Riou Et Les Calanques: Les Zones D'ombre
La Calanque des Anglais , la Pointe des Contrebandiers , vus de l'Enclos
Contrebande, Faussaires Et Fantaisie
Contrebande, Faussaires Et Fantaisie
Errances Et Réflexions D'une Promeneuse Solitaire
Alain Mante vous dira que la nuit
il n'y a pas de lumière dans la zone des Calanques.
La nuit, tous les chats sont gris!
A Riou il y a toujours eu des zones d'ombre.. si l'on peut dire, car celle dont je vais parler est en plein soleil dans le Mauvais Pays. A la Pointe des Contrebandiers il y a 3 emplacements de débarquement. Sur la falaise au dessus il y a un "enclos" sur la carte de mon père. J'avais pensé à un enclos pour rassembler les chèvres pour les embarquer, comme j'en avais vu en Grèce!! Or ce replat est à 110 mètres au dessus de l'eau. Il n'y a maintenant que des tuiles et des briques qui sont tombées de la Tour, pas la moindre cigarette américaine, ni bleu de chine, ni régime de bananes, ni oranges jetés par dessus bord des paquebots arrivant à Marseille.
L'enclos
Tout le monde connait l'affaire du Combinatie en 1952, et la plaisanterie bien marseillaise: "Si tu vas à Riou pêcher les arapèdes, ramène-moi deux cartouches de cigarettes!" L'histoire est bien dans le style des années d'après-guerre : Les 2700 caisses de cartouches de cigarettes ne furent jamais déposées dans l'enclos . Poursuivis par la police maritime, les gangsters mirent le cap sur la Corse, rien de moins, abandonnant leurs sous-fifres qui les attendaient sur Riou. Lesquels cueillis par les policiers dirent qu'ils étaient là pour pêcher. Comme ils n'avaient pas la moindre canne à pêche ou palangrotte ils dirent donc qu'ils étaient là pour pêcher des arapèdes.
L'idée était de se faire "voler" la marchandise assurée et la débarquer sur l'ile, ce qui évidemment doublait les revenus. Cela finit par une quinzaine de morts parmi les associés , parce que celui qui était en Corse décida d'écouler les cigarettes pour son compte personnel.
Cette histoire est racontée du point de vue de l'administration par Jean François Deniau dans Tadjoura. Il ne mentionne pas la pêche aux arapèdes
Chaumelin qui travaillait aux douanes, nous dit: " Carbessogne (Caramassane) est la seule partie de Riou qui renferme quelques baumes; elles sont généralement peu profondes et d'un accès difficile; elles ont servi longtemps d'entrepôts à Robespierre et à d'autres contrebandiers, qui attendaient le moment favorable pour transporter leur marchandise sur le continent". "Robespierre" était en 1815 un déserteur du nom de Pierre Serre, réfugié à Morgiou, qui après Waterloo sollicita et obtint un poste de douanier, afin d'apprendre ce dont il avait besoin pour devenir un contrebandier des plus efficaces, qui n'hésitait pas à se jeter à la mer du haut d'une falaise pour échapper à ses poursuivants, ou à chavirer son bateau qui avait un double fond.
L'idée était de se faire "voler" la marchandise assurée et la débarquer sur l'ile, ce qui évidemment doublait les revenus. Cela finit par une quinzaine de morts parmi les associés , parce que celui qui était en Corse décida d'écouler les cigarettes pour son compte personnel.
Cette histoire est racontée du point de vue de l'administration par Jean François Deniau dans Tadjoura. Il ne mentionne pas la pêche aux arapèdes
Chaumelin qui travaillait aux douanes, nous dit: " Carbessogne (Caramassane) est la seule partie de Riou qui renferme quelques baumes; elles sont généralement peu profondes et d'un accès difficile; elles ont servi longtemps d'entrepôts à Robespierre et à d'autres contrebandiers, qui attendaient le moment favorable pour transporter leur marchandise sur le continent". "Robespierre" était en 1815 un déserteur du nom de Pierre Serre, réfugié à Morgiou, qui après Waterloo sollicita et obtint un poste de douanier, afin d'apprendre ce dont il avait besoin pour devenir un contrebandier des plus efficaces, qui n'hésitait pas à se jeter à la mer du haut d'une falaise pour échapper à ses poursuivants, ou à chavirer son bateau qui avait un double fond.
En Juin 1866 un Sieur Serre ecrivit au ministère de la Guerre pour demander de louer la baraque de Riou, le jardin et avoir le droit de chasser dans l'ile.. En contrepartie on lui demandait de "surveiller l'ile et d'empêcher les gens d'emporter le sable dont il restait 20000 m3 et de ne pas laisser les Espagnols camper sur l'ile pour pêcher le corail de belle qualité qui venait d'être trouvé aux abords de l'ile, s'ils n'avaient pas demandé de permis!"
La demande ne dut pas avoir de suite, car les locations ne commencèrent qu'en 1886, donc 20 ans plus tard. Malheureusement le rapport au Ministère ne mentionne pas le prénom, mais jusqu'à preuve du contraire je pensais qu'il s'agit de Robespierre . Comme il est mort le 13 juillet 1854 à l'age de 64 ans; il ne me reste plus qu'à espérer qu'il ait fait souche.
Toujours d'après Bouillon-Landais, l'ile desertée est devenue le paradis des contrebandiers vers la fin du premier empire. Est-ce de ce temps là que date le long de la côte le sentier de douane, ou plus exactement l'ex sentier des batteries d'après les cartes de Matheron? Il va de Callelongue à Morgiou, se poursuit au-delà passant au dessous du Cap-Gros.il y en a un aussi de St Cyr sur Mer à Bandol. Marius Chaumelin, qui était employé des douanes rend visite aux douaniers de Morgiou, où il y avait un grosse fabrique de soude (Rivalz et Barry) qui empuantissait toute la vallée. Ses réflexions sur les déserteurs et les contrebandiers peuvent s'appliquer à Riou.
Il y avait un poste de douane à Sormiou, et il y a des ruines un peu partout, à la Mounine, dans l'éboulis sous le Cap Gros, à Port d'Alon, qui pourraient être des abris de douaniers.
En 1818 la caserne de la batterie Est de Marseilleveyre est donnée aux douaniers par le Génie .
La demande ne dut pas avoir de suite, car les locations ne commencèrent qu'en 1886, donc 20 ans plus tard. Malheureusement le rapport au Ministère ne mentionne pas le prénom, mais jusqu'à preuve du contraire je pensais qu'il s'agit de Robespierre . Comme il est mort le 13 juillet 1854 à l'age de 64 ans; il ne me reste plus qu'à espérer qu'il ait fait souche.
Toujours d'après Bouillon-Landais, l'ile desertée est devenue le paradis des contrebandiers vers la fin du premier empire. Est-ce de ce temps là que date le long de la côte le sentier de douane, ou plus exactement l'ex sentier des batteries d'après les cartes de Matheron? Il va de Callelongue à Morgiou, se poursuit au-delà passant au dessous du Cap-Gros.il y en a un aussi de St Cyr sur Mer à Bandol. Marius Chaumelin, qui était employé des douanes rend visite aux douaniers de Morgiou, où il y avait un grosse fabrique de soude (Rivalz et Barry) qui empuantissait toute la vallée. Ses réflexions sur les déserteurs et les contrebandiers peuvent s'appliquer à Riou.
Il y avait un poste de douane à Sormiou, et il y a des ruines un peu partout, à la Mounine, dans l'éboulis sous le Cap Gros, à Port d'Alon, qui pourraient être des abris de douaniers.
En 1818 la caserne de la batterie Est de Marseilleveyre est donnée aux douaniers par le Génie .
Calanque de l'Aiglon - 1932 - Cliché Dr. Albert
En 1896 Mr Tronc obtient de louer la cabane des exploitants des Sablières. Il fit bâtir pour son garde Pipo Meïni cette maison.
La Veuve Tronc demanda à renouveler le bail de l'ile en 1913 et ce lui fut accordé . On se demande pourquoi des gens qui habitaient Nice et Marseille étaient aussi intéressés à avoir une ile à Marseille, pendant une vingtaine d'années, et y maintenir un garde. Ils devaient rudement aimer chasser le lapin. Pourquoi Pipo envoyait-il des messages en morse tous les soirs? La recommandation de 1866 avait dû être sous entendue dans le bail des Tronc.
Leur cabanon que j'ai connu en ruine avait une citerne au pied du mur que l'on voit sur la photo de 1932.
J'espère, sans aucune autre preuve que le nombre de tessons, que c'est là que se trouvaient les bacs à saumure des pêcheurs massaliotes
Le cabanon des Tronc fut démantelé en partie par le dernier "gardien" Ernest, et les tuiles et matériel furent emportées à Podestat pour la construction du bar-restaurant, d'après ce que l'on a raconté à Alain Mante.
Avant ou après la guerre?? je ne sais pas. *
Car maintenant s'inscrivent 2 autres locataires sur l'ile pendant la guerre. Un couple d'italiens à qui Mr Amari de la Madrague avait confié son fils Raoul qui avait 10 ans. Ces gens-là pêchaient en bateau en 1943, donc avec l'accord des allemands. Et ils pêchèrent aussi un mort avec son parachute, mais auquel il manquait la moitié d'une jambe, et au lieu de le remettre à qui de droit avec la pêche du jour, ils le trainèrent en haut du vallon de Fontagne pour l'empierrer au pied d'une dalle, après l'avoir dépouillé de tout ce qu'il portait! Pas étonnant qu'ils aient fait jurer au gamin de ne rien dire!
*Sept 2008: Maintenant je sais.. après la guerre.. car Ernest Tanzi, interdit de séjour à Marseille, a bien passé son temps sur Riou pendant la guerre..il est l'italien qui a empierré l'aviateur allemand. Puis, après la guerre, il s'en alla à Podestat construire un bar en "empruntant" les tuiles, portes et fenêtres du cabanon des Tronc. Drôle de gardien !!
D'après mon copain pêcheur, "tout le monde" pêchait lorsque les allemands étaient là, seulement ils les obligeaient à partir à leur commandement, debout sur la jetée ..trop tard le matin pour faire une bonne pêche!!
(Lucien Blanchard écrit aussi que lorsque les allemands montaient à bord, ils leur faisaient arborer un drapeau à croix gammée! sans doute pour éviter de se faire canarder par leurs amis)
Après "naturellement la pêche se revendait au marché noir". J'ai comparé les Goudes à Cannery Row ..il faut bien survivre et faire profit de ce qui vous tombe sous la main, même si c'est un aviateur allemand avec une jambe arrachée ! Après tout le type est mort, mais il faut s'en débarrasser pour ne pas avoir à rendre des comptes aux collègues en uniforme vert, d'où l'enterrement sommaire.
Je serais curieuse de savoir ce qu'a pensé le dit-Ernest en 1964 lorsque l'article sur le squelette de Riou a paru dans les journaux. Et s'il a ri de soulagement lorsque R. Charles en a fait un pirate turc! Ernest Tanzi est mort en 1968, son cabanon a été rasé, seuls des agaves marquent l'emplacement dans Podestat.
Cela me rappelle le film Zorba, d'après la nouvelle de Nikos Kazantzakis. Mon mari, en bon américain, avait été horrifié par les vieilles grecques qui, telles des vautours, s'abattent sur la maison de l'étrangère qui vient de mourir et emportent tout. Le film les portrait comme des charognards, mais en fait leur comportement est tout à fait accepté par les habitants de l'Ile, et même ignoré par Zorba. Autre culture, autres moeurs ?? Pas si sûr!
Pendant 60 ans tout le monde se tait, ne pose pas trop de questions.. expression bien marseillaise à la clé.."on ne remue pas la merde".. de peur qu'elle ne remonte jusqu'à vous ?!?
Et puis beaucoup se rachètent une conduite.. demandez à Luc à qui je viens d'apprendre qu'Ernest de Podestat était le gardien de Raoul.. "La maison était magnifique, après le bain on y allait se faire offrir une menthe à l'eau avant de repartir à pied vers la Pointe Rouge".
La ruine de Riou était un abri pour les braconniers de la mer, et les contrebandiers, écrit mon père. Il parle du cabanon des Tronc qu'il a photographié en 1932.
Je ne sais pas quand elle fut totalement détruite, ni par qui. Je m'en souviens vaguement encore debout, de l'eau putride dans la citerne aux alentours des années 50, mais quant à dire s'il y avait encore les portes et volets! En 1972 la citerne était remplie de cailloux par un trou d'un mètre dans le plafond.
