Just came across a story from Nature showing how the Aral Sea in Russia, which was once the fourth largest freshwater body on the planet, is 90% dry.
The following image from NASA shows the extent of this environmental disaster.
You can also see a photographic display of the environmental disaster here:
http://www.flickr.com/...
Many of the photos show the abandoned rusted shells of huge ships which have been left on the drying lake bed, looking as though they sailed into a desert and were just left there.