Laurons 2, late 2nd century AD

Country: France

Place: Anse des Laurons, east of the Gulf of Fos, near Martigues (Bouches-du-Rhône), at a depth of 2.50 m

Coordinates (approximate): 43.36, 5.04

Type: Roman merchant ship

Identified: No

Dated: End of the 2nd century AD, based on two coins, one of Antoninus Pius (Gassend et al. 1984).

Beam: About 5 m.

Keel Length: 8.60 m (central section).

Length Overall: About 15 m.

Number of Masts: One, stepped at 3/8 of the overall length.

History of the wreck

The Laurons 2 wreck was discovered in 1978 by Ximénès, at the same time as wreck no. 1, and excavation campaigns were carried out between 1979 and 1983. The first test trench, in 1979, showed that the hull was in an excellent state of preservation. The peculiarity of this wreck is that it lay on its side, making it one of the few known cases in which part of the upperworks of the hull survives, in this case the port side. The discovery of two coins, one of Antoninus Pius, allowed the wreck to be dated to the end of the 2nd century AD (Gassend et al. 1984). The ship was about 15 m long and 5 m in beam, and its state of preservation allowed the ratio between these proportions to be studied.

Description of the site

The wreck lies east of the Gulf of Fos, near Martigues, at a depth of 2.50 m. The hull was preserved over 13.30 m of length and 6 m of width (Figures 1 to 4).

Figure 1. Longitudinal section and elevation of the Laurons 2 (after Gassend et al. 1984: fig. 19).

Figure 2. Plan of the Laurons 2 wreck (after Gassend et al. 1984: fig. 21).

Cargo

Not reported.

Ballast

Not reported.

Anchors

Not reported.

Guns

Not applicable.

Iron concretions

Not reported. Copper or bronze nails were used to reinforce the fastening of the frames at the garboard and second strakes.

Hull Remains

The first campaign was carried out in the bow area, excavating towards the middle of the ship (Figure 3), and the deck appeared about 3 m from the end of the stem. The deck planks rested on a beam, and a carling (over-beam) crossed the deck, gripping the hull by means of notches and helping to secure these planks from above. The deck planks were 4 cm thick and 25 cm wide on average, and were joined to each other by mortises and tenons 7–8 cm wide, 6 cm deep and 1 cm thick, spaced 25 cm apart, the planks having bevelled cuts at their ends (Figure 4). The deck planking was laid with a curvature opposite to the closing lines of the hull towards the bow, unlike in shipbuilding that has survived to the present day, and was fastened only by nails (staggered, two per plank) to the beams below. The curvature or rise of the deck planks, beams and carlings was 8 to 10° to the horizontal, increasing towards the maximum beam of the ship. The beams supporting the deck were of rectangular section, 9 cm thick and 15–18 cm high, spaced 50 to 60 cm apart. The longest would logically have been at the maximum beam of the hull, where the access or hatch to the hold was preserved; in this section there were not beams but simple timbers 80 cm long and of much smaller section.

The beams fit into a wale called the deck or upper wale, of rectangular section 8 cm thick and 12 cm high, compared with the 2.5 cm thickness of the hull strakes. The beams are inserted into the deck wale by dovetails that reach exactly half the thickness of the wale, thus distributing the compression and tension stresses of the deck into the wale (Figure 4). In the framing at deck level, some frames (top timbers) were longer than the others and rose to form an open bulwark.

The carlings, placed in the same vertical plane as the beams, had a rectangular section 18 cm high and 11 cm thick (Figure 3). They have a notch at their ends to grip the deck wale. Others were recorded placed without a regular rhythm but coinciding with the opening of the hatch to the hold. These are more robust than the former, 27 cm high and 12 cm thick, and, besides reinforcing the hull against twisting, in the author’s interpretation they prevented water shipped on deck during navigation from reaching the hold. Part of their function was to receive a hatch cover for the hold, which would fit over them, measuring 5.70 m long and 3 m wide (Figure 3). Unlike the former, these larger carlings do not fit into the deck wale but rest on another wale 20 cm above it, with the same fitting system, literally gripping and binding the hull like architectural braces. They had limber holes of rectangular section (10 × 3 cm) to let water run off the deck and drain overboard (Figure 5).

Figure 3. Axonometric view of the bow and port side of the Laurons 2, showing the framing, the mast step, the bulwark structure and the hatch of the hold (after Gassend 1984: 84).

