In my book and on this website, shipwreck is discussed as a literary topos. This motif can be traced back to the very beginnings of written literature, as the ancient Egyptian Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor and Homer’s Odyssey clearly demonstrate.
The idea of a “love of the sea” is a relatively recent phenomenon, emerging no earlier than the Romantic era. The 18th and 19th centuries also saw a renewed and intensified interest in “shipwreck” and the condition of being castaway.
This goes on until today. Even a cursory search will find a dozen of films or novels about castaways or shipwrecks.
However, I want to be very clear about one point:
there is nothing romantic about being shipwrecked in reality. My heart bleeds when I think of the many people who lose their lives attempting to cross the seas in search of nothing more than a better life.
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Shakespeare's Shipwrecks 