<P> The Great Lakes , a collection of five freshwater lakes located in North America , have been sailed upon since at least the 17th century , and thousands of ships have been sunk while traversing them . Many of these ships were never found , so the exact number of shipwrecks in the Lakes is unknown ; the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum approximates 6,000 ships and 30,000 lives lost , while historian and mariner Mark Thompson has estimated that the total number of wrecks is likely more than 25,000 . In the period between 1816 , when the Invincible was lost , to the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975 , the Whitefish Point area alone has claimed at least 240 ships . </P>
<P> The Great Lakes , a collection of five freshwater lakes located in North America , have been sailed upon since at least the 17th century , and thousands of ships have been sunk while traversing them . Many of these ships were never found , so the exact number of shipwrecks in the Lakes is unknown ; the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum approximates 6,000 ships and 30,000 lives lost , while historian and mariner Mark Thompson has estimated that the total number of wrecks is likely more than 25,000 . In the period between 1816 , when the Invincible was lost , to the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975 , the Whitefish Point area alone has claimed at least 240 ships . </P>
how many shipwrecks are there in the great lakes
how many shipwrecks are there in the great lakes
25,000
25,000