{"id":179330,"date":"2025-06-12T21:07:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T21:07:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/179330\/"},"modified":"2025-06-12T21:07:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T21:07:16","slug":"underwater-military-drone-accidentally-stumbles-upon-deepest-shipwreck-ever-found-off-france-as-if-time-froze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/179330\/","title":{"rendered":"Underwater military drone accidentally stumbles upon deepest shipwreck ever found off France: “As if time froze”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Archaeologists have discovered by chance what they say are the remains of a 16th-century merchant ship more than 1.5 miles underwater off southern France, the deepest such find in its section of the Mediterranean or any other French waters.<\/p>\n

Archaeologists believe the ship was sailing from northern Italy loaded with ceramics and metal bars before it sunk.<\/p>\n

Despite a little modern waste dotting its sunken cargo at 8,422 feet below sea level, researchers were excited about the potential of an archaeological site largely preserved intact.<\/p>\n

“It’s the deepest shipwreck ever found in French territorial waters,” Arnaud Schaumasse, the head of the culture ministry’s underwater archaeology department, said late Wednesday.<\/p>\n

France’s Department of Underwater and Submarine Archaeological Research released images of the shipwreck on social media<\/a>, saying the vessel was discovered “during a military operation to explore the seabed.”<\/p>\n

\"jugs-506453598-1228681362386269-1988712175652218816-n.jpg<\/p>\n

Archaeologists say they discovered by chance what they say are the remains of a 16th-century merchant ship more than 1.5 miles underwater off southern France.<\/p>\n

National Navy via France’s Department of Underwater and Submarine Archaeological Research<\/p>\n

An underwater drone stumbled upon the sunken ship by chance in early March in waters near Saint-Tropez in southeastern France, deputy maritime prefect Thierry de la Burgade said.<\/p>\n

“The sonar detected something quite big, so we went back with the device’s camera, then against with an underwater robot to snap high-quality images,” he said.<\/p>\n

The drone was patrolling the seabed as part of a government project to explore and monitor France’s deep-sea resources, from minerals to deep-sea internet cables.<\/p>\n

Archaeologist Marine Sadania said experts discovered 200 jugs with pinched spouts among the wreckage at the site they have dubbed “Camarat 4.”<\/p>\n

Some of these jugs were marked with the monogram “HIS,” the first three letters of the Greek name of Jesus, or covered with plant-inspired or geometric patterns.<\/p>\n

Those details seemed to indicate the jugs hailed from the Liguria region in what is now northern Italy, she said.<\/p>\n

“Camarat 4 is a remarkable discovery for its depth, unprecedented character and the opportunity it offers to study an almost intact 16th-century wreck,” France’s Department of Underwater and Submarine Archaeological Research said.<\/p>\n

“As if time froze”<\/p>\n

Experts also identified piles of around 100 yellow plates, two cauldrons, an anchor and six cannons.<\/p>\n

Modern waste, such as a soda can or an empty yogurt container, were spotted too. One image released by officials<\/a> appeared to show an aluminum can next to an anchor.<\/p>\n

\"anchor-can-493037804-1228681459052926-5277308859069340156-n.jpg<\/p>\n

Archaeologists say they discovered by chance what they say are the remains of a 16th-century merchant ship more than 1.5 miles underwater off southern France.<\/p>\n

National Navy via France’s Department of Underwater and Submarine Archaeological Research<\/p>\n

But despite this, “the site — thanks to its depth which prevented any recovery or looting — has remained intact, as if time froze, which is exceptional,” Sadania said.<\/p>\n

Over the coming two years, she and colleagues plan to draw up a 3D digital version of the ship, as well as extract samples from the site to better study them before returning them to the public domain.<\/p>\n

According to the defense ministry in charge of exploring France’s deep seas, researchers can remove an item from a shipwreck by guiding a submarine robot with pincers or arms, via a long cable linking the device to a boat on the surface.<\/p>\n

Officials said further analysis will be carried out by ceramic experts, archaeologists and specialists in naval architecture.<\/p>\n

The deepest French authorities had found a sunken vessel until now was 2.3 kilometers under sea level off the southern city of Toulon in 2019.<\/p>\n

The wreckage belonged to La Minerve<\/a>, a French submarine that plunged to its demise in 1968 with 52 navy crew on board, only four minutes after the start of a routine assignment.<\/p>\n

\"shipwreck-502898802-1228681525719586-3615561736483342987-n.jpg<\/p>\n

Archaeologists say they discovered by chance what they say are the remains of a 16th-century merchant ship more than 1.5 miles underwater off southern France.<\/p>\n

National Navy via France’s Department of Underwater and Submarine Archaeological Research<\/p>\n

\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Archaeologists have discovered by chance what they say are the remains of a 16th-century merchant ship more than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,36,73829],"class_list":["post-179330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-france","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-france","tag-shipwreck"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114672439080593362","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}