Un nommé Vittiglio , ( ou un "type de Gardanne") qui était dans les Travaux Publics remplaça la maison par une petite construction en parpaings plus à l'ouest, qui fut squattée par le déserteur et planqué, Jean Throude (Fille de Sormiou de Danièle Ricart, qui le fait s'autoproclamer gouverneur de l'ile en 1964, déserteur, et un général auprès de Massu..mégalomanie mythomane?!) .
La Veuve Tronc demanda à renouveler le bail de l'ile en 1913 et ce lui fut accordé . On se demande pourquoi des gens qui habitaient Nice et Marseille étaient aussi intéressés à avoir une ile à Marseille, pendant une vingtaine d'années, et y maintenir un garde. Ils devaient rudement aimer chasser le lapin. Pourquoi Pipo envoyait-il des messages en morse tous les soirs? La recommandation de 1866 avait dû être sous entendue dans le bail des Tronc.
Leur cabanon que j'ai connu en ruine avait une citerne au pied du mur que l'on voit sur la photo de 1932.
J'espère, sans aucune autre preuve que le nombre de tessons, que c'est là que se trouvaient les bacs à saumure des pêcheurs massaliotes
Le cabanon des Tronc fut démantelé en partie par le dernier "gardien" Ernest, et les tuiles et matériel furent emportées à Podestat pour la construction du bar-restaurant, d'après ce que l'on a raconté à Alain Mante.
Avant ou après la guerre?? je ne sais pas. *
Car maintenant s'inscrivent 2 autres locataires sur l'ile pendant la guerre. Un couple d'italiens à qui Mr Amari de la Madrague avait confié son fils Raoul qui avait 10 ans. Ces gens-là pêchaient en bateau en 1943, donc avec l'accord des allemands. Et ils pêchèrent aussi un mort avec son parachute, mais auquel il manquait la moitié d'une jambe, et au lieu de le remettre à qui de droit avec la pêche du jour, ils le trainèrent en haut du vallon de Fontagne pour l'empierrer au pied d'une dalle, après l'avoir dépouillé de tout ce qu'il portait! Pas étonnant qu'ils aient fait jurer au gamin de ne rien dire!
*Sept 2008: Maintenant je sais.. après la guerre.. car Ernest Tanzi, interdit de séjour à Marseille, a bien passé son temps sur Riou pendant la guerre..il est l'italien qui a empierré l'aviateur allemand. Puis, après la guerre, il s'en alla à Podestat construire un bar en "empruntant" les tuiles, portes et fenêtres du cabanon des Tronc. Drôle de gardien !!
D'après mon copain pêcheur, "tout le monde" pêchait lorsque les allemands étaient là, seulement ils les obligeaient à partir à leur commandement, debout sur la jetée ..trop tard le matin pour faire une bonne pêche!!
(Lucien Blanchard écrit aussi que lorsque les allemands montaient à bord, ils leur faisaient arborer un drapeau à croix gammée! sans doute pour éviter de se faire canarder par leurs amis)
Après "naturellement la pêche se revendait au marché noir". J'ai comparé les Goudes à Cannery Row ..il faut bien survivre et faire profit de ce qui vous tombe sous la main, même si c'est un aviateur allemand avec une jambe arrachée ! Après tout le type est mort, mais il faut s'en débarrasser pour ne pas avoir à rendre des comptes aux collègues en uniforme vert, d'où l'enterrement sommaire.
Je serais curieuse de savoir ce qu'a pensé le dit-Ernest en 1964 lorsque l'article sur le squelette de Riou a paru dans les journaux. Et s'il a ri de soulagement lorsque R. Charles en a fait un pirate turc! Ernest Tanzi est mort en 1968, son cabanon a été rasé, seuls des agaves marquent l'emplacement dans Podestat.
Cela me rappelle le film Zorba, d'après la nouvelle de Nikos Kazantzakis. Mon mari, en bon américain, avait été horrifié par les vieilles grecques qui, telles des vautours, s'abattent sur la maison de l'étrangère qui vient de mourir et emportent tout. Le film les portrait comme des charognards, mais en fait leur comportement est tout à fait accepté par les habitants de l'Ile, et même ignoré par Zorba. Autre culture, autres moeurs ?? Pas si sûr!
Pendant 60 ans tout le monde se tait, ne pose pas trop de questions.. expression bien marseillaise à la clé.."on ne remue pas la merde".. de peur qu'elle ne remonte jusqu'à vous ?!?
Et puis beaucoup se rachètent une conduite.. demandez à Luc à qui je viens d'apprendre qu'Ernest de Podestat était le gardien de Raoul.. "La maison était magnifique, après le bain on y allait se faire offrir une menthe à l'eau avant de repartir à pied vers la Pointe Rouge".
La ruine de Riou était un abri pour les braconniers de la mer, et les contrebandiers, écrit mon père. Il parle du cabanon des Tronc qu'il a photographié en 1932.
Je ne sais pas quand elle fut totalement détruite, ni par qui. Je m'en souviens vaguement encore debout, de l'eau putride dans la citerne aux alentours des années 50, mais quant à dire s'il y avait encore les portes et volets! En 1972 la citerne était remplie de cailloux par un trou d'un mètre dans le plafond.
Un nommé Vittiglio , ( ou un "type de Gardanne") qui était dans les Travaux Publics remplaça la maison par une petite construction en parpaings plus à l'ouest, qui fut squattée par le déserteur et planqué, Jean Throude (Fille de Sormiou de Danièle Ricart, qui le fait s'autoproclamer gouverneur de l'ile en 1964, déserteur, et un général auprès de Massu..mégalomanie mythomane?!) .
Les gens des Goudes racontent volontiers que lors de pique-niques sur l'ile , ils voyaient arriver ce type qui se disait garde de Riou et qui s'invitait à partager leur repas. Ceux qui se montraient généreux pouvaient revenir sans crainte de se voir refouler.
Cette cabane et l'ancien poulailler furent dynamités en 1971 par des pêcheurs qui n'avaient pas apprécié les embrouilles dont il était coutumier et sa main mise sur leur terrain!!
Ce qui entraina un ordre du préfet maritime Kermadec, ami de son père, le nommant garde de Riou seulement en 1973. Drôle de gardien !! Encore un!
On m'a fait remarquer aussi que cet homme "gardien d'une île" ne possédait pas de bateau. Il troquait le passage pour ses amis contre une permission de chasser le lapin, chasse sur laquelle il prélevait sa quote part en lapin ou en poisson, alors que la chasse était interdite sur l'ile, ainsi que le nudisme, les armes à feu, et les transistors!! Il se fit prêter un fusil par Pierre Gay propriétaire du bar de la Mahonnaise et ne le rendit jamais. Certains me disent l'avoir trouvé les accueillant nu comme un ver sur la plage.
A la suite des représailles musclées du Monasterio il vint demander à mon père la clé du cabanon de Fontagne, et lui promit de lui montrer des monnaies romaines, soit-disant trouvées dans la Sablière. Bien entendu nous ne l'avons plus revu.
Il promit aussi à Jean Courtin de lui montrer un crane soit-disant trouvé dans la Petite Sablière.
Le crane doit être avec les monnaies romaines.. et j'oubliais.. l'épée en argent du Turc.
Dans quel contexte s'inscrit la culture du pavot? Cette fleur ne pousse nulle part dans les calanques.. la seule explication "naturelle" serait que c'est un coquelicot qui a muté ou que les gabians ont apporté les graines!! Nous retombons ainsi dans la pêche aux arapèdes!
Mon père bien que membre du GEAR n'avait rien d'un botaniste. Il désigne les lentisques autour de la Fontaine des Grecs sous le nom générique de "Salades". Le reste du temps il employait le mot baragne pour tout ce qui était épineux, à enlever. Nous avons ainsi "débaragné" le chemin qui va de la Gardiole au sommet du Devenson lorsqu'il faisait la carte de la Candelle. Pendant les 4 ans du bail du GEAR, il aurait remarqué ces fleurs qui font de Riou au printemps un coin d'Afghanistan. En 1965 la myxomatose tua pratiquement tous les lapins, ce qui aurait permis au début de 1966 de voir les pavots s'il y en avait sur l'ile.. le débat est ouvert.. Qui entre 1966 et 1991 a planté du papaver somniferum sur l'ile de Riou sous le nez du "garde"qui avait été fait prisonnier en Indochine où il était casé dans l'administration, ou avec son accord?
Cette cabane et l'ancien poulailler furent dynamités en 1971 par des pêcheurs qui n'avaient pas apprécié les embrouilles dont il était coutumier et sa main mise sur leur terrain!!
Ce qui entraina un ordre du préfet maritime Kermadec, ami de son père, le nommant garde de Riou seulement en 1973. Drôle de gardien !! Encore un!
On m'a fait remarquer aussi que cet homme "gardien d'une île" ne possédait pas de bateau. Il troquait le passage pour ses amis contre une permission de chasser le lapin, chasse sur laquelle il prélevait sa quote part en lapin ou en poisson, alors que la chasse était interdite sur l'ile, ainsi que le nudisme, les armes à feu, et les transistors!! Il se fit prêter un fusil par Pierre Gay propriétaire du bar de la Mahonnaise et ne le rendit jamais. Certains me disent l'avoir trouvé les accueillant nu comme un ver sur la plage.
A la suite des représailles musclées du Monasterio il vint demander à mon père la clé du cabanon de Fontagne, et lui promit de lui montrer des monnaies romaines, soit-disant trouvées dans la Sablière. Bien entendu nous ne l'avons plus revu.
Il promit aussi à Jean Courtin de lui montrer un crane soit-disant trouvé dans la Petite Sablière.
Le crane doit être avec les monnaies romaines.. et j'oubliais.. l'épée en argent du Turc.
Dans quel contexte s'inscrit la culture du pavot? Cette fleur ne pousse nulle part dans les calanques.. la seule explication "naturelle" serait que c'est un coquelicot qui a muté ou que les gabians ont apporté les graines!! Nous retombons ainsi dans la pêche aux arapèdes!
Mon père bien que membre du GEAR n'avait rien d'un botaniste. Il désigne les lentisques autour de la Fontaine des Grecs sous le nom générique de "Salades". Le reste du temps il employait le mot baragne pour tout ce qui était épineux, à enlever. Nous avons ainsi "débaragné" le chemin qui va de la Gardiole au sommet du Devenson lorsqu'il faisait la carte de la Candelle. Pendant les 4 ans du bail du GEAR, il aurait remarqué ces fleurs qui font de Riou au printemps un coin d'Afghanistan. En 1965 la myxomatose tua pratiquement tous les lapins, ce qui aurait permis au début de 1966 de voir les pavots s'il y en avait sur l'ile.. le débat est ouvert.. Qui entre 1966 et 1991 a planté du papaver somniferum sur l'ile de Riou sous le nez du "garde"qui avait été fait prisonnier en Indochine où il était casé dans l'administration, ou avec son accord?
Quant à la contrebande de cigarettes ..... elle se porte bien merci! en 2010, échouée à Fontagne une caisse contenait des cigarettes "américaines"
L'ile semble aussi inspirer les histoires archéologiques fantaisistes. Il y a presque autant de charlatans que d'archéologues bona fide! Cela m'ennuie presque de mentionner les noms , car finalement ce sont ceux-là qui sont les plus connus.
Au début du 20ème siècle cela faisait partie du paysage: il y a eu l'affaire Pittman en Angleterre, puis la disparition de l'homme de Pekin pendant la guerre.
En 1904 le Dr. Capitan, grand manitou de l'archéologie de l'époque, fait une présentation à l'Académie des Sciences sur la découverte sur l'ile de Riou de silex néolithiques égyptiens, par lui-même et l'abbé Arnaud d'Agnel.
Nous savons ainsi qu'au début du 20ème siècle il y avait toujours des lapins, mais surtout des tessons grecs et romains très nombreux dans ce qui restait de la Sablière. Toujours est-il qu'il va sur l'ile, il fouille "lui-même" à la Sablière et sous les couches de poteries romaines, de poteries grecques, parmi les coquillages et les tessons néolithiques il identifie des silex égyptiens. Il fait une brillante étude de chaque pièce les comparant à une autre collection, validée celle-là, il imagine les barques égyptiennes dans la baie entre les Conclus et Plane, car" le niveau de la mer devait être plus bas et l'ile rattachée au continent" . Après des attaques de ses collègues, il finira par se récuser sous un prétexte fumeux (Un homme mourant se serait accusé de la supercherie!!).
De plus les silex ne sont pas des faux, il a donc fallu que l'abbé d'Agnel les prenne quelque part. Il semblerait que ce soit sa signature. Il rajoutait un petit quelque chose à ce qu'il trouvait pour donner à ses fouilles un peu plus d'éclat ! Et où prenait-il ces petits quelques choses comme les silex égyptiens?
