but it was apparently the result of each ship's crew misunderstanding the intentions of the other. Neither attempted to contact the other by radio – something that is now required by international law – though the ships tracked each other on radar for several minutes before the collision.

EXXON VALDEZ, PRESTIGE

Beyond human fatalities, a more recent kind of disaster at sea is posed by large oil spills. To Americans, the name that comes most readily to mind is the Exxon Valdez.

On March 24, 1989, the tanker left the channel in Prince William Sound to avoid some icebergs but then fetched up on Bligh Reef. The result: a spill of 10.8 million gallons of crude oil into one of the most fragile ecosystems in the world. No human lives were lost, but countless numbers of seabirds, fish, otters, seals and eagles were killed. The livelihoods of local fishermen were seriously impacted as well. It took months to clean up the shoreline, which nearly 20 years later is still not totally free of oil. Lawsuits connected with the spill are still in the courts.

ASSOCIATED PRESSOn March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez left Prince William Sound to avoid icebergs but hit Bligh Reef. The result: a spill of 10.8 million gallons of crude oil into one of the most fragile ecosystems in the world.What became of the Exxon Valdez? It was floated off the reef and towed to San Diego, where it was repaired and continues to ply the waves under a different name. However, it can never enter Prince William Sound again. And, as a result of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, which makes it illegal for any tanker that has spilled more than a million gallons of oil anywhere from entering Prince William Sound, neither can 18 other vessels.

More recently, on Nov. 13, 2002, the Prestige, a Greek-operated, Bahamian-registered, Liberian-owned tanker with a cargo of 81,000 tons of oil, got into trouble off the coast of Spain. One of its 12 tanks burst in heavy weather. Fearing pollution, Spain, France and Portugal refused entry to the tanker. The storm eventually took its toll: First, the ship lost a 40-foot section of the hull, then it broke in half and went to the bottom, immediately releasing a large quantity of oil. The wreck continued to leak for months (and may still be leaking smaller amounts).

Some of the cargo has been removed from the sunken ship, but it is estimated that 20 million gallons of oil have been released into the sea. Large areas of the Spanish and French coasts were polluted, and Spain banned fishing in the usually productive area for six months. The result of this disaster has been a seemingly endless argument among shipping nations, especially in Europe, over whether single-hull tankers should be banned. Tankers today are being built with double hulls, so that if the outer hull is damaged, the inner hull will continue to hold its cargo and the ship will be able to proceed to port. The United States is phasing out all single-hull tankers by 2012.

EDMUND FITZGERALD, YARMOUTH CASTLE

Disasters have long been the stuff of songs, and maritime disasters are no exception. Thanks to the Gordon Lightfoot song, the Edmund Fitzgerald is known to almost everybody.

ASSOCIATED PRESSThanks to the Gordon Lightfoot song, the Edmund Fitzgerald is known to almost everybody. Launched in 1958, the ship was the biggest ore carrier on the Great Lakes until the 1970s, and its wreck remains the largest in those waters.Launched in 1958, the ship was the biggest ore carrier on the Great Lakes until the 1970s, and its wreck remains the largest in those waters. The Fitzgerald, with all 29 hands, sank on Nov. 10, 1975, in a strong gale on Lake Superior. It had been proceeding in company with another ship, the Arthur M. Anderson, and had occasional radio contact.

The Fitzgerald reported a list and topside damage, including loss of radar. At 7:10 p.m., the captain of the Fitzgerald reported, "We are holding our own." That was the last anyone ever heard from the ship. Subsequent search efforts found some debris and lifeboats, but no survivors. The case has been investigated and analyzed through the years, but no one has come up with a definitive cause for the foundering.

There have been a number of memorial events. These include musical remembrances in addition to Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." A group called the Great Lakes Myth Society included samplings of radio transmissions in its song "Lake Effect," and a musical, "Ten November" (since reedited and renamed "The Gales of November").

An earlier Gordon Lightfoot song, "The Ballad of Yarmouth Castle," describes the loss of the cruise ship SS Yarmouth Castle. Built in 1927, the often-sold, Panamanian-flagged vessel was on the Miami-Nassau run when a fire ignited in some stored mattresses about 1 a.m. Nov. 13, 1965. The fire spread so quickly that there wasn't a chance to send out a distress call. Two ships in the vicinity saw the glow and rushed to the aid of the ship. The first to arrive on the scene was the Finnish freighter Finnpulp.

It picked up the first, half-full lifeboat from the Yarmouth Castle and found it contained only four passengers. The other 20 occupants were crew members, including the captain. The Finnpulp took the passengers aboard and sent the lifeboat back again and again. A little over four hours after the fire began, the ship rolled over and sank. The death toll was 90, which included two crew members; 291 passengers and 174 crew members were rescued.

CANADIAN ROYAL NAVYOn May 7, 1915, the RMS Lusitania was sunk by a torpedo fired from the German submarine U-20. It's believed that 1,198 people lost their lives, including 128 Americans.A number of serious problems came to light: The Yarmouth Castle's fire alarms didn't activate, nor did its sprinkler system; none of the fire hoses had adequate pressure and one had been cut; it was difficult to launch the lifeboats because the falls were covered with thick coats of paint; and the lifeboats that were launched did not have oarlocks and had to be paddled with the oars. These were only the worst findings. If there is any good news to the story, it is that this event helped further the expansion of SOLAS, the international safety treaty established as a response to the Titanic disaster.

FLYING ENTERPRISE

There are stories of heroism, too. In December of 1951, a cargo ship called Flying Enterprise left England for New York. The steamer had been built in the rush of shipbuilding during World War II and was now making a living as a tramp. On Christmas Day, the cargo shifted in heavy seas and Flying Enterprise took on a strong list to port. Shortly thereafter, the hull started to crack abaft the bridge. This was a known problem for such ships, and the crew lashed the ship together, but the lifeboats were all lost.

The next day, as the list increased, the captain, Kurt Carlsen, ordered the ship abandoned and a distress call was sent out. The USNS General A.W. Greely responded, and all passengers and crew were taken off with a loss of just one life.

Carlsen and Kenneth Dancy, the mate of the salvage tug Turmoil, elected to stay aboard. The heavily-listing ship was taken in tow and headed for Falmouth. On Jan. 10, 40 miles from Falmouth, the towline snapped and couldn't be reattached. By that time the ship was listing even more heavily, and Carlsen and Dancy finally evacuated via the funnel minutes before the ship sank.

The drama held the world's attention for almost two weeks and showed that disasters at sea can bring out the best as well as the worst in people.

Gene Bjerke, whose work has appeared in Cruising World, Chesapeake Bay, Good Old Boat and Multihulls magazines, regularly crews on square riggers near his home in Virginia. He has been boating for 45 years.