Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 July 1999 Issue No. 436
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

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From a watery grave

By Nevine El-Aref

Excavations in Abu Qir Bay, west of Alexandria, have been underway for many years now, but this week, dramatic discoveries have focused world attention on the area. Culture Minister Farouk Hosni and Gaballa Ali Gaballa, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) rushed to the Mediterranean port to view the find; with them, in an ironic twist of fate, were descendants of Napoleon Bonaparte and Admiral Horatio Nelson, the mortal enemies of 1798.

Archaeologists and journalists of different nationalities were taken in small motor boats to the site of the wreck, some 10km from the shore. There, two French yachts equipped with TV monitors showing the activities underwater were anchored.

Divers could be seen swimming around the wreck. Gaballa guided the onlookers through the underwater site, describing the artefacts that could be seen on the three main ships of the sunken fleet. The first is the flagship, L'Orient, along with two other ships, La Sérieuse (weighing 800 tonnes and measuring 40 to 45m), and L'Artémise. Hundreds of gold, silver and bronze coins were also found. Gaballa explained that the bronze and silver coins were Italian, Spanish, Turkish and Egyptian, with engravings on both sides.

Sunken treasure: the remains of Napoleon's fleet emerge from the deep, 201 years after the battle of Abu Qir (photos: Reuters & AFP)

Divers have also found various navigational instruments, swords, guns, cannons and personal objects belonging to Napoleon's soldiers. Remains of the 1,700 men who died in the battle, as well as pipes, forks, knifes, bottles, boxes, plates, uniform buttons and buckles have also been discovered.

Gaballa has declared that the finds will be placed in the underwater museum to be established in the eastern harbour.

"Parts of the main hull of the L'Orient, an 11m-long rudder weighing about 15 tonnes and the ship's rigging have been found on the wreck," added Ibrahim Darwish, director of the Underwater Archaeology Department (UAD). He noted that seven pieces of gold jewellery, including necklaces and three rings, one engraved with the letter "B", along with shoe buckles, eight bronze cannons and parts of pistols used during the high sea battle were also found.

After viewing the site, everyone gathered on deck for the dramatic hoisting of the 600kg canon and some of the coins retrieved from the sea bed. These were then returned to their watery grave.

"This is a magnificent find," said Farouk Hosni, the Minister of Culture, explaining that a printing press was also found on one of the ships.

Colin White, deputy director of Britain's Royal Naval Museum, said the excavations have helped historians reconstruct the battle. He added that Franck Goddio, head of the French-Egyptian underwater team, "has really illuminated graphic descriptions of an event that was of prime importance of Europe's future", according to Reuters.

Goddio told Al-Ahram Weekly that a bronze plaque bearing the words Le Dauphin Royal was found affixed to the hull of the L'Orient. "This was the ship's original name before the French Revolution," he said.

"Our underwater explorations around the ship have not only revealed thousands of new artefacts, but also give us a better idea of how the ship sank," said Goddio. He explained that Nelson gave the order to attack the French fleet on the evening of 1 August 1798. A blast shot at 10.30pm destroyed the L'Orient in an explosion heard across Alexandria; a second explosion, "which has not been documented before," according to Goddio, followed soon after.

The ship lay on the sea bed until 1983, when Jacques Dumas, a French professor of marine archaeology and head of the French underwater mission in Egypt, found the first trace of L'Orient.

Darwish said the underwater site was left untouched for 13 years until Goddio and his team started to explore it in 1996. They have made 5,000 dives so far.

Goddio said that during the next excavation season, which will start in September, divers will begin searching for La Guerrière, the fourth ship of Napoleon's fleet. Work will continue in an effort to find the rest of the fleet as well as the three sunken cities mentioned by Strabo in the first century AD.

"Touching the ship's wood is like being an eyewitness to history," said Goddio, explaining that part of the L'Orient's mast was found; the second part had been ordered salvaged by Nelson and was used in making the admiral's coffin.

"Work on the sunken ships will go on for several years. There is still much to be discovered in the bay," said Hosni.

Goddio added that next September's mission "will be the end of our excavations here in Abu Qir. However, work in the Eastern Harbour will continue for the next 50 years," he said.

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