Google Sightseeing takes you on tour of the world as seen from satellite, using the free Google Earth program, or Google Maps in your web browser. Each weekday your guides James and Alex present new weird and wonderful sights as suggested by readers.

The editors: James & Alex

Ships in the Desert

Posted by Alex Turnbull, Friday, 20th April 2007

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We previously featured the dying Aral Sea back in January 2006, but since then much of the area has been updated with high resolution satellite imagery. Which means we can now see several ships, abandoned in the middle of a desert, a bit like the one in Close Encounters.

shipsinthedesert3.jpg shipsinthedesert.jpg

Read our original article for an explanation why these ships are here, and for links to other things to see in the area.

Thanks to Gyorgy Takacs.

5 Responses to 'Ships in the Desert'

  1. Keith T. says:

    Here’s a bunch more near a bridge that seems to have helped kill the river:
    Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth

  2. PeevedGuy says:

    Actually, this post reminded me more of Sahara

  3. Tim says:

    Actually, Keith T., I think that was a canal that the locals dug to try to save their ships.

  4. Tammo says:

    Keith T., looks to me like that is/was the approach channel for the harbor just North of there. They likely only built that dam across it AFTER the harbor became defunct when the water receded…

  5. shamas says:

    Wow…it’s amazing to see a ship in a dry desert! My Uncle use to be an award winning logger in the Sahara forest. So now you know why today it’s a desert…:) But he never saw a ship there. Amazing indeed.

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