Figure 4. Several exploded axonometric views of the deck and port side, showing the deck planks, beams and carlings, top timbers, rail cap and bulwark “gate” (after Gassend 1984: 80–82).

Figure 5. Axonometric view of the bulwark at the maximum beam of the ship, coinciding with the hatch of the hold (after Gassend et al. 1984: 83).

Keel, keelson and mast step

In the bottom of the ship, the keel, stem and sternpost were perfectly preserved (Figure 1). The keel, 8.60 m long in its central section, had a rectangular section 16 cm high and 12 cm wide, with simple bevelled rabbets 5 cm wide. Towards the bow, the keel is joined to an intermediate section (forefoot), inclined at 15° and 1.20 m long, before the stem, by classic trait de Jupiter (rayo de Júpiter) scarfs. The stem has a trapezoidal section, 14 cm at its upper face and 12 cm at its lower face, with a height varying from 16 to 18 cm, and 1.20 m of it is preserved (Figure 2). It has a notched rabbet of triangular section whose angle varies according to the proximity to the bow. The joints with the first strake are made by mortises and tenons spaced 12 cm apart, alternating with nails driven obliquely every 20 cm.

The sternpost, joined to the keel by a classic trait de Jupiter scarf with a horizontal locking key, has dimensions similar to those of the stem: a trapezoidal section, 14 cm at its upper face and 12 cm at its lower face, and a height of 23 cm, with 3.25 m of its length preserved. Its angle to the horizontal of the keel begins at 7° and rises progressively to 30°. It also has a notched rabbet of triangular section, 7 cm deep. The keel has four bolts, driven from the outside, which pass through it and fasten it to the floor timbers. Two of them are at the ends of the keel, a third in the forefoot before the stem, and the fourth in the sternpost.

The mast step had been displaced from its original position and turned (Figure 3). It was 5.20 m long, of an original 7.75 m, with a rectangular section 22 cm high and 26–28 cm wide. Its underside has longitudinal recesses, 5 × 6 cm, to fit over the sister keelsons, and has a slightly rounded longitudinal profile, like the keel. It has three transverse notches to fit over three transverse ties between the sister keelsons, the central one coinciding with the maximum beam. Its upper face is flat and horizontal and has the characteristic cavities to receive the foot of the mast and the stanchions supporting the beams. The main one, 2.60 m from the forward end of the mast step, is 21 cm long, 8 cm wide and up to 6 cm deep, its profile curving upwards towards the bow. It is flanked by the mortises for securing the mast and preventing it from moving forwards.

The sister keelsons have a trapezoidal section 15 cm wide and a variable thickness of 6 to 10 cm. They are 7.90 m long and lie parallel on either side of the keel. They have perpendicular notches in their underside to fit over the upper faces of the frames, to which they are then fastened by staggered nails. Three transverse ties between the sister keelsons kept them parallel and prevented longitudinal movement of the mast step, a technique different from those of Laurons 4 or Saint Gervais 3. Part of the mechanical function of these sister keelsons is to prevent the keel from hogging in the middle of the hull through the effect of buoyancy (Gassend et al. 1984: 100); that is, they clearly serve as longitudinal reinforcement of the hull.

Frames

Of the framing, 55 frames are preserved over 13.30 m of the ship. There is a regular alternation of floor timbers and half-frames (Figures 6 to 8). Their sided dimension varies between 7 and 9 cm, and the room-and-space (malla) is between 20 and 22 cm. Their moulded dimensions vary: the floor timbers are 20 cm moulded nearest the keel, decreasing to 10 cm at their ends; the half-frames are more regular, 9 cm moulded. The floor timbers are 2.5 to 3 m long. The half-frames are 35 to 60 cm apart, and in some cases there are futtocks (even two). At deck level, every other frame was longer (top timbers), rising to form an open bulwark. These had slot-type notches 2 cm deep in their side faces to fit wooden panels, made of planks joined by mortises and tenons, which closed the bulwark like a gate for unloading. The ends of these top timbers are joined by a rail cap 9 cm thick and 15 cm wide, 65 cm above the deck.

The frames are fastened to the hull by wooden treenails 1.5 cm in diameter, driven perpendicularly from the outside in groups of two, at intervals of 5 to 30 cm. Copper or bronze nails driven from the outside of the hull reinforce the fastening at the level of the garboard strakes and the second strakes. The limber holes are of varied section, sometimes triangular and sometimes square, about 6 cm high.

Figure 6. Cross-sections of the wreck with the framing, frames 102 to 108 (after Gassend et al. 1984: 92).

