Shipwreck structure in Minecraft

How to find a Shipwreck

Shipwrecks are among the most common ocean structures. The game tries to place one in every 24 × 24 chunk region, with at least 4 chunks between two of them, in any ocean biome, warm or frozen, shallow or deep. A second version, the beached wreck, generates on a Beach or a Snowy Beach, half sunk into the sand: you can walk right up to it.

From a boat, look for a mast or a dark line of planks under the surface. Warm and lukewarm oceans have the clearest water, so wrecks there are easy to spot from above. In deep water, swim down along a slope rather than diving blindly; a wreck often sits tilted on the seabed. Ocean Ruins generate in the same waters, and their chests can hold treasure maps too.

Upright, sideways, upside down: the wreck shapes

No two wrecks look quite the same. A ship can rest upright, lie on its side or sit upside down, with or without its mast. It can be a full hull or only the front or back half, and each shape also exists in a worn-out version with missing planks. The hull mixes two wood types picked from oak, spruce, birch, jungle and dark oak, so colours vary from wreck to wreck.

This matters for the loot: a half wreck only carries the chests of its own half. If you find just a bow, expect the supply chest (plus the map chest when it lies upside down); if you find just the stern, expect the map and treasure chests.

The three chests and where to look

• Supply chest, near the bow. Food, paper, coal, a few Suspicious Stews, sometimes TNT and pieces of enchanted leather armor.
• Map chest, under the rear deck. A Buried Treasure Map, plus paper, feathers, books and sometimes a Compass, a clock or an empty map.
• Treasure chest, at the stern. Iron ingots and nuggets, Emeralds, gold, lapis, Bottles o' Enchanting and, now and then, a diamond.

Each of the three chests also has a small chance to hold the Coast armor trim smithing template and armor for a tamed Nautilus. Check all three before you leave.

Following the treasure map

The map shows the area around a nearby beach with a red X. That X marks a Buried Treasure chest, which always contains a Heart of the Sea, the item you need to craft a Conduit. Hold the map while you travel: your marker moves across it until it reaches the X. The treasure page explains how to dig at the exact block.

Tips to loot a Shipwreck safely

• Bring air. A Potion of Water Breathing gives you all the time you need to search a deep wreck. Without one, surface between chests.
• Cut through the hull. An axe breaks planks quickly, and making a hole above a chest saves you a long swim through the decks.
• Watch out for Drowned. The wreck itself has no guards, but Drowned are common in ocean water, especially at night, and some carry tridents.
• Take the wood. A beached wreck is an easy source of planks, stairs and logs early in a new world.

✓ Checked in Java Edition 26.3 · updated 1 November 2026