French Navy finds 16th century ship 2,500 meters deep

The boat, named Camarat 4, in reference to a famous local rocky cape, This is the deepest shipwreck ever found in France and one of the deepest in all of Europe.

Extreme conditions ensured the ship’s preservation for five centuries

The remarkable discovery occurred by chance, during an exploratory operation by the French Navy during testing of underwater tools, in March last year.

“Suddenly, the sonar detected something quite large, so we returned with the device’s camera and then again with an underwater robot to capture high-quality images”, revealed deputy maritime mayor, Thierry de la Burgade, to the AFP news agency.

The conditions in which the archaeological piece was found caught the attention of scientists, as the merchant ship was preserved from degradation and looters. This is due to the extreme conditions of the place, whose low temperatures, low light and absence of ocean currents preserved the boat for five centuries.

The vessel is around 30 meters long and seven meters wide, and its cargo includes hundreds of decorated ceramic jars, with funneled spouts, yellow ceramic plates and metal bars – the latter wrapped in plant fibers to protect them from moisture.

The merchandise was essential to identify the origin and date of the ship: the jars and other items have common manufacturing characteristics from the 16th century in the Liguria region, northwest of Italy, such as the inscription “IHS”, which represents the first three letters of the name of Jesus Christ in the Greek language.

In addition to the ceramic and metal items, archaeologists also found a cannon, essential on merchant ships at the time, as trade routes at the time were often attacked by pirates.

From the bottom of the ocean to the surface: the delicate conservation process and future challenges

The head of the underwater archeology department at the French Ministry of Culture, Arnaud Schaumasse, now intends to bring together experts from different fields of research, historians, geologists and ceramics researchers, with the aim of solving other mysteries of Camarat 4.

“Recovering a 16th century ceramic jar from a depth of 2,500 meters, where it remained for 450 years, requires extensive preparatory work, carried out in collaboration with specialists”, he also tells the AFP agency.

“How to handle the object, how to bring it to the surface, how to preserve it after exposure to air – all these initial steps must be perfectly controlled, otherwise there is a risk of irreparable damage. Therefore, before deciding to proceed with the recovery, solid guarantees are needed in all aspects”, adds the researcher.

The French Department of Underwater and Submarine Archaeological Research (DRASSM) also intends to discover specifics of the vessel itself, by analyzing the ship’s hull (which has not yet been found) using small wooden samples, for precise dating and location purposes.