Mais c'était un peu la tradition , car le catalogue du Musée Borely de 1950 explique qu'un H. Augier, premier employé du Musée sous le second empire et en même temps antiquaire, mêlait le vrai et le faux, ajoutant un graphite, attribuant une provenance locale qui doublait la valeur de la pièce, vendant une pièce de sa fabrication "déposée" au Musée, ce qui devenait un certificat d'authenticité.
Visitant le musée Borely, j'étais tombée en arrêt devant une coupe aux yeux prophylactiques, trouvée, disait l'étiquette, dans la Grotte de l'Ours. J'avais acheté le catalogue où elle avait une page à sa disposition en tant que Coupe Ionienne de Marseilleveyre. Aussi, lorsque le musée fut transporté à la Vieille Charité, j'y allais pour la revoir, mais la coupe avait disparu! C'est L-F Gantès qui me dit enfin qu'elle était au Musée de la Ville , aux Vestiges. J'y retournais et y retrouvais "ma" coupe (La grotte de l'Ours est à la gauche de la Grotte de l'Ermite derrière les Goudes)
En effet, elle était là, mais dans une pièce plongée dans l'obscurité par une panne d'électricité (on m'excusera d'avoir pensé que c'était bien Marseille ça!).
Une autre fois je suis allée au même musée pour voir spécialement les céramiques du XVII, la salle était fermée parce qu'inondée par une fuite du toit pendant un orage de la semaine précédente . J'adore les Musées de Marseille pour leur location, ce qu'ils ont dans leurs collections, la présentation. Mais je trouve frustrant de ne pas pouvoir acheter par exemple, un poster de la belle baigneuse des termes : Il y a 3 ans "la demande a été faite".. elle est apparemment tombée dans les puits du Moyen Age qui traversent les dolia romaines, car il n'y avait toujours pas de poster à acheter en décembre 2006.
A la Vieille Charité, 2 ans et 2 visites pour voir les Salles Fernand Benoit toujours fermées: la dernière fois tous les gardiens de salle étaient monopolisés par une expo de sculpture dans la Chapelle, donc les autres salles étaient fermées! J'avais pourtant téléphoné pour m'assurer que le musée était bien ouvert, le matin même. Comme on dit aux Goudes: "on se fout du monde!" Dommage!
LFG me dit aussi, que ce n'était pas à la Grotte de l'Ours qu'elle avait été trouvée, mais à la Grotte du Draïou. Grotte mentionnée sur une des premières cartes de mon père , mais que je renonçais à visiter lors de ma sortie à la Vigie de Marseilleveyre, une fois arrivée au Pas de la Chèvre. Bien m'en prit, car ce n'était pas celle mentionnée par "Voyage en Massalie" mais en plus il y a un erratum dans le catalogue d'expo qui arbore 2 belles photos des grottes dites à offrande, qui ont leurs noms intervertis. A qui peut-on se fier ?!
La Grotte de l'Ours elle, a parait-il livré du mobilier grec , il y avait un trou creusé près de l'entrée à l'intérieur, mais comme souvent les résultats de fouille disparaissent dans les oubliettes. C'est pour cela que je suis en faveur de musées locaux. Je pense qu'aux Goudes, le Fortin avec ses batteries jamais utilisées est un endroit idéal. Il est accessible, il y a place pour un parking; il a une belle fortification encore en bon état,(il a été conçu en 1864 dans le même style que la batterie de l'Escalette. Il n'a jamais servi) Il a eu une caserne et des bâtiments annexes , il y a un souterrain à munitions qui peut permettre de stocker tous les tessons locaux en attendant la reconstruction de la caserne . Il pourrait héberger le CEEP (vue sur les Iles), un petit atelier de restauration de céramique , peut-être une imprimerie ou un studio de photographe, des guetteurs d'incendie, une école de plongée archéologique. Est-ce que Les Goudes deviendront jamais le Monterey de Provence ? Est-ce à souhaiter? En tous cas la tache sera rude.
Une autre fois je suis allée au même musée pour voir spécialement les céramiques du XVII, la salle était fermée parce qu'inondée par une fuite du toit pendant un orage de la semaine précédente . J'adore les Musées de Marseille pour leur location, ce qu'ils ont dans leurs collections, la présentation. Mais je trouve frustrant de ne pas pouvoir acheter par exemple, un poster de la belle baigneuse des termes : Il y a 3 ans "la demande a été faite".. elle est apparemment tombée dans les puits du Moyen Age qui traversent les dolia romaines, car il n'y avait toujours pas de poster à acheter en décembre 2006.
A la Vieille Charité, 2 ans et 2 visites pour voir les Salles Fernand Benoit toujours fermées: la dernière fois tous les gardiens de salle étaient monopolisés par une expo de sculpture dans la Chapelle, donc les autres salles étaient fermées! J'avais pourtant téléphoné pour m'assurer que le musée était bien ouvert, le matin même. Comme on dit aux Goudes: "on se fout du monde!" Dommage!
LFG me dit aussi, que ce n'était pas à la Grotte de l'Ours qu'elle avait été trouvée, mais à la Grotte du Draïou. Grotte mentionnée sur une des premières cartes de mon père , mais que je renonçais à visiter lors de ma sortie à la Vigie de Marseilleveyre, une fois arrivée au Pas de la Chèvre. Bien m'en prit, car ce n'était pas celle mentionnée par "Voyage en Massalie" mais en plus il y a un erratum dans le catalogue d'expo qui arbore 2 belles photos des grottes dites à offrande, qui ont leurs noms intervertis. A qui peut-on se fier ?!
La Grotte de l'Ours elle, a parait-il livré du mobilier grec , il y avait un trou creusé près de l'entrée à l'intérieur, mais comme souvent les résultats de fouille disparaissent dans les oubliettes. C'est pour cela que je suis en faveur de musées locaux. Je pense qu'aux Goudes, le Fortin avec ses batteries jamais utilisées est un endroit idéal. Il est accessible, il y a place pour un parking; il a une belle fortification encore en bon état,(il a été conçu en 1864 dans le même style que la batterie de l'Escalette. Il n'a jamais servi) Il a eu une caserne et des bâtiments annexes , il y a un souterrain à munitions qui peut permettre de stocker tous les tessons locaux en attendant la reconstruction de la caserne . Il pourrait héberger le CEEP (vue sur les Iles), un petit atelier de restauration de céramique , peut-être une imprimerie ou un studio de photographe, des guetteurs d'incendie, une école de plongée archéologique. Est-ce que Les Goudes deviendront jamais le Monterey de Provence ? Est-ce à souhaiter? En tous cas la tache sera rude.
Ceci j'ai trouvé en version anglaise, agrémentée de dessins et de photos..3 articles qui sont un résumé de l'archéologie sous marine en region PACA.. en 2015 .
THE THREE LIVES OF THE STAVROS AMPHORAE
29 October 2014
We sank beneath the surface, the green waters of late summer closed over our heads. We were diving the cove of Niolon, just southwest of Marseille. Fifteen metres into our dive, we spotted a cluster of elongated shapes buried in the sand beneath us, as we got closer the shapes took form – almost two hundred amphorae were lined up in the shape of the boat that once carried them.
29 October 2014
We sank beneath the surface, the green waters of late summer closed over our heads. We were diving the cove of Niolon, just southwest of Marseille. Fifteen metres into our dive, we spotted a cluster of elongated shapes buried in the sand beneath us, as we got closer the shapes took form – almost two hundred amphorae were lined up in the shape of the boat that once carried them.
This was the start of my investigation into underwater archaeology and the looting of wrecks in the land of cops and robbers… I had some pressing questions:
How is underwater archaeological research organised in France? Who owns the treasure discovered beneath the sea? What are the laws? Who are the looters? What is the going rate on the black market?
Questions that lead to more questions…
While the Department of Underwater Archaeological Research, part of the Ministry of Culture, believes in transparency, it does not infiltrate pirate networks and art traffickers with impunity.
Here is the story as I experienced it…
We glided above the wreck colonised by octopus, sea urchin and starfish beneath the sea grass that drifted back and forth with the swell of the sea, while Marine Jaouen, a research technician at the Department of Underwater Archaeological Research, filmed and processed samples in a cloud of bubbles.
This wreck was special. It had been completely rebuilt in November 2010 from a stock of Greco-Italian amphorae that dated back to the first centuries BC and were discovered just 50 years ago.
Marine Jaouen explained:
“We have an enormous amount of amphorae in storage that were discovered between 1952 and 1957 by Captain Cousteau’s team during the first archaeological digs he led on the Grand Congloue wrecks in the Riou Archipelago.
“Conservation was costing a fortune and transferring the amphorae to another storage location was financially prohibitive. The majority of the pottery remains were either broken or damaged. Museums were full and the remains, having been carefully studied already, had little scientific interest. Frankly – we didn’t know what to do with them!
“That was the basis on which this idea was born. We decided to re-submerge them, placing them, as they would have been found, in relatively shallow locations, for recreational divers to visit. The concept was to make an artificial reef that would give divers the thrill experienced by underwater explorers discovering a virgin archaeological site!”
How is underwater archaeological research organised in France? Who owns the treasure discovered beneath the sea? What are the laws? Who are the looters? What is the going rate on the black market?
Questions that lead to more questions…
While the Department of Underwater Archaeological Research, part of the Ministry of Culture, believes in transparency, it does not infiltrate pirate networks and art traffickers with impunity.
Here is the story as I experienced it…
We glided above the wreck colonised by octopus, sea urchin and starfish beneath the sea grass that drifted back and forth with the swell of the sea, while Marine Jaouen, a research technician at the Department of Underwater Archaeological Research, filmed and processed samples in a cloud of bubbles.
This wreck was special. It had been completely rebuilt in November 2010 from a stock of Greco-Italian amphorae that dated back to the first centuries BC and were discovered just 50 years ago.
Marine Jaouen explained:
“We have an enormous amount of amphorae in storage that were discovered between 1952 and 1957 by Captain Cousteau’s team during the first archaeological digs he led on the Grand Congloue wrecks in the Riou Archipelago.
“Conservation was costing a fortune and transferring the amphorae to another storage location was financially prohibitive. The majority of the pottery remains were either broken or damaged. Museums were full and the remains, having been carefully studied already, had little scientific interest. Frankly – we didn’t know what to do with them!
“That was the basis on which this idea was born. We decided to re-submerge them, placing them, as they would have been found, in relatively shallow locations, for recreational divers to visit. The concept was to make an artificial reef that would give divers the thrill experienced by underwater explorers discovering a virgin archaeological site!”
And so it was that 200 amphorae were moved from Fort St Jean and submerged at the mouth of the Niolon cove, opposite the UCPA dive centre that keeps close guard on the site – the value of such treasures on the black market is high.
“The amphorae were secured in place with a steel cable to prevent looting. Cutting the cable would require heavy machinery and so any attempt to steal an amphora would guarantee it’s destruction,” said Marine. “Although I am under no illusions as to the corrosive power of the sea, we are more concerned with cruising boats, unaware of what is beneath them, dropping anchor on the site and destroying it. We dug deep though, through the carpet of sea grass and into the roots beneath the sand. Hard work under water – I can still remember it!” she added.
At the site, I framed an octopus in my viewfinder, it appeared never ending as it emerged from the neck of one of the amphora. Marine had asked me to shoot a series of photographs of the wildlife inhabiting the reef for the Marine Regional Park scientists who were studying the beneficial impact of the artificial reef with a view to supporting the argument for creating similar projects.
It was not a quick decision to put 200 artefacts back in the sea and there were lengthy administrative hurdles to overcome along the way. The first installation was established in the Debie cove in the Frioul Archipelago where almost a hundred amphorae were placed at a depth of 15 metres.
Richard Rech, president of Club Neptune, spearheaded the project; he put the file together and defended the plan, but it took all the pugnacity of the Department of Underwater Archaeological Research (in particular the director Michel L’Hour, the heritage curator, Patrick Grandjean and Marine Jaouen) to punch through the ministerial and administrative challenges and get green light for the project 18 months later. They were required to prove the environmental interests of the operation (neutrality of the pottery in a maritime environment and any impact on the sea life) and the economical interests (housing and security costs for the artefacts kept at the Vieux Port were considerable).
As I moved through the bed of amphorae beneath the green shaded waters of the Mediterranean in late summer, some of them dark, some cream, some scarlet, their elegant necks and handles beautifully crafted, I couldn’t help but think – so typical of the administration… these beautiful relics have spent the last 2000 years underwater, but still it must be proved that terracotta is harmless before putting them back!
At the Frioul site, I rotated an amphora, released by the storms, in the sand, over and over. Untouched by the passage of time, red, heavy, without a single blemish, it was as if it were fresh from Stavros’ pottery, his name newly engraved on the smooth neck.
