A wreck discovered at a depth of 107 meters near the Île d'Or in Saint-Raphaël

Anne Joncheray, an expert with 4,000 dives, has just solved a new underwater enigma.

Working with engineering students from the École des Mines as part of the Underwater project, she discovered a new wreck at a depth of 107m, off the coast of Île d'Or.

If the metallic silhouette lying on the seabed that haunted the sonar screens was a mystery until now, it has just been identified and photographed: a 15m x 5m work barge, which has become a sanctuary for marine wildlife.

On a mission for the underwater and sub-marine archaeological research department (Drassm), Anne Joncheray has been crisscrossing the coasts for 35 years to establish the archaeological map of Saint-Raphaël: "That's how we build History."

Aboard the research vessel "Belle Amie," the archaeologist had already spotted an intriguing anomaly in 2016, which she recorded in the report submitted to the administration. But it's the new campaign, whose objective is to test underwater robotics applied to archaeology, that has just provided the solution.

"I worked with engineering students who designed two underwater robots capable of descending to depths of more than 100m. Supervised by a team from the Risk and Crisis Research Center, with videographer Kevin Sempé, the students embarked on a wreck hunt. We marked out the site and sent out the camera, which revealed the structure equipped with an engine, a crane with a folded boom, a plastic dinghy, and a fender of a common model from 1975 onward," said this enthusiast who has already discovered ten ancient wrecks, brought up amphorae, ancient tiles and coins, ship's crockery, a mirror handle in the shape of a cobra statuette, many remains of Roman trade, and mapped a multitude of wrecks between Toulon and Antibes.

"The causes of the barge's sinking remain undetermined: a maneuvering error, a sudden storm? There was no trace of fuel, no pollution. On the contrary, the barge became a reef. Lobsters and a fork-nose squid settled there. The hull is covered with algae, sponges, and small corals," emphasized the author of 15 books and some thirty scientific publications.

It is part of the underwater heritage of St-Raphaël

"A discreet but precious relic of modern maritime customs and the long-term commitment of archaeological investigation. The basic principle: believe nothing, always go and see. Nine years after the first signal, the mystery has been solved. And while the wreck hasn't revealed all its secrets, it is now part of Saint-Raphaël's underwater heritage," she said.

Because what interests Anne Joncheray most is above all "the discovery of the unknown, the search for what has not yet been explored. When you find something, it's like a shock, you don't believe it. You do so many dives without finding anything that when it happens, you don't realize it. The emotion comes little by little, like when I discovered the wreck I of the Dramont with its marble blocks and especially when I saw a 1.60m long bronze tube before understanding that it was a 17th century cannon." (exhibited at the archaeological museum, editor's note).