Marinières 1, early 15th century
Country: France
Place: Marinières beach, harbour of Villefranche-sur-Mer, in less than 5 m of water
Coordinates (approximate): 43.7050, 7.3170
Type: Merchant ship (round ship)
Identified: No
Dated: Timber felled 1420-1430 (dendrochronology); the ceramics first suggested about 1500
Beam: Unknown.
Keel Length: Unknown.
Length Overall: Unknown.
Number of Masts: Unknown.
History of the wreck
Outside the main cities, many stretches of the medieval Mediterranean coast were deserted, as country people took refuge inland from pirates and corsairs (Sayous 1939: 47). In 1295 Charles II of Anjou (1285-1309) ordered the foundation of a port settlement on the bay of Olivula, east of Nice, as part of his maritime kingdom between Provence and southern Italy (Durante 1823: 247-248, 250). Villefranche-sur-Mer grew quickly as a free port. After the death of Queen Joan I (1343-1382), the eastern part of Provence, including Villefranche, sided with Charles III of Naples and later Ladislaus of Naples (Venturini 1994: 182-183, 187); in 1388 Nice and the eastern fringe passed to Amadeus VII of Savoy (1360-1391), and by 1419 the area was entirely under Savoy (Ripart 2001: 21-22). Villefranche became Savoy’s military port, although it had no harbour facilities or shipyards until the sixteenth century.
Soon after Savoy took full control, a ship was lost or abandoned in less than 5 m of water off the Marinières beach. It was discovered in 1985, and two excavation seasons followed in 1992-1993 under Jean-Marie Gassend and Alain Visquis; the ceramics first dated the wreck to about 1500 (Daeffler 1998: 330; Daeffler 2007: 9). In 1996 Michel L’Hour resumed work, and the well-preserved hull was dismantled, as Parks Canada had done with the sixteenth-century Basque whaler 24M at Red Bay (Waddell 1986: 142-144; Waddell 2007: 134). Michel Daeffler recorded the hull after its dismantling in the late 1990s (Daeffler 2007: 14-15).
Dendrochronology by Frédéric Guibal gave a felling date of 1420-1430, synchronised with references from south-western Germany, Paris, Franche-Comté and Cluny; no reference fits closely enough to locate the origin of the timber (Michel Daeffler, pers. comm.). Daeffler argues that the ship was built in Portugal (Daeffler 2007: 31).
Description of the site
The wreck lay in less than 5 m of water off the Marinières beach, in the harbour of Villefranche-sur-Mer. The hull was well preserved and was dismantled for recording (Daeffler 2007: 14-15).
Figure 1. Site plan of the Marinières shipwreck (after Daeffler 2007: 39).
Figure 2. Stern assembly of the Marinières shipwreck (after Daeffler 2007: 44).
Cargo
Not reported; ceramics were recovered.
Ballast
Not reported.
Anchors
Not reported.
Guns
Not reported.
Iron concretions
Not reported.
Hull Remains
The reconstruction suggests a flat floor with a round bilge (Daeffler 2007: 31).
Keel, keelson and mast step
The keel is wide and rectangular, with a smaller false keel (counter keel) below; the two are joined by sculpted garboards fastened with iron nails and treenails. Neither has a rabbet: the keel is wider than the counter keel, forming a lip on which the garboards rest. The after end of the keel butts against a heel timber without a scarf; the heel timber in turn butts, with a stopwater, against the missing upper sternpost, raking at 77°. Forward of the heel timber, an inner sternpost is butted on the counter keel with another stopwater. The heel timber has a rabbet for the after end of the garboard, and the inner sternpost a rabbet for the hood ends of the other strakes. The stern knee rests on the counter keel, its upper arm against the inner sternpost (Daeffler 2007: 19-20).
No remains of the keelson were found, but it seems to have been bolted through the floor timbers and notched over the frames. Half-round cuts in two floor timbers slightly abaft amidships, over the keel, suggest a pump sump through the keelson (Daeffler 2007: 22, 39, fig. 6).
Frames
The frames are roughly square, with floor timbers overlapping the futtocks. The hull seems to have had two master frames and tail frames toward the ends. Single or double dovetail scarfs join the lower frame timbers, fastened with three treenails and two nails; the nails seem to have fixed the position, with the treenails added later. The room-and-space is about equal to the width of a frame. Most floor timbers are bolted to the keel; three Y-timbers are nailed to the counter keel and a fourth is toenailed on the side (Daeffler 2007: 20-22).
Planking
The planking is of the thickness usual on contemporary ships of the western Mediterranean. Each strake is fastened with two nails and one treenail per frame, with three nails at the plank ends (Daeffler 2007: 18).
Ceiling, thick stuff, and wales
The bilge stringers were missing, but the pattern of treenails on the upper faces of the frames at the turn of the bilge shows that they existed (Daeffler 2007: 22).
Caulking
The seams were caulked with vegetable fibre and the outside of the hull was covered with a thick layer of pitch. Lead strips were found between the garboard joints (Daeffler 2007: 18).
Size and scantlings
Sternpost rake 77°; room-and-space about equal to the width of a frame.
Wood
Not reported; dendrochronology gave a felling date of 1420-1430, without a clear geographical origin.
Bibliography
Daeffler, M. 1998. [Full reference to be completed.]
Daeffler, M. 2007. “L’épave des Marinières.” [Full reference to be completed.]
Daeffler, M. Personal communication.
Durante, L. 1823. [Full reference to be completed.]
Ripart, L. 2001. [Full reference to be completed.]
Sayous, A.-E. 1939. [Full reference to be completed.]
Venturini, A. 1994. [Full reference to be completed.]
Waddell, P. 1986. [Full reference to be completed.]
Waddell, P. 2007. [Full reference to be completed.]
Bendig, C. 2021. [Full reference to be completed.]