All wrecks which are known to have taken place off the Dorset Coast are recorded in the Maritime Archaeological Record .  The records are divided into two categories:

• Known wreck sites, where survey has located the remains on the seabed.
• Casualties or reported wrecks, where a wreck is known to have taken place (usually from contemporary records) but where no physical traces have, as yet, been discovered.

A new book, Shipwrecks of the Dorset Coast, by Gordon Le Pard of the Dorset Coast Forum is now available. Full of photographs, many never published before, it will be of interest to everyone who if interested in ships, shipwrecks or the Dorset Coast.

• Protected and adopted wrecks

  Eighteen sites off the Dorset Coast receive some form of protection. Four have legal protection, which restricts activities on the site, whilst the other fourteen have been adopted by amateur groups under a scheme run by the Nautical Archaeological Society.

• Studland Beach Wreck

  During the winter of 2000/2001, a substantial timber from an ancient ship was washed up on Studland beach. This was only the first of a series of remarkable discoveries on the beach.

• The Great Eastern in Dorset

  The Great Eastern, the third, final and greatest ship built by the great Victorian engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel made an involuntary visit to Dorset in 1859. Relics of her visit have recently been unearthed.