“The amphorae were secured in place with a steel cable to prevent looting. Cutting the cable would require heavy machinery and so any attempt to steal an amphora would guarantee it’s destruction,” said Marine. “Although I am under no illusions as to the corrosive power of the sea, we are more concerned with cruising boats, unaware of what is beneath them, dropping anchor on the site and destroying it. We dug deep though, through the carpet of sea grass and into the roots beneath the sand. Hard work under water – I can still remember it!” she added.
At the site, I framed an octopus in my viewfinder, it appeared never ending as it emerged from the neck of one of the amphora. Marine had asked me to shoot a series of photographs of the wildlife inhabiting the reef for the Marine Regional Park scientists who were studying the beneficial impact of the artificial reef with a view to supporting the argument for creating similar projects.
It was not a quick decision to put 200 artefacts back in the sea and there were lengthy administrative hurdles to overcome along the way. The first installation was established in the Debie cove in the Frioul Archipelago where almost a hundred amphorae were placed at a depth of 15 metres.
Richard Rech, president of Club Neptune, spearheaded the project; he put the file together and defended the plan, but it took all the pugnacity of the Department of Underwater Archaeological Research (in particular the director Michel L’Hour, the heritage curator, Patrick Grandjean and Marine Jaouen) to punch through the ministerial and administrative challenges and get green light for the project 18 months later. They were required to prove the environmental interests of the operation (neutrality of the pottery in a maritime environment and any impact on the sea life) and the economical interests (housing and security costs for the artefacts kept at the Vieux Port were considerable).
As I moved through the bed of amphorae beneath the green shaded waters of the Mediterranean in late summer, some of them dark, some cream, some scarlet, their elegant necks and handles beautifully crafted, I couldn’t help but think – so typical of the administration… these beautiful relics have spent the last 2000 years underwater, but still it must be proved that terracotta is harmless before putting them back!
At the Frioul site, I rotated an amphora, released by the storms, in the sand, over and over. Untouched by the passage of time, red, heavy, without a single blemish, it was as if it were fresh from Stavros’ pottery, his name newly engraved on the smooth neck.
Cristianini’s secret
In Greece(????) at the beginning of the second century BC, the Markos Sestios (????)set sail for Marseille laden with 400 Greco-Italian wine amphorae, 7000 pieces of crockery and 30 or so Greek amphorae. The ship never made it. Perhaps knocked down in a gust of wind, it sank within miles of its destination at the Grand Congloue rock in the Riou Islands in front of today’s Marseille.
In the fifties, this was the hunting ground of Cristianini, a well-known local pirate (????? pauvre Gaston! le voilà devenu pirate! ). After suffering severe decompression sickness, he narrowly escaped total paralysis thanks to the nascent and pioneering Cousteau team who had one of the earliest decompression chambers.
In gratitude to Cousteau, Cristianini shared an extraordinary secret with him. While diving for lobster at the foot of the Grand Congloue, 42 metres down, he had stumbled upon mounds of “jugs”. An ancient wreck… Mountains of amphorae…
Jacques Cousteau immediately realised the importance of this site and from 1952 until 1957, led a campaign of discovery under the scientific direction of professor Fernand Benoit, director of antiquities in Provence. The dig was pioneering: for the first time ever a shipwreck was filmed using an underwater TV camera. This was the project that launched the Albert Falco, Captain Cousteau story – Falco was to become Cousteau’s right-hand and longest serving dive companion.
Hundreds of amphorae were raised; filled with air on the seabed and floated to the surface (????). Historic images; underwater archaeology was born!
But not without its fair share of uncertainty, errors and drama, as Luc Long, chief curator of heritage for the Department of Underwater Archaeological Research, described:
“The original explorers thought they were dealing with a single wreck. But thirty years later when their records were exhumed from the archives where they lay forgotten, the truth was revealed. All the evidence, doubts, sketches recorded in their notes pointed towards there being two ancient ships superimposed with two distinctly different cargos, both wrecked in the same place within a hundred years of each other. One wreck was hiding the other!”
And it was one of these very same “jugs” that I was rotating with fascination 15 metres beneath the surface. I laid it back down gently in the sand, infinitely aware that it had already had three lives:
The first when it emerged from the potter’s kiln, was carried by many hands from potter to dock to ship where it was filled with wine, and then shipwrecked and settled in a watery grave.
A second when the wreck was discovered and it was floated to the surface, studied and stored at the St Jean Fort where so many of its sisters had collapsed under their own weight.
And finally, a third and final resting place underwater at the Frioul Archipelago.
But it took only a brief sojourn on the surface with modern man to pique his interest. Collectors, speculation, piracy and trafficking… Born the same day and enemies by birth: piracy and underwater archaeology have circled one another since.
In the fifties, this was the hunting ground of Cristianini, a well-known local pirate (????? pauvre Gaston! le voilà devenu pirate! ). After suffering severe decompression sickness, he narrowly escaped total paralysis thanks to the nascent and pioneering Cousteau team who had one of the earliest decompression chambers.
In gratitude to Cousteau, Cristianini shared an extraordinary secret with him. While diving for lobster at the foot of the Grand Congloue, 42 metres down, he had stumbled upon mounds of “jugs”. An ancient wreck… Mountains of amphorae…
Jacques Cousteau immediately realised the importance of this site and from 1952 until 1957, led a campaign of discovery under the scientific direction of professor Fernand Benoit, director of antiquities in Provence. The dig was pioneering: for the first time ever a shipwreck was filmed using an underwater TV camera. This was the project that launched the Albert Falco, Captain Cousteau story – Falco was to become Cousteau’s right-hand and longest serving dive companion.
Hundreds of amphorae were raised; filled with air on the seabed and floated to the surface (????). Historic images; underwater archaeology was born!
But not without its fair share of uncertainty, errors and drama, as Luc Long, chief curator of heritage for the Department of Underwater Archaeological Research, described:
“The original explorers thought they were dealing with a single wreck. But thirty years later when their records were exhumed from the archives where they lay forgotten, the truth was revealed. All the evidence, doubts, sketches recorded in their notes pointed towards there being two ancient ships superimposed with two distinctly different cargos, both wrecked in the same place within a hundred years of each other. One wreck was hiding the other!”
And it was one of these very same “jugs” that I was rotating with fascination 15 metres beneath the surface. I laid it back down gently in the sand, infinitely aware that it had already had three lives:
The first when it emerged from the potter’s kiln, was carried by many hands from potter to dock to ship where it was filled with wine, and then shipwrecked and settled in a watery grave.
A second when the wreck was discovered and it was floated to the surface, studied and stored at the St Jean Fort where so many of its sisters had collapsed under their own weight.
And finally, a third and final resting place underwater at the Frioul Archipelago.
But it took only a brief sojourn on the surface with modern man to pique his interest. Collectors, speculation, piracy and trafficking… Born the same day and enemies by birth: piracy and underwater archaeology have circled one another since.
But this is not the end of the Grand Congloue story…
I had a rendezvous with Pierrot Vottero, a fisherman that hails from Port des Goudes in Marseille. It is said that fish is not his only catch of the day…
AMPHORAE TRADING
I had a rendezvous with Pierrot Vottero, a fisherman that hails from Port des Goudes in Marseille. It is said that fish is not his only catch of the day…
AMPHORAE TRADING
3 April 2015
My next port of call was Goudes, just east of Marseille – it is a tiny place nestling in a small bay, disconnected from the world and some would say, from the law of the land as well…
My next port of call was Goudes, just east of Marseille – it is a tiny place nestling in a small bay, disconnected from the world and some would say, from the law of the land as well…
Perched on the hillside overlooking the bay, the pretty cottages are laced with a multitude of alleys grandly called ‘avenues’. Open any door and step into the cool interior and my guess is you will find any number of archaeological remains adorning a mantelpiece or a hallway table. In the 70s, this place was known as the ‘Amphora marketplace’ for every fishing trawler or small fishing boat returning to port had more than their catch of the day stowed away. The cargo pillaged from ancient shipwrecks was sold off to the highest bidder no questions asked. I have a meeting with Monsieur Pierrot Vottero, a retired fisherman and local legend in this idyllic backwater, at his cottage. His wise, weathered face is friendly and full of humanity, but his eyes are sharp. He is affable and attentive, but guarded on some topics; certain things are not spoken about.
“I come from a fishing family,” he said. “The type of fishing family that existed back then, before quotas and pollsters. It was hard work, but we were true seamen. When fishing for sardines for example, we would leave at two o’clock in the morning. For the bouillabaisse, in the summer, when the water started to warm up, we left at four o’clock in the morning. We would come ashore at five pm to mend our nets and sell our catch. The nets were very expensive and we did everything by hand back then. We used to sell directly to the restaurants in those days. Sometimes it was hard to get paid, plus they always took the best fish! Drift nets were allowed at the time, some people made a fortune with tuna, going 40 miles offshore to catch them. We didn’t have the tools that the industry has today, but I can say without doubt that given a choice I wouldn’t have changed a thing. Fishermen of the calibre that I am describing don’t exist anymore. Today the only thing that matters is profit and there is scant respect for the sea!”
Mr Vottero’s voice faded out as he stared out the window lost in thought. Was the talk about his legendary ability to spot champagne corks dancing in the waves off the mark? Champagne corks that were attached to amphorae sitting on the bottom of the seabed, tied on by divers, and dragged by the fishermen to shallow waters in discreet coves to be pulled out of the sea…? Pierrot does not remember. He does however recall discovering a wreck in Grand Congloue. Another one? A third one!
OFFSHORE, IN THE EYE OF THE STORM
“I was one of the first to fish in the ravines, on the edge of the continental shelf, at a depth of about 1’500 metres. Whiting, lobster, you name it, we caught it …
One day, we were about seven miles offshore when all of a sudden the sky went completely white in the west – I could see the storm racing towards us. I immediately turned the boat for Goudes, walls of water building up in my wake; the waves must have been 6 metres high! It was very hard to manoeuvre in the high winds, especially as we were attached to a 300 metre long net. I shouted to Jacky, my crew, to cut the net, but he couldn’t hear me over the noise of the crashing waves. The boat veered back and forth held fast by the net – we were in danger of sinking. At last we cut it lose and raced for shelter in Cassis.
Not far from Grand Congloue, in an attempt to save the day and improve our spirits, I pulled up a pot that I had fixed to a new rock the day before. It was full of lobster and shards of amphorae!”
This place was not far from where Cousteau carried out his research, where the diver Servanti lost his life trying to free the anchor of the research vessel Calypso… I am not a diver, but I have always thought that he must have stumbled on ‘my’ wreck. At that depth, seeing a wall of amphorae must have been very impressive. Perhaps he tried to bring one up to the surface, struggled and ran out of oxygen…?
“In those days there were still three coral divers in Goudes that thought nothing of raising a few ancient jugs to the surface when the tuna fishing was quiet. It was already illegal back then, but there were ways around that… in any case, their boat was called The Fugitive…
They often asked me where they could find ‘rocks’. I took them out to the site, about 53 metres deep. The diver went down and was back on the surface within minutes calling for his colleague to follow him to the bottom. It turns out, my ‘rock’ was an ancient wreck stuffed to the gunnels with amphorae. The third one to sink in the Grand Congloue…
I know they went back to the wreck many times and moved the amphorae bit by bit to Podestat Bay where it was shallow, so that they were easier to collect when a client placed an order. It would have been nice of them to give me a couple!
“I come from a fishing family,” he said. “The type of fishing family that existed back then, before quotas and pollsters. It was hard work, but we were true seamen. When fishing for sardines for example, we would leave at two o’clock in the morning. For the bouillabaisse, in the summer, when the water started to warm up, we left at four o’clock in the morning. We would come ashore at five pm to mend our nets and sell our catch. The nets were very expensive and we did everything by hand back then. We used to sell directly to the restaurants in those days. Sometimes it was hard to get paid, plus they always took the best fish! Drift nets were allowed at the time, some people made a fortune with tuna, going 40 miles offshore to catch them. We didn’t have the tools that the industry has today, but I can say without doubt that given a choice I wouldn’t have changed a thing. Fishermen of the calibre that I am describing don’t exist anymore. Today the only thing that matters is profit and there is scant respect for the sea!”
Mr Vottero’s voice faded out as he stared out the window lost in thought. Was the talk about his legendary ability to spot champagne corks dancing in the waves off the mark? Champagne corks that were attached to amphorae sitting on the bottom of the seabed, tied on by divers, and dragged by the fishermen to shallow waters in discreet coves to be pulled out of the sea…? Pierrot does not remember. He does however recall discovering a wreck in Grand Congloue. Another one? A third one!
