the deepest wreck in French waters discovered off the Var – Liberation
An incredible find, made by chance, in the depths of the Mediterranean. The remains of a 16th century merchant ship were identified off Ramatuelle (Var), 2,567 meters below the surface of the sea, the Maritime Mediterranean Maritime Prefecture and the Ministry of Culture announced on Wednesday, June 11. This is the wreckage « The deepest ever discovered in French territorial waters »certified in Nice Arnaud Schaumasse, director of the department of underwater and submarine archaeological research (DRASSM), during a presentation to the press on the ship of this organization, the Alfred-Merlin.
So far, the deepest discovery wreckage was that of Minerva submarineoff Toulon, 2,300 m deep.
The discovery of this wreckage – called « Camarat 4 » – was made on March 4 on the occasion of the diving of a underwater drone as part of the « Strategy to reconquer the seabed » Launched in 2019 by the government, said Thierry de la Burgade, assistant to the maritime prefect of the Mediterranean. « Sonar detected something quite important, so we returned with the camera of this autonomous machine, then again with a underwater robot, to obtain images of very high quality »said Thierry de la Burgade.
According to the first hypotheses of the DRASSM, a laboratory belonging to the Ministry of Culture, the wreck is that of a merchant ship of the 16th century who left a port of northern Italy for an unknown destination, of a dimension of 30 meters by 7, and loaded with at least two cargoes, ceramics and iron transported in the form of bars.
The images show in particular « 200 Magnificent Glubular Pichets with Pinched Spread, marked with the IHS monogram of Christ or with plant or geometric patterns which evoke at this stage a source from the Liguria region »said Marine Sadania, archaeologist responsible for the Drassm in Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur.
This wreck also has an anchor, six iron cannons, a hundred stacked yellow plates or two lying boards. It is based on sand in a lunar setting but unfortunately polluted by Contemporary macro-wastesoda cans or yogurt pots.
Despite this pollution, « This site, thanks to its depth which prevented any recovery or looting, has remained intact, as if time had stopped, which is exceptional and presents a very strong archaeological potential »said Marine Sadania.
In connection with the French Navy, the DRASSM plans in the next two years to continue the expertise of this wreckage with the realization of a « Digital twin » in 3D and plans to take samples for a more in -depth study before a restitution of these excavations to the public.
