Off Toulon, the wreck of La Lune yields new secrets

Off the coast of Toulon, the wreck of La Lune, one of the most prestigious ships of Louis XIV's royal fleet, is the subject of a new archaeological excavation campaign. The vessel sank in 1664, taking down with it more than 900 people who were aboard, in one of the deadliest shipwrecks in 17th-century French maritime history.

The operation marks a first: archaeologists from DRASSM, the French state department responsible for underwater archaeological research, are now working directly alongside divers from the French Navy. The two teams are pooling their human resources and robotic equipment to explore the protected site, located roughly 90 meters below the surface, a depth that demands particularly advanced intervention techniques.

La Lune belonged to the war fleet Louis XIV built up early in his personal reign, at a time when the young king, backed by his minister Colbert, sought to give France a naval power capable of rivaling Europe's leading fleets. The ship's sinking, with its heavy loss of life, makes the site as much a burial ground as an archaeological one, requiring teams to balance scientific inquiry with due respect for the dead.

Excavations conducted 90 meters underwater are allowing researchers to study the ship's structure as well as the objects it carried, offering a rare glimpse into naval construction and shipboard life under the Sun King. The unprecedented collaboration between civilian archaeologists and military personnel on this site could pave the way for new partnerships in exploring other sunken French wrecks in the Mediterranean.

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Written by the ADM desk based on Connaissance des Arts. Read the original article for the full story.