OFFSHORE, IN THE EYE OF THE STORM
“I was one of the first to fish in the ravines, on the edge of the continental shelf, at a depth of about 1’500 metres. Whiting, lobster, you name it, we caught it …
One day, we were about seven miles offshore when all of a sudden the sky went completely white in the west – I could see the storm racing towards us. I immediately turned the boat for Goudes, walls of water building up in my wake; the waves must have been 6 metres high! It was very hard to manoeuvre in the high winds, especially as we were attached to a 300 metre long net. I shouted to Jacky, my crew, to cut the net, but he couldn’t hear me over the noise of the crashing waves. The boat veered back and forth held fast by the net – we were in danger of sinking. At last we cut it lose and raced for shelter in Cassis.
Not far from Grand Congloue, in an attempt to save the day and improve our spirits, I pulled up a pot that I had fixed to a new rock the day before. It was full of lobster and shards of amphorae!”
This place was not far from where Cousteau carried out his research, where the diver Servanti lost his life trying to free the anchor of the research vessel Calypso… I am not a diver, but I have always thought that he must have stumbled on ‘my’ wreck. At that depth, seeing a wall of amphorae must have been very impressive. Perhaps he tried to bring one up to the surface, struggled and ran out of oxygen…?
“In those days there were still three coral divers in Goudes that thought nothing of raising a few ancient jugs to the surface when the tuna fishing was quiet. It was already illegal back then, but there were ways around that… in any case, their boat was called The Fugitive…
They often asked me where they could find ‘rocks’. I took them out to the site, about 53 metres deep. The diver went down and was back on the surface within minutes calling for his colleague to follow him to the bottom. It turns out, my ‘rock’ was an ancient wreck stuffed to the gunnels with amphorae. The third one to sink in the Grand Congloue…
I know they went back to the wreck many times and moved the amphorae bit by bit to Podestat Bay where it was shallow, so that they were easier to collect when a client placed an order. It would have been nice of them to give me a couple!
I found several wrecks in this way, by chance. Another one was the Canonniere, a modern steel ship that had sunk in 72 metres of water between the Grand Congloue and Sormiou. I used to throw old pots there and catch up to six kilogrammes of lobster at a time. I told a ‘friend’ about it, who told a diving club and the wreck was eventually reported to the authorities.
Today with all the laws, no one tells anyone anything. It’s safer that way and avoids problems. Plus, I come from Genoa and we are naturally superstitious… I would never rename a boat for example, it’s bad luck.”
I asked Pierrot whether he thought there were any more ancient wrecks lying undiscovered in the area. The wrinkles around his eyes deepened as he raised his arm and swept it wide to take in the Mediterranean behind him – not a word passed his lips…
Today with all the laws, no one tells anyone anything. It’s safer that way and avoids problems. Plus, I come from Genoa and we are naturally superstitious… I would never rename a boat for example, it’s bad luck.”
I asked Pierrot whether he thought there were any more ancient wrecks lying undiscovered in the area. The wrinkles around his eyes deepened as he raised his arm and swept it wide to take in the Mediterranean behind him – not a word passed his lips…
What is an ancient amphora worth on the black market today, I wondered…? To find out, I went to meet the next personality in this tale, someone who is well known in Marseille for diving close to the fringes of the law.
Gaby Di Domenico from Naples is waiting for me on his boat, moored in L’Estaque harbour…
PIRATES!
L’Estaque harbour, on the west side of the bay of Marseille, is not for the faint hearted. It is an ‘independent republic’ of sorts and you need an insider to gain entry. The access code ‘we are visiting Gaby’ worked for us and the rusty gate swung open and closed just as quickly behind us. Large tuna fishing boats tugged gently at their moorings, swinging softly in the swell, nets and fishing pots were piled high, warehouses and storage units were scattered about, doors closed and exuding mystery. Two coral divers were preparing a small robotic camera, carefully uncoiling the wire. I waved a brief ‘hello’, very aware that they were watching me and wondering who the stranger was.
Gaby welcomed me onboard his boat. This famous diver is nicknamed ‘the tadpole’, but although small in stature, his personality is huge; you can literally feel the hot-blooded energy bubbling up in him. He has seen it all… A gold chain with a diving helmet pendent peaked out from beneath his striped shirt. I know he carries a Taser on him at all times, apparently it is ‘safer at his age’. He has taken two bullets in his time from a Magnum .357 that left him disabled. His newly released book Pirates reveals the full story…
“So young man, you are interested in pirates…? What is it that you want to know…?” My first question had barely escaped my lips before Gaby began pounding me with a barrage of information. What a storyteller! He is talkative and passionate about his subject; I had to hang on to make sense of the mix of local dialect and hand gestures. “Listen to me, I’ll tell you about pirates,” he said. And tell me he did!
“Yes, I am a pirate. So? I am a retired pirate, unashamed and unrepentant. I have no regrets. In those days, I was hungry and the amphorae that we raised from the seafloor at our own risk, fed my family and I. It was no issue to raise an amphora neck or even a whole amphora back then, but get caught today and boy, there are consequences. And yet, there are literally thousands of amphorae in the Bay of Marseille where up to fifty wrecks are lying on the bottom and that is just between here and Marseilleveyre, a headland south of Marseille city.
In my day, piracy was in its infancy. The word didn’t even exist back then around here, nobody cared about the ‘jugs’. Every old fisherman on the water had a ‘Dolia’ on board, an ancient Roman terracotta water jug; we used to keep the water for our Pastis cold in them while we were out fishing!
So yes, I did raise lots and lots of amphorae, despite the customs, police and maritime authorities. We didn’t take much notice of the rules back then, when we had a client asking for a ‘jar’ we simply went and got it. Opinion today may well judge us to have been a bit casual and lacking in respect of our ancient heritage, but for goodness sake, as god is our witness, we discovered those wrecks!”
All the current nit-picky rules seem made to encourage piracy not prevent it. If divers were allowed to raise pieces of no exceptional value, an exchange system could be established with the administration whereby a rare piece would be handed over in exchange for a piece that they don’t know what to do with and which has no historic value to them. We could then sell officially. Instead, everyone is silent. Right now, as I am talking to you, there is a wreck in the Var, 70 metres below the surface that is being emptied by a team of divers for resale. An amphora goes for around 1,500 Euros these days and they are bought by lots of 10 to 20 at a time. If you want one, it will be delivered to the location of your choice, but you will never know who the seller is and definitely will never find out who raised your ‘jar’ to the surface.”
Gaby Di Domenico from Naples is waiting for me on his boat, moored in L’Estaque harbour…
PIRATES!
L’Estaque harbour, on the west side of the bay of Marseille, is not for the faint hearted. It is an ‘independent republic’ of sorts and you need an insider to gain entry. The access code ‘we are visiting Gaby’ worked for us and the rusty gate swung open and closed just as quickly behind us. Large tuna fishing boats tugged gently at their moorings, swinging softly in the swell, nets and fishing pots were piled high, warehouses and storage units were scattered about, doors closed and exuding mystery. Two coral divers were preparing a small robotic camera, carefully uncoiling the wire. I waved a brief ‘hello’, very aware that they were watching me and wondering who the stranger was.
Gaby welcomed me onboard his boat. This famous diver is nicknamed ‘the tadpole’, but although small in stature, his personality is huge; you can literally feel the hot-blooded energy bubbling up in him. He has seen it all… A gold chain with a diving helmet pendent peaked out from beneath his striped shirt. I know he carries a Taser on him at all times, apparently it is ‘safer at his age’. He has taken two bullets in his time from a Magnum .357 that left him disabled. His newly released book Pirates reveals the full story…
“So young man, you are interested in pirates…? What is it that you want to know…?” My first question had barely escaped my lips before Gaby began pounding me with a barrage of information. What a storyteller! He is talkative and passionate about his subject; I had to hang on to make sense of the mix of local dialect and hand gestures. “Listen to me, I’ll tell you about pirates,” he said. And tell me he did!
“Yes, I am a pirate. So? I am a retired pirate, unashamed and unrepentant. I have no regrets. In those days, I was hungry and the amphorae that we raised from the seafloor at our own risk, fed my family and I. It was no issue to raise an amphora neck or even a whole amphora back then, but get caught today and boy, there are consequences. And yet, there are literally thousands of amphorae in the Bay of Marseille where up to fifty wrecks are lying on the bottom and that is just between here and Marseilleveyre, a headland south of Marseille city.
In my day, piracy was in its infancy. The word didn’t even exist back then around here, nobody cared about the ‘jugs’. Every old fisherman on the water had a ‘Dolia’ on board, an ancient Roman terracotta water jug; we used to keep the water for our Pastis cold in them while we were out fishing!
So yes, I did raise lots and lots of amphorae, despite the customs, police and maritime authorities. We didn’t take much notice of the rules back then, when we had a client asking for a ‘jar’ we simply went and got it. Opinion today may well judge us to have been a bit casual and lacking in respect of our ancient heritage, but for goodness sake, as god is our witness, we discovered those wrecks!”
All the current nit-picky rules seem made to encourage piracy not prevent it. If divers were allowed to raise pieces of no exceptional value, an exchange system could be established with the administration whereby a rare piece would be handed over in exchange for a piece that they don’t know what to do with and which has no historic value to them. We could then sell officially. Instead, everyone is silent. Right now, as I am talking to you, there is a wreck in the Var, 70 metres below the surface that is being emptied by a team of divers for resale. An amphora goes for around 1,500 Euros these days and they are bought by lots of 10 to 20 at a time. If you want one, it will be delivered to the location of your choice, but you will never know who the seller is and definitely will never find out who raised your ‘jar’ to the surface.”
Gaby leapt up, furious, arm outstretched and pointing east towards the new headquarters of the Department of Underwater Archaeological Research (DRASSM), then equally abruptly, sat down again.
“You listen to me! In the past, we had an arrangement with the authorities because the director of antiquities was not some stubborn idiot; he understood how things were. Today it’s a whole different ball game, they prefer to fine people that raise a piece of broken old tile or drag them before the court under the pretext that the thing is 2’000 years old. Even if it was us that discovered all of these treasures in the first place!
“You listen to me! In the past, we had an arrangement with the authorities because the director of antiquities was not some stubborn idiot; he understood how things were. Today it’s a whole different ball game, they prefer to fine people that raise a piece of broken old tile or drag them before the court under the pretext that the thing is 2’000 years old. Even if it was us that discovered all of these treasures in the first place!
DESTRUCTION ON AN INDUSTRIAL LEVEL!
“The hypocrisy of the authorities is staggering! Listen to this story…
It was common knowledge that hundreds of amphorae, collected during underwater archaeological campaigns, including at the Grand Congloue, were piled sky high in the courtyard of the Saint John Fort, discarded like old cars in a junkyard. They were carelessly stacked and regularly broken in the process; no one cared.
In 1972, a rumor circulated that these amphorae were going to be loaded onto trucks and chucked into the sea to be used as rubble for the base of the Pointe-Rouge harbor wall which was under construction at the time.
The grapevine is very effective in piracy circles and we mobilised. The day that the trucks, escorted by motorbikes, arrived at the building site, we were lying in wait, hidden in the rocks with binoculars, waiting for the trucks to leave so that we could rescue the treasures that they were throwing away. But sadly our plan was foiled, other trucks followed behind loaded with massive stone blocks that they rolled into the sea on top of the amphorae, crushing them into oblivion…
I saw this act of vandalism with my own eyes and others that were with me will testify to the same story. A disgrace, a waste and a barbaric thing to do.
Because there were too many, because they didn’t know where to store them all, they destroyed them – Why not give them to people that get enormous pleasure from them instead? Every resident of Marseille is proud of his or her heritage; they would have loved the opportunity to show off an ancient amphora to their guests! Why is that right only granted to the rich or the powerful that have the wherewithal to bypass the law? Why not organise a public auction where the amphorae would have fetched good prices instead of destroying them? The earnings could have funded further archaeological campaigns! But no…instead they chose to destroy what they couldn’t store or didn’t know what to do with, there were so many after all… And yet they hunt down anyone that dares to raise an antiquity from the seabed to sell it – those are outlaws after all!Who are these people at the Administration of Cultural Affairs that knowingly destroy what they themselves call archaeological heritage?
As for DRASSM, each to their own. Cops or Robbers – I don’t know. How could you know? I’ve met enough rogues in my life… Michel L’Hour – today he is Mr Clean, whiter than white, but I would remind him that he began his career in the company of Patrick Lize, the global specialist in wreck records, which he sells to the highest bidder, and Franck Goddio who leads archaeological research in countries where the laws are a bit more flexible.
And as you might know, L’Hour is the kind of guy that will have dinner with his diving friends, collect their stories, and then send the cops over at dawn for a raid.”
