Historic England
The original HMS Falmouth builder's model digitised alongside a survey of the seabed, presented by Historic England.
MEET THE RESEARCH TEAM ↗ THE WRECK EXPLORER / IMMERSIVE ARCHIVEWRECKS
WRECKS
IN THREE
DIMENSIONS.
These wrecks aren't drawings of what might be below. They're real research models you can turn, zoom and explore — captured by maritime archaeologists and the divers who investigated them.
03 VERIFIED THIRD-PARTY MODELS · A GROWING COLLECTIONROTATE / ZOOM / DISCOVER
FIRST EXPEDITIONHMS Falmouth
LATEST ARRIVALSS Thistlegorm
THE DIFFERENCEReal survey evidence
00 / THE REAL THINGTouch the history.
Touch the history.
Explore the evidence.
Our 3D collection brings together original research published by its creators, not models invented by us. Every display credits its author and links back to the original. Tap a model to load it, then rotate with a finger and pinch to zoom on your iPhone.
01 / THE LIVE EXPLORATION ROOMChoose your
Choose your
descent.
From a British cruiser off Yorkshire and a lost steamer in the North Sea to a wartime cargo ship in the Red Sea. Three wrecks, each investigated using real historical or archaeological evidence.
HMS Falmouth, captured in three dimensions.
Tap below to load Historic England's original ship-model and seabed research viewer. The content loads directly from Sketchfab.
Model shown with creator attribution. Third-party viewers require an internet connection. Drag to rotate; pinch to zoom. Never for dive navigation.
OPEN ORIGINAL ON SKETCHFAB ↗✧
REAL MODELS. CLEAR CREDIT.
These independently created or institutionally commissioned works are embedded through Sketchfab with author credits. The Wreck Explorer has not created, bought, downloaded or modified the 3D models. Falmouth combines historic modelling and seabed survey; Lotte Halm and Thistlegorm feature photographic wreck scans.
02 / THREE WRECKS, THREE STORIESExplore beyond
Explore beyond
the model.
A genuine 3D model is just the beginning. Open each investigation to discover what history and archaeology tell us about the wreck.
WWI / ROYAL NAVY / YORKSHIRE01
HMS Falmouth
A veteran of Jutland; struck by torpedoes and lost off Yorkshire in 1916. Historic England's research links the original builder's model with a seabed survey.
EXPLORE THIS WRECK →WWII / CARGO STEAMER / GERMAN NORTH SEA02
Lotte Halm
A burning timber cargo, a ship that refused to sink, and a wreck mistakenly classified as a submarine for decades. How divers solved the mystery.
INVESTIGATE LOTTE HALM →WWII / MERCHANT VESSEL / RED SEA03
SS Thistlegorm
Motorcycles, lorries, railway locomotives and a wartime voyage cut short. Explore Simon Brown’s 2017 photogrammetry and Holger Buss’s 2022 scan.
EXPLORE THISTLEGORM →NEW / ORIGINAL RECONSTRUCTION LABWhat about the wrecks
What about the wrecks
we haven't scanned?
Beyond genuine third-party photogrammetry, our team is starting to build explicitly labelled artistic interpretations from historic evidence. Our first is HMT Garmo — not a measured survey, but a fully interactive original 3D study.
EXPLORE OUR ORIGINAL GARMO MODEL ↗03 / TRACE THE ORIGINSResearch you
Research you
can follow.
Every model points back to the people who made it and to publicly available research. We don't pass off their work as our own.
3D MODEL / UKHMS Falmouth · Historic England↗3D MODEL / GERMANYLotte Halm · Holger Buss↗FIELD RECORDDie Gezeitentaucher · The Lotte Halm investigation↗3D MODEL / RED SEASS Thistlegorm · Simon Brown / Deep3D↗3D MODEL / RED SEASS Thistlegorm · Holger Buss / Dive3D↗ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCHThe Thistlegorm Project · 2017 underwater survey↗
03 / AN ORIGINAL WRECK RECONSTRUCTIONOur first wreck
Our first wreck
made from evidence.
Alongside the three original research models above, we've started creating our own three-dimensional interpretations. These are reconstructions, not photogrammetry scans — and we label the difference clearly.
ORIGINAL 3D STUDY 001 / YORKSHIRE
HMT Garmo
Explore a working 3D reconstruction of the wreck as divers describe it today. Rotate the remains, reveal the reported anchor winch and detached gun, and see which details are still uncertain.
EXPLORE OUR FIRST ORIGINAL 3D WRECK ↗INTERPRETIVE MODEL / NOT A MEASURED SURVEY