While this list includes the "oldest surviving" ships, many have since been restored, and/or reconstructed. Ships that have been exposed to the elements gradually deteriorate over time, thus no ship can be considered truly original due to part replacements during a ship's life. This leads to a known paradox called the "
Ship of Theseus", making the definition of "original" unclear. An example is the : the original sank in 1820 and was raised and reconstructed three times. These extensive reconstructions left little of the original ship remaining (nonstructural items). Another separate issue is incomplete ships due to weathering conditions caused by their status as a former
shipwreck, or by sheer neglect. One example is the ship
Mary Rose, whose raised and preserved remains consist of only a partial hull. Those that remain underwater and intact are lumped into a separate category that focuses on shipwrecks, such as those found in the
Black Sea. Many surviving old ships may also appear on other Wikipedia lists such as
lightvessels. Many old lightvessels survive worldwide to this day, unlike ocean liners of which there are very few pre-
World War II examples.
With these things in mind, the following are excluded • Replicas – There is an article on
ship replicas. • Underwater wrecks – There is an index with
lists of shipwrecks. • Ships made after 1918 – This is a list of "oldest" ships launched before 1919.
The following things are included in this page • Reconstructed ships – "Restored" is fine as long as the ship retains its original features or some of its original features. • Wreckage – As long as they are restored in some way and put on display as a museum exhibit. All of the ships listed below include a fully intact or partially intact
hull. Ships like the
Lady Elizabeth are still considered to be surviving despite their current condition of not being preserved. == Legend ==