The submarine military drone accidentally stumbles with the deepest shipwreck found in France:

Archaeologists have discovered by chance what they say are the remains of a merchant ship of the 16th century to more than 1.5 miles underwater in southern France, the deepest finding in its section of the Mediterranean or any other French needle.

Archaeologists believe that the ship sailed from northern Italy loaded with ceramics and metal bars before it sinks.

Despite a small modern waste that splashed their sunk load at 8,422 feet under sea level, researchers were excited about the potential of an archaeological site largely intact.

“It is the deepest shipwreck that has been found in French territorial waters,” said Arnaud Schaumasse, head of the Department of Underwater Archeology of the Ministry of Culture, Wednesday night.

The Submarine and Submarine Archaeological Research Department of France published images of the shipwreck on social networks, saying that the ship was discovered “during a military operation to explore the seabed.”

An underwater drone stumbled upon the ship sunorate by chance at the beginning of March in waters near Saint-Tropez, in southeast France, said the maritime prefect of Vice President Thierry of the Burgade.

“The sonar detected something big, so we returned with the device camera, then again with an underwater robot to take high quality images,” he said.

The drone was patrolling the bottom of the sea as part of a government project to explore and monitor the deep water resources of France, from minerals to deep -waters Internet cables.

Archaeologist Marine Sadania said that experts discovered 200 jugs with pinch pools between the remains on the site they have called “Camarath 4”.

Some of these jugs were marked with the “His” monogram, the first three letters of the Greek name of Jesus, or covered with geometric patterns or plants inspired.

These details seemed to indicate the jugs from the Liguria region in what is now northern Italy, he said.

“Camarath 4 is a notable discovery for its depth, unprecedented and the opportunity offered to study an almost intact accident of the 16th century,” said the Department of Underwater and Submarine Archaeological Research of France.

“As if time frozen”

The experts also identified batteries of around 100 yellow plates, two boiler, an anchor and six cannons.

Modern waste, such as a can of soda or an empty yogurt container, were also seen. An image released by the officials seemed to show an aluminum can next to an anchor.

But despite this, “the site, thanks to its depth that prevented any recovery or looting, has remained intact, as if the time freezes, which is exceptional,” Sadania said.

In the next two years, she and her colleagues plan to make a 3D digital version of the ship, as well as extract site samples to study them better before returning them to the public domain.

According to the Ministry of Defense in charge of exploring the deep seas of France, researchers can eliminate an article from a shipwreck guiding an underwater robot with tweezers or arms, through a long cable that joins the device with a boat on the surface.

The authorities said the additional analysis will be carried out by experts in ceramics, archaeologists and specialists in Naval Architecture.

The deepest French authorities had found a sunk vessel so far had 2.3 kilometers under the sea level of the southern city of Toulon in 2019.

The remains belonged to Minervaa French submarine who immersed himself in his disappearance in 1968 with 52 crew of the navy on board, only four minutes after the start of a routine assignment.

• Shipwreck
• France