“The hypocrisy of the authorities is staggering! Listen to this story…
It was common knowledge that hundreds of amphorae, collected during underwater archaeological campaigns, including at the Grand Congloue, were piled sky high in the courtyard of the Saint John Fort, discarded like old cars in a junkyard. They were carelessly stacked and regularly broken in the process; no one cared.
In 1972, a rumor circulated that these amphorae were going to be loaded onto trucks and chucked into the sea to be used as rubble for the base of the Pointe-Rouge harbor wall which was under construction at the time.
The grapevine is very effective in piracy circles and we mobilised. The day that the trucks, escorted by motorbikes, arrived at the building site, we were lying in wait, hidden in the rocks with binoculars, waiting for the trucks to leave so that we could rescue the treasures that they were throwing away. But sadly our plan was foiled, other trucks followed behind loaded with massive stone blocks that they rolled into the sea on top of the amphorae, crushing them into oblivion…
I saw this act of vandalism with my own eyes and others that were with me will testify to the same story. A disgrace, a waste and a barbaric thing to do.
Because there were too many, because they didn’t know where to store them all, they destroyed them – Why not give them to people that get enormous pleasure from them instead? Every resident of Marseille is proud of his or her heritage; they would have loved the opportunity to show off an ancient amphora to their guests! Why is that right only granted to the rich or the powerful that have the wherewithal to bypass the law? Why not organise a public auction where the amphorae would have fetched good prices instead of destroying them? The earnings could have funded further archaeological campaigns! But no…instead they chose to destroy what they couldn’t store or didn’t know what to do with, there were so many after all… And yet they hunt down anyone that dares to raise an antiquity from the seabed to sell it – those are outlaws after all!Who are these people at the Administration of Cultural Affairs that knowingly destroy what they themselves call archaeological heritage?
As for DRASSM, each to their own. Cops or Robbers – I don’t know. How could you know? I’ve met enough rogues in my life… Michel L’Hour – today he is Mr Clean, whiter than white, but I would remind him that he began his career in the company of Patrick Lize, the global specialist in wreck records, which he sells to the highest bidder, and Franck Goddio who leads archaeological research in countries where the laws are a bit more flexible.
And as you might know, L’Hour is the kind of guy that will have dinner with his diving friends, collect their stories, and then send the cops over at dawn for a raid.”
AMPHORAE MANUFACTURERS
“We have had some fun though, I have to say! Has anyone ever told you about Jose Torres? He just died so I can tell you the stories now; they’re also included in my book… Jose was the Michelangelo of cement sculptures and the Van Gogh of painting on cement. He was a brilliant forger who made dozens of fake amphorae that he sold at high prices to dummies!
“We have had some fun though, I have to say! Has anyone ever told you about Jose Torres? He just died so I can tell you the stories now; they’re also included in my book… Jose was the Michelangelo of cement sculptures and the Van Gogh of painting on cement. He was a brilliant forger who made dozens of fake amphorae that he sold at high prices to dummies!
Once he managed to save a haul of amphorae that had been decapitated by a trawler by using a ceramic pipe to form a new neck. It was incredible to watch the artist at work and to learn the secrets of his trade, something that you won’t learn at the Beaux Arts! He created worm trails in the cement and used a Coral sea urchin to give the cement an indelible brown colour that is best fixed using a hairdryer and some hairspray. The result is more natural than if the amphora had been underwater for 2’000 years!
In 1965, the pirate community launched a challenge to create a cement amphora and present it at an exhibition hosted by one of the large Marseille hotels and attended by a gaggle of experts – one of which we would ask to date the piece.
Jose took up the challenge with panache. He made a wire structure, covered it in cement blended with a walnut-based mixture that included crushed oyster shells stained with dried sea urchin and tomato coulis. After a month of intense work, he delivered a true masterpiece. He had even gone so far as to brush the interior for perfect authenticity! On the big day, the experts examined the piece from all angles, very stern, pursed lips, deeply concentrated. We were like kids impatiently awaiting their verdict. I remember that two of them could not agree on the origin of the amphora – Greek? Roman? Phoenician? We could barely contain ourselves, itching to jeer: ‘It’s from just up the road and was made a month ago!’ Jose was nudging us in the ribs, certain of victory.
“You’ll see – they’ll fall for it,’ he chuckled.
In the meantime, the experts continued their discussions, Greek? Roman? One of them turned to us with a condescending look, ‘this piece is very rare which makes it very hard to date,’ he said. That was as much as Jose could take – he exploded: ‘I know it’s rare; I made it myself last month using cement, just up the road in my shed at Callelongue!’
You could have cut the atmosphere with a knife, every eye in the room turned to Jose, but he didn’t care one bit. ‘It’s the truth gentlemen,’ he said. ‘I’ll prove it to you’. And he pulled a mallet out of his bag and smashed the amphora into a thousand pieces, exposing the wire shape. ‘You will have learned one thing tonight at least,’ he said addressing his audience of experts. ‘The Romans and Greeks knew all about concrete!’
We didn’t hang about after that, if looks could kill…well we would have been long gone!
Jose also used to make the most marvellous forgeries of the three-legged wrought iron supports that you sit the amphorae in to present them. He must have forged nearly 10,000 in his lifetime.”
As Gaby’s story drew to an end, I jumped in with a final question: “Someone told me about a recently discovered Etruscan wreck, do you think I could meet one of the guys that is diving it?”
He looked at me sharply, a bit surprised that I knew about this. Judging me to be ‘OK’, he said: “Sure… you can try, you nut!”
T THE HEART OF THE DEPARTMENT OF UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH (DRASSM)
3 April 2015
It has been two months already…Two months spent in relatively unsavoury company and I still had no tangible results. I had been stood up, let down, lied to over the phone when I knew for certain that I had an ‘agent’ on the line…But I guess I shouldn’t have been overly surprised, everyone knew that I am a journalist and despite the fact that I would never reveal my sources, I was bound to elicit suspicion.
I had seen garages packed high with amphorae, cases of shards of ancient ceramics, but what really interested me was to follow the trail of this Etruscan wreck that was said to be of inestimable value and which was currently being pillaged.
News travels fast amongst these people… so I hinted that I could also be a go-between and potentially interested in purchasing beautiful pieces for a relation who owns an ancient art gallery in Geneva. But no luck and I was running out of hope that I would ever meet the divers that were so well organized and who were playing a high stakes game of ‘cops and robbers’.
Command of King Francois I, February 1543:
“ Whatever is retrieved from the sea; A third shall belong to the Admiralty, a third to the King or the Lord that sponsored the expedition; and a third shall belong to the one.“
Back in L’Estaque harbour, we were outside the ‘Bunker’, a modern brown metal building, the graffiti-adorned front entrance of which was so overrun by picnicking beachgoers, that we were forced to access the place via the back door.
Many lament the lack of ‘soul’ of the place, Luc Long chief curator of heritage at DRASSM, based in Arles, was one such. “I feel that at the heart of the new DRASSM, there is a very bad atmosphere. The climate is quite noxious,” he said. “It may be the new building in Estaque – perhaps it has a bad energy about it… At the old offices in St Jean, everything was heterogeneous, creative… there were offices all over the place. Estaque is a real hive of activity, well organised, but without soul.”
3 April 2015
It has been two months already…Two months spent in relatively unsavoury company and I still had no tangible results. I had been stood up, let down, lied to over the phone when I knew for certain that I had an ‘agent’ on the line…But I guess I shouldn’t have been overly surprised, everyone knew that I am a journalist and despite the fact that I would never reveal my sources, I was bound to elicit suspicion.
I had seen garages packed high with amphorae, cases of shards of ancient ceramics, but what really interested me was to follow the trail of this Etruscan wreck that was said to be of inestimable value and which was currently being pillaged.
News travels fast amongst these people… so I hinted that I could also be a go-between and potentially interested in purchasing beautiful pieces for a relation who owns an ancient art gallery in Geneva. But no luck and I was running out of hope that I would ever meet the divers that were so well organized and who were playing a high stakes game of ‘cops and robbers’.
Command of King Francois I, February 1543:
“ Whatever is retrieved from the sea; A third shall belong to the Admiralty, a third to the King or the Lord that sponsored the expedition; and a third shall belong to the one.“
Back in L’Estaque harbour, we were outside the ‘Bunker’, a modern brown metal building, the graffiti-adorned front entrance of which was so overrun by picnicking beachgoers, that we were forced to access the place via the back door.
Many lament the lack of ‘soul’ of the place, Luc Long chief curator of heritage at DRASSM, based in Arles, was one such. “I feel that at the heart of the new DRASSM, there is a very bad atmosphere. The climate is quite noxious,” he said. “It may be the new building in Estaque – perhaps it has a bad energy about it… At the old offices in St Jean, everything was heterogeneous, creative… there were offices all over the place. Estaque is a real hive of activity, well organised, but without soul.”
It gets very hot that much is for sure, especially during the summer months… The place was like an oven. In the laboratories, the scientists were bustling about, puzzling over shards of ancient ceramics and how to put them back together again; a challenge equal to reassembling a mosaic… There were also a number of ropes plunged in desalinization baths. We were at the ‘Bunker’ to meet Nathalie Huet, head of DRASSM preventive conservation. Dressed in a white lab coat, she welcomed me to her office. The walls were covered with big Interpol ‘wanted’ posters…
– So is this where antiquities found in the sea end up?
– Yes, to start with they are stored here while they undergo the first phase of restoration work before they are sent to our different conservation laboratories. After that, they are stored at Aix Les Milles until we can find a buyer. All pieces are destined for exhibition in local museums.
Funding is the issue, having sufficient means to manage the collections. The museums are supposed to deal with this, but they lack in financing. Often only the most beautiful pieces interest the curators. But you see, we don’t like breaking up collections. And we have so many pieces in storage… That is why we are not in a rush to bring new ones to the surface. We are even considering re-submerging some of them once we have studied them in order to protect them from looters and to a lesser extent from the trawlers! You know most of these pieces have been underwater for 2’000 years – a few more will not hurt them.”
– From a scientific and historic point of view, what do we learn from wrecks nowadays that we don’t already know?
– A lot of things that are not recorded in logbooks or literature… for example, I remember an 18th century wreck that had canons on board that were still loaded with gunpowder. In the military manuals of the day it was clearly stated that canons must be kept clear of gunpowder! This find might well explain a lot of the wrecks – they were already playing the rules back then…
But not all these ancient artefacts can withstand the assault of saltwater. Bronze – canon bronze – for example holds up well on the surface. But metal objects must be preserved with a special electrolysis treatment to avoid them completely disintegrating. Organic matter, such as wood, fabric, rope is another problem altogether – they are very fragile. Resurfacing them without ensuring proper treatment and conservation would be pointless.”
– So is this where antiquities found in the sea end up?
– Yes, to start with they are stored here while they undergo the first phase of restoration work before they are sent to our different conservation laboratories. After that, they are stored at Aix Les Milles until we can find a buyer. All pieces are destined for exhibition in local museums.
Funding is the issue, having sufficient means to manage the collections. The museums are supposed to deal with this, but they lack in financing. Often only the most beautiful pieces interest the curators. But you see, we don’t like breaking up collections. And we have so many pieces in storage… That is why we are not in a rush to bring new ones to the surface. We are even considering re-submerging some of them once we have studied them in order to protect them from looters and to a lesser extent from the trawlers! You know most of these pieces have been underwater for 2’000 years – a few more will not hurt them.”
– From a scientific and historic point of view, what do we learn from wrecks nowadays that we don’t already know?
– A lot of things that are not recorded in logbooks or literature… for example, I remember an 18th century wreck that had canons on board that were still loaded with gunpowder. In the military manuals of the day it was clearly stated that canons must be kept clear of gunpowder! This find might well explain a lot of the wrecks – they were already playing the rules back then…
But not all these ancient artefacts can withstand the assault of saltwater. Bronze – canon bronze – for example holds up well on the surface. But metal objects must be preserved with a special electrolysis treatment to avoid them completely disintegrating. Organic matter, such as wood, fabric, rope is another problem altogether – they are very fragile. Resurfacing them without ensuring proper treatment and conservation would be pointless.”
– Who decides on the classification of an underwater site and based on what criteria?
– We do, the decisions happen here. In principal an object found underwater, including all wrecks, becomes national heritage; a maritime cultural asset. The rules are to remove nothing and to inform the maritime authorities within 48 hours. The files are sent to us and we decide on further action based on the importance of the discovery, of its vulnerability and also on our schedule, as we are part of a governmental organisation.
– In other words, if I lose my watch in the harbour, I do not have the right to dive to recover it?
