Madrague de Giens (Shipwreck)

Discovered by divers from the French Navy Diving School in 1967, the archaeological investigations of the Roman wreck at Madrague de Giens constituted the first large scale, “truly scientific underwater excavation[s] carried out in France”. The wreck lies at around 18 to 20 metres depth^[2] off the coast of the small fishing port of La Madrague de Giens on the Giens peninsula, east of Toulon, on the southern Mediterranean coast of France.^[3] Sunk around 75-60 BCE, the vessel has been found to be “a large merchantman of considerable tonnage - 400 tons deadweight with a displacement of around 550 tons”,^[4] making it one of the largest Roman wrecks excavated, with only the wreck at Albenga, Italy (around 600 tons deadweight) exceeding it at the time of its discovery.^[5] The vessel wrecked at Madrague de Giens measured around 40 metres in length;^[1] “showed a sharp bottom with “wine glass” section and a prominent keel creating a large leeboard”;^[4] displayed extended raking of the stem and stern; and had two masts.^[4] The hull was characterised by a reverse stempost in the shape of a ram with a big cutwater which “must have given... [the] craft high-performance sailing qualities”.^[4] The ship sunk while transporting a large cargo of wine and black glazed pottery from Italy.^[1] It is not known why it sank.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madrague de Giens (Shipwreck)