Underwater Drones Assist Uncover France’s Deepest Shipwreck

Underwater Drones Assist Uncover France’s Deepest Shipwreck

July 18, 2025

Roughly 71% of Earth’s floor is roofed by water, but a lot of it stays unexplored, particularly its deeper areas, which common round 3,700 meters in depth however can vary from only a few meters in coastal zones to over 11,000 meters within the Mariana Trench. Beneath these huge waters lie an estimated 3 million shipwrecks, spanning hundreds of years of maritime historical past. Of these, solely a fraction, fewer than 20,000, have been positioned and documented. Up to now decade, nonetheless, that quantity has begun to climb steadily, thanks largely to advances in underwater drone expertise. Autonomous and remotely operated autos (AUVs and ROVs) have made it attainable to survey deeper, sooner, and extra precisely than ever earlier than, unlocking secrets and techniques lengthy hidden on the ocean ground.

One of many earliest and most high-profile shipwrecks found with the assistance of drone expertise was the HMS Erebus, a vessel from Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 Arctic expedition. Situated in 2014 by a Canadian group utilizing an autonomous underwater car, the discover marked a turning level in underwater archaeology. Since then, drones have performed a key function in uncovering different historic wrecks in a few of the world’s most difficult environments.

In 2022, the Endurance, misplaced in Antarctica’s Weddell Sea throughout Ernest Shackleton’s expedition, was discovered practically 3,000 meters under the ice utilizing a hybrid submersible referred to as Sabertooth. In 2020, the USS Nevada, a battleship that survived each Pearl Harbor and nuclear testing, was positioned greater than 4,700 meters deep off Hawaii by a group utilizing autonomous and remotely operated drones. And in 2023, the Montevideo Maru, a World Warfare II transport ship carrying over 1,000 prisoners of conflict, was discovered off the Philippines with the assistance of deep-sea drone mapping. These discoveries, as soon as thought unimaginable, at the moment are changing into routine as expertise continues to push the boundaries of ocean exploration.

Whereas many shipwrecks are discovered by means of focused search missions, others are found fully accidentally throughout unrelated underwater operations. The latest discovering of France’s deepest recognized shipwreck is a main instance. Not too long ago, a French Navy group conducting a routine drone seabed survey off Saint-Tropez stumbled upon a Sixteenth-century service provider vessel greater than 2,500 meters under the floor. The operation was not meant to find historic wrecks however to help a navy train targeted on deep-sea monitoring. As deputy maritime prefect, Main Common Thierry de la Burgade recounted, “The sonar detected one thing fairly huge, so we went again with the gadget’s digital camera, then once more with an underwater robotic to snap high-quality pictures.”

That marked the preliminary astonishing discovery of what could be named Camarat 4, France’s deepest recognized wreck. To research additional, France’s Ministry of Tradition physique, DRASSM (Division of Underwater and Submarine Archaeological Analysis), deployed a ROV to survey the location intimately. This vessel was recognized as a 98-foot-long, 23-foot-wide Sixteenth-century service provider ship, believed to have originated in Liguria in northwest Italy, and transporting round 200 ornamental ceramic pitchers, 100 plates, metallic bars, two cauldrons, six cannons, and an anchor.

At 2,567 meters, it’s the deepest wreck ever recorded in French waters, and its distant location has protected it from looting and degradation. “Camarat 4 is a exceptional discovery for its depth, unprecedented character and the chance it gives to check an nearly intact Sixteenth-century wreck,” defined Marine Sadania, who makes a speciality of underwater archaeology with DRASSM. Sadania considers the wreck a priceless time capsule due to its intact cargo and distinctive insights into Mediterranean commerce. She stated the group plans to digitize the wreck utilizing drone-enabled 3D photogrammetry over the subsequent two years and selectively get better a couple of artifacts, similar to a ceramic jug or metallic bar, utilizing the drone’s robotic arm. These will likely be fastidiously studied after which returned for public show.

Main Common de la Burgade emphasised how drones are redefining underwater discovery, saying, “An underwater drone stumbled upon the sunken ship by likelihood,” marking a brand new period the place navy and environmental drone utilization can yield sudden archaeological breakthroughs. As underwater drones turn out to be extra extensively used for every little thing from infrastructure inspections to ecological research, these unintentional discoveries have gotten more and more frequent. Every shock discover not solely expands our understanding of maritime historical past but in addition demonstrates the rising attain of autonomous and remotely operated applied sciences throughout the ocean ground.

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