Ah, I wondered whether I'd get any guessers ... but I will remove the mysteries. They are all well known books.
The 1974 thriller. JSWolf, you hit the nail with the thriller movie bit (wondering if you had this in mind when you said it).
Jaws by Peter Benchley. I've never read it, but the reviews at
Goodreads suggest it could be quite readable. Lots of beach, lots of water, it's a good match to the theme.
The 1957 apocalyptic story was
On the Beach by Neville Shute. I rejected this partly on the grounds that comments about Shute on here, when
A Town like Alice was read, were less than enthusiastic.
The 1993 literary novel was
The Shipping News by Annie Proulx. I've never read it even though there is a paper copy sitting on the shelf. I figured "shipping" should have some water in it somewhere, so this theme would make a good excuse to get to it.
The 1870 classic was, of course,
20,000 Leagues Under the Seas by Jules Verne. Hard to get more watery than that.
I didn't mention it earlier, but I also considered Jeanette Winterson's
Lighthousekeeping (2004), which sounds interesting to me (see on
Goodreads).