– Theoritically, no! You know, it is not only Roman and Mediterranean wrecks that have scientific and historic significance. We are increasingly interested in more ‘modern’ vessels, they also warrant protection. This leads to frequent run-ins with scrap salvagers in the English Channel and the North Sea. Shells, canons, portholes, propellers, these specialist pirate divers can dismantle a wrecked ship in the blink of an eye. Recently a salvage company requested permission to retrieve the mineral cargo of a ship that was sunk during the Second World War. We grant these permissions less and less these days as emptying a ship of its cargo could cause it to collapse in on itself.”
– How is the relationship with those that loot wrecks?
– Well first we need to define ‘looters’. There are some very well organized groups that we are actively fighting against, but most of the time, people don’t even realise that they are in possession of illegal items. Most often, they are souvenirs or inheritance.
New laws make it totally illegal to retain archaeological pieces for any reason. In L’Estaque we have set up a small museum to inform the public, made up of pieces, mainly amphorae, that the customs officers have seized.
We are in the process of confiscating anything that we find in private establishments, although we don’t systematically send the police to the house of a suspect. We prefer to deal with things in an amicable way.
Most of the time, people entrust us with ancient pieces that they don’t know what to do with. I have noticed a change in mentality where the divers and ‘small pirates’ are concerned – they are much better informed of the consequences of their actions.”
– How do you find these pieces that you then confiscate?
– Most often someone informs us. We also investigate through the customs files or quite simply by trawling the bidding sites online, places like eBay.”
– We do, the decisions happen here. In principal an object found underwater, including all wrecks, becomes national heritage; a maritime cultural asset. The rules are to remove nothing and to inform the maritime authorities within 48 hours. The files are sent to us and we decide on further action based on the importance of the discovery, of its vulnerability and also on our schedule, as we are part of a governmental organisation.
– In other words, if I lose my watch in the harbour, I do not have the right to dive to recover it?
– Theoritically, no! You know, it is not only Roman and Mediterranean wrecks that have scientific and historic significance. We are increasingly interested in more ‘modern’ vessels, they also warrant protection. This leads to frequent run-ins with scrap salvagers in the English Channel and the North Sea. Shells, canons, portholes, propellers, these specialist pirate divers can dismantle a wrecked ship in the blink of an eye. Recently a salvage company requested permission to retrieve the mineral cargo of a ship that was sunk during the Second World War. We grant these permissions less and less these days as emptying a ship of its cargo could cause it to collapse in on itself.”
– How is the relationship with those that loot wrecks?
– Well first we need to define ‘looters’. There are some very well organized groups that we are actively fighting against, but most of the time, people don’t even realise that they are in possession of illegal items. Most often, they are souvenirs or inheritance.
New laws make it totally illegal to retain archaeological pieces for any reason. In L’Estaque we have set up a small museum to inform the public, made up of pieces, mainly amphorae, that the customs officers have seized.
We are in the process of confiscating anything that we find in private establishments, although we don’t systematically send the police to the house of a suspect. We prefer to deal with things in an amicable way.
Most of the time, people entrust us with ancient pieces that they don’t know what to do with. I have noticed a change in mentality where the divers and ‘small pirates’ are concerned – they are much better informed of the consequences of their actions.”
– How do you find these pieces that you then confiscate?
– Most often someone informs us. We also investigate through the customs files or quite simply by trawling the bidding sites online, places like eBay.”
SHOULD MARINE ARCHEOLOGY BE PRIVATISED ?
25 June 2015
The mere notion causes an outcry. Michel de Poncins, a former company director, graduate of the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, with a PhD in Economics; best known as a great slayer of ‘state control’ is one of those against. In 2007, he wrote:
“Recently several hundred objects were seized in the Languedoc Roussillon from those improperly termed ‘looters’; a grossly unfair accusation as the real looters go by another name altogether. The media, trumpeting the news, stated that there were three million wrecks under threat, with millions, who knows, maybe billions of objects on board. These wrecks, listed or not, were a regular occurrence in the old days.
25 June 2015
The mere notion causes an outcry. Michel de Poncins, a former company director, graduate of the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, with a PhD in Economics; best known as a great slayer of ‘state control’ is one of those against. In 2007, he wrote:
“Recently several hundred objects were seized in the Languedoc Roussillon from those improperly termed ‘looters’; a grossly unfair accusation as the real looters go by another name altogether. The media, trumpeting the news, stated that there were three million wrecks under threat, with millions, who knows, maybe billions of objects on board. These wrecks, listed or not, were a regular occurrence in the old days.
If people can act freely in business, then they should be permitted to explore beneath the sea and invest the necessary capital to add to their personal collections or sell their finds on the open market. The cultural benefits would be immense and research would increase rapidly. The men and women of the State, still prodigiously hungry for activities that will support their own wealth, see things differently. Thus UNESCO, an agency that represents what is rapidly developing as a global totalitarian power, raises the alarm and recommends further strengthening of the rules that govern the seabed. Governments take up the cry and redouble their efforts to take down the so-called looters. The reality is though that the true looters are the government.
According to maritime law which has governed the oceans and seas since the dawn of time, a wreck belongs to the man that discovers it. All obstacles to this rule are attacks on international law and ultimately, the right to property.
This has led to the nationalisation of archaeology – even to its internationalisation, as we have seen with the advent of UNESCO – and has resulted in piles and piles of recovered artefacts languishing in museums and storerooms for a jaded audience. If privatisation were permitted, research and conservation would increase, something sorely lacking at the moment due to a lack of resource. The preserved items would then contribute to large or minor collections for the legitimate satisfaction of their owner and for the increased information of the wider public. Better to give a few friends a moment of wonder when admiring a private collection of East India Company plates or a single ancient amphora than overwhelming yawning and jostling museum crowds with thousands of plates and amphorae all crowded in together.
With such freedom comes money and with money comes research. State meddling is detrimental to this process. In this case, as with anything State controlled, official policy destroys the very thing it seeks to protect. Industrial policy destroyed industry, agricultural policy destroyed agriculture, and cultural policy destroyed culture. Privatising marine archaeology would also herald the end of gang rivalries and conflict born of State monopoly that drives the scarcity and value of objects to unrealistically high prices that would never subsist on an open market.
Freedom of trade generally brings peace whereas State control tends to provoke conflict.”
According to maritime law which has governed the oceans and seas since the dawn of time, a wreck belongs to the man that discovers it. All obstacles to this rule are attacks on international law and ultimately, the right to property.
This has led to the nationalisation of archaeology – even to its internationalisation, as we have seen with the advent of UNESCO – and has resulted in piles and piles of recovered artefacts languishing in museums and storerooms for a jaded audience. If privatisation were permitted, research and conservation would increase, something sorely lacking at the moment due to a lack of resource. The preserved items would then contribute to large or minor collections for the legitimate satisfaction of their owner and for the increased information of the wider public. Better to give a few friends a moment of wonder when admiring a private collection of East India Company plates or a single ancient amphora than overwhelming yawning and jostling museum crowds with thousands of plates and amphorae all crowded in together.
With such freedom comes money and with money comes research. State meddling is detrimental to this process. In this case, as with anything State controlled, official policy destroys the very thing it seeks to protect. Industrial policy destroyed industry, agricultural policy destroyed agriculture, and cultural policy destroyed culture. Privatising marine archaeology would also herald the end of gang rivalries and conflict born of State monopoly that drives the scarcity and value of objects to unrealistically high prices that would never subsist on an open market.
Freedom of trade generally brings peace whereas State control tends to provoke conflict.”
The Saint Exupery plane
Luc Vanrell is based at the end of the sea wall in Pointe Rouge, Marseille, where he runs a dive club. He is also curator of the Cosquer Cave. In his fifties, he is passionate and athletic; he has discovered a dozen wrecks, both ancient and modern, including the famous Saint Exupery aircraft. Declaring such a find was not an easy process however… eyes fixed on the islands beyond, he explains how it unfolded:
“I didn’t declare the wreck right away for the simple reason that it was not a typical site, it was a field of debris. I found remains stuck in a sediment cliff at a depth of 35 metres, others at 56 and 87 metres. It took time to form an opinion, little by little, dive after dive.
At the time, not all wrecks were considered national heritage, but rather underwater remains. This discovery was the first time a plane wreck was seen as a maritime cultural asset. In May 2000, I went to Maritime Affairs to declare that I had found a plane and a German fighter. The first problem we ran into was whether or not the wreckage was already known and had been declared. The conversation with the authorities was comical:
– Aircrafts in pieces? They have been declared many times!
– How do you know?
– And how do you know…? Maritime Affairs does not have the position of all discovered wrecks. Some remain concealed by DRASSM to prevent looting…
Faced with this, I was forced to approach DRASSM, who due to the media exposure the case had attracted sent the case back to Maritime Affairs. It wasn’t until October 2003 and an airing of the case before the ‘Prefet’ that I received permission to excavate the site.
Declaring an archaeological site can be a complicated matter. In previous years there used to be agreements whereby the person that discovered the wreck had the right to salvage a certain quantity of the ancient amphorae in return for declaring it to the authorities. I still have some of the results of these agreements (with the official certificates of course). These days, many divers prefer to remain silent, or they take first and then declare.
Yet it is our civic duty, heritage is common to all citizens and not only the privilege of the scientists. I think it would be better to disclose the position of all wrecks so that everyone can keep watch over them. If they are kept secret, the looters benefit. We are in a situation rife with paradox. On one side a rigid law that obliges people to declare anything found in the sea; you find a washing machine…you must declare it!
On the other a reward, no longer granted in ancient desirable objects, but hard cash. In both cases, it is no longer an archaeological or scientific process, but a price on treasure hunting. This approach was justified in the 60s and 70s when there were very few competent divers, but today, the primary motivation of someone that discovers a wreck or an ancient shard of pottery, is to be involved with the research – to participate in the scientific adventure. Sadly this does not happen anymore, that person is pushed aside, and rarely has access to the findings. This attitude creates frustration and causes piracy and looting.”
Luc Vanrell is based at the end of the sea wall in Pointe Rouge, Marseille, where he runs a dive club. He is also curator of the Cosquer Cave. In his fifties, he is passionate and athletic; he has discovered a dozen wrecks, both ancient and modern, including the famous Saint Exupery aircraft. Declaring such a find was not an easy process however… eyes fixed on the islands beyond, he explains how it unfolded:
“I didn’t declare the wreck right away for the simple reason that it was not a typical site, it was a field of debris. I found remains stuck in a sediment cliff at a depth of 35 metres, others at 56 and 87 metres. It took time to form an opinion, little by little, dive after dive.
At the time, not all wrecks were considered national heritage, but rather underwater remains. This discovery was the first time a plane wreck was seen as a maritime cultural asset. In May 2000, I went to Maritime Affairs to declare that I had found a plane and a German fighter. The first problem we ran into was whether or not the wreckage was already known and had been declared. The conversation with the authorities was comical:
– Aircrafts in pieces? They have been declared many times!
– How do you know?
– And how do you know…? Maritime Affairs does not have the position of all discovered wrecks. Some remain concealed by DRASSM to prevent looting…
Faced with this, I was forced to approach DRASSM, who due to the media exposure the case had attracted sent the case back to Maritime Affairs. It wasn’t until October 2003 and an airing of the case before the ‘Prefet’ that I received permission to excavate the site.
Declaring an archaeological site can be a complicated matter. In previous years there used to be agreements whereby the person that discovered the wreck had the right to salvage a certain quantity of the ancient amphorae in return for declaring it to the authorities. I still have some of the results of these agreements (with the official certificates of course). These days, many divers prefer to remain silent, or they take first and then declare.
Yet it is our civic duty, heritage is common to all citizens and not only the privilege of the scientists. I think it would be better to disclose the position of all wrecks so that everyone can keep watch over them. If they are kept secret, the looters benefit. We are in a situation rife with paradox. On one side a rigid law that obliges people to declare anything found in the sea; you find a washing machine…you must declare it!
On the other a reward, no longer granted in ancient desirable objects, but hard cash. In both cases, it is no longer an archaeological or scientific process, but a price on treasure hunting. This approach was justified in the 60s and 70s when there were very few competent divers, but today, the primary motivation of someone that discovers a wreck or an ancient shard of pottery, is to be involved with the research – to participate in the scientific adventure. Sadly this does not happen anymore, that person is pushed aside, and rarely has access to the findings. This attitude creates frustration and causes piracy and looting.”
Nothing to declare?
“Nothing but broken pots! I once stumbled on a wreck at about 50 metres. I happened to notice some coral growth and I knew that that specific variety needed a hard surface to grow on, so I brushed away the sand and discovered the neck of a pottery jar. It turned out to be an ancient wreck with its shipment intact! I dived it for years until one day I went down and found an empty hole in the sand. And not a single amphora left… the pirates had found it. It was such a huge loss, before it could be studied and researched, it disappeared without a trace, lost forever.
