Beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, scientists encountered a truly alien landscape that might just haunt your dreams.
It was 2017, and a team from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was searching for what they thought might be a shipwreck, perhaps containing a lost archaeological trove. The remotely operated dive was part of an expedition aboard the Okeanos Explorer to map and survey the Gulf, led by marine biologist Diva Amon and echinoderm expert Charles Messing.
The ship's sonar had picked up some kind of structure about 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) down. It had the hallmarks of a sunken vessel: a large structure surrounded by several smaller ones.
"Today is truly a day of exploration as we send the ROV (remotely operated vehicle) over to this unknown sonar target", one crew member said as the team guided the vehicle toward the suspected wreck.
From the shadows of the Gulf's seafloor, an eerie landscape emerged: a barren, sandy plain littered with rusted white cubes. Some had burst open on impact, exposing their plastic intestines and copper arteries. The unsettling scene looked like the deep sea's own maze of abandoned backrooms.
As the ROV moved closer, a metal instruction plate appeared beneath sand and oxidized deposits. Parts of the text could still be made out: "To Operate", "For Personal Safety", and "Problem Solving". Most of the bullet points beneath them, however, were illegible.
Then a much larger shape loomed out of the deep blue: a crumpled red shipping container, with more white cubes spilling from its torn side. The cubes were household appliances - refrigerators, freezers, and washing machines. The metal plate contained laundry instructions.
"I don't think the spin cycle is going to be working on it", one crew member commented, prompting an eruption of laughter.
A sticker on one appliance suggested that it came from General Electric's Appliance Park in Louisville, Kentucky. "Other appliances were scattered nearby as well as further afield, forming what we had assumed was a 'debris field'", the official dive notes state. "The container ID number was ITLU733016, with a series of other identifying markings. The cargo appeared to include a variety of brands (RCA, GE, etc.) and was without packaging, suggesting that the cargo was going to be recycled".
But the container never made it across the waves.
"This is a bit surreal", a crew member mused as the ROV panned across the appliance graveyard. "We are at 1.5 kilometers in the deep sea. And here we are, moving through a field of freezers, fridges, and washing machines".
"You think of the deep sea as a fairly untouched place, but this is just a reminder that it really is not. We still manage to have an impact on this very alien area and ecosystem".
The NOAA team speculated that the container could have fallen from a ship in stormy weather. According to World Shipping Council data, a few hundred to more than 1,000 containers are lost at sea each year, out of approximately 280 million transported. In a report covering 2025, the council noted that severe weather increases the likelihood of cargo being lost as ships encounter rougher seas. Even without storms, warmer-than-usual ocean temperatures can increase wave energy.
"Most people out there probably don't realize how much stuff ends up in the ocean", a NOAA crew member said.
"The research has suggested that lost containers could take hundreds of years to fully degrade in the deep ocean, if not more", another crew member added.
In the meantime, some animals have made these strange structures their home. Corals and hydroids cling to the metal, their soft bodies rippling as the ROV passes. A large fish even sheltered in the container's shadows. The NOAA crew nicknamed the wreck "Deep Clean".
Missions like this are part of NOAA's continuing work to explore the deep ocean. Their live ROV feeds also give the public a window into the crew's reactions to the strange and wonderful things they find in these largely uncharted waters.