Figure 7. Cross-sections of the wreck with the framing, frames 110 to 136 (after Gassend et al. 1984: 93).

Figure 8. Cross-sections of the wreck with the framing, frames 140 to 153 (after Gassend et al. 1984: 95).

Planking

The whole port side of the hull is preserved, but only 1.15 to 1.20 m of the starboard side. The hull strakes are 2.5 cm thick and vary in width between 14 and 30 cm. The tenons are 6 cm wide and 12 to 13 cm long, and are spaced 12 cm apart, locked by pegs 0.9 cm in diameter. Two lengths of plank are joined by bevelled scarfs. The garboard strake has a trapezoidal section, 4.5 cm thick at the keel and slightly less at the edge in contact with the second strake, the thickness levelling out at 2.5 cm in the third strake. Its width of 18 cm at the maximum beam decreases towards the ends until it disappears, the second strake becoming the garboard. There are sets of joints in which certain strakes end as stealers at the stem, their place being taken by the adjacent planks, as part of the planking that creates the angular shapes of the bow (Figure 9). There is also evidence of repairs to the bow strakes. Notably, the garboard strakes are reinforced on the outside, as in the Cavalière wreck.¹ These reinforcements are 4 m long, end at the sternpost and have a triangular section of 14 cm, with 8 cm on the face in contact with the sternpost and 9 cm on the face in contact with the garboard strake (Figure 8).

Figure 9. Plan of the port side of the ship at the joint between the keel and the stem (forefoot), showing the narrowing and ending of the hull strakes. In the repair patching the hull, the tenons have no locking pegs (after Gassend et al. 1984: 96).

Ceiling, thick stuff, and wales

The hull had well-preserved internal longitudinal timbers, consisting of stringers forming the ceiling of the hold. They were of a constant thickness of 3 cm and 6 m long, with bevels on their side faces for a better fit between them and to make the seams as watertight as possible (Figure 2). The deck wale was 8 cm thick and 12 cm high, with a second wale 20 cm above it (see Hull Remains).

Caulking

Not reported. The ship had a bilge pump, which was salvaged long ago; only wooden boards from the casing that contained it remain.

Size and scantlings

Thanks to its excellent state of preservation, the Laurons 2 wreck allowed Gassend to establish a rule of proportions based on modules (Figure 10). The process consists first of finding the curvature of the stem and the sternpost through the intersection of the perpendicular bisectors of two chords of the same arc. The radius of the arc of the sternpost is equivalent to ¼ of the ship’s length. The radius of the circle described by the arc of the stem is equivalent to 1/5 of the ship’s length. These measurements are marked on the keel by the metal bolts fastening the floor timbers at the trait de Jupiter scarfs. The maximum beam of the hull was located 5 m from the bow, equivalent to 1/3 of the overall length. The depth in hold was established at 1.40 m, and the position of the mast corresponds to 3/8 of the overall length (Gassend et al. 1984: 104).

Figure 10. Section at the maximum beam of the Laurons 2 wreck, with the symmetry of the two sides (after Gassend et al. 1984: 94).

Figure 11. A logical ratio must be found between the different elements that make up the proportions of the ship (after Gassend et al. 1984: 104).

Table 1. Scantling of the timber remains of the Laurons 2 Shipwreck

Timber	Sided [cm]	Molded [cm]
Keel	12	16
Stem	12–14	16–18
Sternpost	12–14	23
Keelson (sister keelsons)	15	6–10
Maststep Mortise	26–28 8 × 21	22 6 (depth)
Buttresses	–	–
Floor timbers	7–9	20 (over keel) – 10 (ends)
Half-frames	7–9	9
Room-and-space At central frames	20–22
Planking Garboard	14–30 18	2.5 4.5
Ceiling (stringers)	–	3
Deck beams Carlings Large carlings (hatch)	9 11 12	15–18 18 27
Deck planks	25	4
Deck wale	8	12
Rail cap	15	9
Main mast Ø Chock	– –	– –

The mast step was 7.75 m long originally (5.20 m preserved); the sister keelsons are 7.90 m long. Planking, ceiling and deck planks: sided = width, moulded = thickness.

Wood

Not reported.

Bibliography

Gassend, J.-M., Liou, B. and Ximénès, S. 1984. L’épave 2 de l’anse des Laurons (Martigues, Bouches-du-Rhône). Archaeonautica 4: 75–105.

Notes

¹ In that case the external reinforcing planks ran along the whole length of the garboard strakes and were of substantial section.