When it comes to archaeology, divers need to be discerning and for that they need to be informed. It is also very important to improve the relationship between the public and its heritage, which belongs to all of us: if you take something out of the sea, you are stealing from the nation. Today, there is no interface between the people on the ground and those that work in the administration. That link needs to be created.
Particularly as legal measures have no impact on the professional pirates, quite the opposite in fact, it seems to make them even more determined. Everyone knows – especially those that hunt in the Calanques maritime national park – that the bureaucrats work fixed hours and sleep at night…
Finally, the French maritime archaeology authority has an ambiguous status. On one hand it administers a dig – as it does for archaeology ashore – but on the other hand, it has the power to intervene. Sometimes it has the exclusive right to do so, which alienates the divers even more.
It is the eternal issue: Administration versus Public. Except we are all actors in the system, our heritage concerns all of us. It is important to remember that this department is called Ministry of Culture and Communication – it just needs a bit more communication,” Luc Vanrell concluded.
“Nothing but broken pots! I once stumbled on a wreck at about 50 metres. I happened to notice some coral growth and I knew that that specific variety needed a hard surface to grow on, so I brushed away the sand and discovered the neck of a pottery jar. It turned out to be an ancient wreck with its shipment intact! I dived it for years until one day I went down and found an empty hole in the sand. And not a single amphora left… the pirates had found it. It was such a huge loss, before it could be studied and researched, it disappeared without a trace, lost forever.
When it comes to archaeology, divers need to be discerning and for that they need to be informed. It is also very important to improve the relationship between the public and its heritage, which belongs to all of us: if you take something out of the sea, you are stealing from the nation. Today, there is no interface between the people on the ground and those that work in the administration. That link needs to be created.
Particularly as legal measures have no impact on the professional pirates, quite the opposite in fact, it seems to make them even more determined. Everyone knows – especially those that hunt in the Calanques maritime national park – that the bureaucrats work fixed hours and sleep at night…
Finally, the French maritime archaeology authority has an ambiguous status. On one hand it administers a dig – as it does for archaeology ashore – but on the other hand, it has the power to intervene. Sometimes it has the exclusive right to do so, which alienates the divers even more.
It is the eternal issue: Administration versus Public. Except we are all actors in the system, our heritage concerns all of us. It is important to remember that this department is called Ministry of Culture and Communication – it just needs a bit more communication,” Luc Vanrell concluded.
The Pharo’s treasure
At the History Museum in Marseille, I took a walk in the gardens amongst the ruins; I followed the ancient Roman road paved in white stone from the Cassis region, polished by time. The noise of the city faded and gave voice to the old stone that tells a tale of centuries past, of commerce and trade and the offloading of shipments from all over the Mediterranean: the groaning beasts, the creaking carts, the crack of whips and the singing of slaves… In an alcove beneath the main road lies a giant pot, half buried, a remnant of antiquity jutting into the modern world.
In ancient times, the geography of the city of Marseille was different: the landing area of the “Vieux Port” (old port) reached as far as the “Bourse” area which explains why amphorae and even entire boats are dug up during road works in the city.
Further south, at the mouth of the Vieux Port lays the Pharo’s bay, still used for mooring today. I have a rendezvous with Serge Ximenes, another famous wreck diver.
At the foot of the magnificent Pharo’s Palace, the shallow bay is crowded with boat yards… Hard to imagine that beneath the surface and the sound of wood saws and welders is a world of treasure.
GRASM (Maritime Archaeology Research Group) has existed for 41 years. It is a leisure and professional dive school and also a scientific association run by Serge Ximenes, a diminutive man with a deep tan and a passion for his topic. He welcomed me into an office that was overflowing with files – paperwork is the order of the day when you dive ancient wrecks!
Serge has discovered 28 wrecks and declared 450 artefacts. He is from an era when marine archaeology was less bureaucratic and still the domain of passionate divers. He may still have the passion, but it is equalled by frustration: “We are sorely lacking in funding. And the administrative red tape to get a permit to excavate is never-ending, even when we made the discovery! They do everything to discourage us and authorisations are granted sparingly.
The Tiboulen wreck for example is at about 50 metres deep which represents 50 minutes on site for a diver and then 2 hours 30 minutes of decompression in open water. It is no joke. But for two months of research with a whole team, we have received 2,000 Euros. And on top of that, they wanted us to hire Class 3 divers under the pretext that the depth of the site exceeded the legal limit of 20 cm!
As for the ‘cash for discovery’ scheme, it is often paid very late and is never guaranteed as it is entirely at the discretion of the Ministry of Culture, they are judge and jury. In the meantime, DRASSM pays for new premises for their office, they buy a new boat – the Andre Malraux – courtesy of the taxpayer which is far too big and costly to be used for our research, too many expenses for such a ‘small’ operation. They would have been far better off getting several small boats for the same price.”
At the History Museum in Marseille, I took a walk in the gardens amongst the ruins; I followed the ancient Roman road paved in white stone from the Cassis region, polished by time. The noise of the city faded and gave voice to the old stone that tells a tale of centuries past, of commerce and trade and the offloading of shipments from all over the Mediterranean: the groaning beasts, the creaking carts, the crack of whips and the singing of slaves… In an alcove beneath the main road lies a giant pot, half buried, a remnant of antiquity jutting into the modern world.
In ancient times, the geography of the city of Marseille was different: the landing area of the “Vieux Port” (old port) reached as far as the “Bourse” area which explains why amphorae and even entire boats are dug up during road works in the city.
Further south, at the mouth of the Vieux Port lays the Pharo’s bay, still used for mooring today. I have a rendezvous with Serge Ximenes, another famous wreck diver.
At the foot of the magnificent Pharo’s Palace, the shallow bay is crowded with boat yards… Hard to imagine that beneath the surface and the sound of wood saws and welders is a world of treasure.
GRASM (Maritime Archaeology Research Group) has existed for 41 years. It is a leisure and professional dive school and also a scientific association run by Serge Ximenes, a diminutive man with a deep tan and a passion for his topic. He welcomed me into an office that was overflowing with files – paperwork is the order of the day when you dive ancient wrecks!
Serge has discovered 28 wrecks and declared 450 artefacts. He is from an era when marine archaeology was less bureaucratic and still the domain of passionate divers. He may still have the passion, but it is equalled by frustration: “We are sorely lacking in funding. And the administrative red tape to get a permit to excavate is never-ending, even when we made the discovery! They do everything to discourage us and authorisations are granted sparingly.
The Tiboulen wreck for example is at about 50 metres deep which represents 50 minutes on site for a diver and then 2 hours 30 minutes of decompression in open water. It is no joke. But for two months of research with a whole team, we have received 2,000 Euros. And on top of that, they wanted us to hire Class 3 divers under the pretext that the depth of the site exceeded the legal limit of 20 cm!
As for the ‘cash for discovery’ scheme, it is often paid very late and is never guaranteed as it is entirely at the discretion of the Ministry of Culture, they are judge and jury. In the meantime, DRASSM pays for new premises for their office, they buy a new boat – the Andre Malraux – courtesy of the taxpayer which is far too big and costly to be used for our research, too many expenses for such a ‘small’ operation. They would have been far better off getting several small boats for the same price.”
We move from the office down to the courtyard where numerous artefacts are stored. Last summer, while taking a break from offshore diving, Serge discovered a remarkable source of archaeology right in front of his dive centre. The results of this excavation currently reside in desalination tanks…
Marina Branger, archaeologist, explained: “The area was a temporary mooring and is scattered with artefacts from different eras, right back to the Bronze Age in the 2nd century BC, it is a complete puzzle. Last summer we received authorisation to conduct four surveys over 4 m2. We found some very beautiful items, but there is without doubt much more remaining beneath the surface.”
Marina Branger, archaeologist, explained: “The area was a temporary mooring and is scattered with artefacts from different eras, right back to the Bronze Age in the 2nd century BC, it is a complete puzzle. Last summer we received authorisation to conduct four surveys over 4 m2. We found some very beautiful items, but there is without doubt much more remaining beneath the surface.”
Serge placed a magnificent oil lamp back in the tank and continued: “We have trained many maritime archaeologists here, some of them even work for DRASSM now. But Michel L’Hour now wants to shut places like ours down and centralise all the training at the INPP (National Institute for Professional Diving) which is based at Pointe Rouge harbour in Marseille and the price of training will increase from 1,500 Euros to 5,000. They are mocking us. You should go and ask what Michele Fructus from COMEX thinks of DRASSM…” he suggested.
“A man’s penis in graffiti on ancient pottery – can you imagine!” Michele Fructus grinned as she told the story…
Female, astute, daughter of Henri Germain Delauze, founder of COMEX, it is Michele that presides over the fate of the underwater exploration company these days.
“It was drawn in black marker pen on a ceramic plate that was dug out and was due to be taken to the surface the next day. But during the night, the pirates came to leave us this message, a snub…they know everything and are everywhere. This happened on the wreck that my father discovered in 1977, the Sud Cavaux, 64metres beneath the surface in the Frioul Islands. It was loaded with amphorae and other pottery.
During the 1996 campaign, we put significant resources at the disposal of DRASSM including submarines and boats, to carry out the first photogrammetric coverage of a wreck using a submarine and a blaster, but that did not stop the looters who saw an opportunity to exploit. Historically, all divers are treasure hunters. It’s the dream: everyone wants to discover a galleon, to bring a souvenir from another era to the surface. It is human nature and normally has very little impact. But there are those that pillage for resale, and they are very well organised.
Previously under the Malraux Law, there was the ‘inventor’s share’ and that system worked very well. It provided an incentive to declare any treasure found as the discoverer was awarded up to 50% of the discovery. People like my father, like Jean Pierre Joncheray, discovered and declared dozens of wrecks in this way, but everything
Female, astute, daughter of Henri Germain Delauze, founder of COMEX, it is Michele that presides over the fate of the underwater exploration company these days.
“It was drawn in black marker pen on a ceramic plate that was dug out and was due to be taken to the surface the next day. But during the night, the pirates came to leave us this message, a snub…they know everything and are everywhere. This happened on the wreck that my father discovered in 1977, the Sud Cavaux, 64metres beneath the surface in the Frioul Islands. It was loaded with amphorae and other pottery.
During the 1996 campaign, we put significant resources at the disposal of DRASSM including submarines and boats, to carry out the first photogrammetric coverage of a wreck using a submarine and a blaster, but that did not stop the looters who saw an opportunity to exploit. Historically, all divers are treasure hunters. It’s the dream: everyone wants to discover a galleon, to bring a souvenir from another era to the surface. It is human nature and normally has very little impact. But there are those that pillage for resale, and they are very well organised.
Previously under the Malraux Law, there was the ‘inventor’s share’ and that system worked very well. It provided an incentive to declare any treasure found as the discoverer was awarded up to 50% of the discovery. People like my father, like Jean Pierre Joncheray, discovered and declared dozens of wrecks in this way, but everything
The Sun King’s boat
Outside the window, the wrecked Alose submarine languishes amongst the parasol pines; it was discovered by Jean Pierre Joncheray and brought to the surface by COMEX…
“Today, our relations with DRASSM are both cordial and conflicted. Cordial because we are driven by the same motivation; my father never spared his time or resources when it came to marine archaeology, it was his passion. At the same time, despite the fact that we have financed countless DRASSM missions, our excavation requests often go unanswered. Such ingratitude! So I decided to end any further collaboration with this organisation.
The result is that we are experiencing a period of terrible intimidation, at the slightest hint or the slightest denunciation, Michel L’Hour sends the Gendarmerie. The man is suffering from some sort of perversion; he behaves like the tyrannical Sun King. He seems to think he can manage every maritime archaeology site alone.
And yet, time is of the essence. Granted these wrecks have waited 2,000 years to be discovered, but in our modern times, they are at risk from the ever-present pirates and from the trawlers that rake the seabed, destroying everything in their path. Not to mention the effects of silt. Many wrecks will be lost forever because of a lack of competent people to inventory them before it is too late.
And if that were not bad enough, the money wasting is criminal. The Andre Malraux is the wrong boat for French marine archaeology. It was very expensive and is badly thought out. For example, it cannot carry a submarine and there are no decompression tanks on board… Such an oversight is incomprehensible! There was in fact a Senate enquiry about this. Jean Louis Borloo, Pierre Lellouche and other politicians were against building this boat…
We offered to charter the Minibex out to them at a very reasonable price, it would have been a lot less costly – a three month mission would have cost them less than the running costs of the Andre Malraux for the year, but Michel L’Hour was determined to use his boat.”
File led by:
Francis Le Guen
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E-Mail Webmaster: [email protected]