Titan, second half of the 1st century BC
Country: France
Place: Off the end of the Île du Levant, near Hyères (Var), at a depth of 27–29 m
Coordinates (approximate): 43.04, 6.53
Type: Roman Republican merchant ship with double planking
Identified: No
Dated: Second half of the 1st century BC, based on the finds; the votive coin in the mast step is later than 89 BC.
Beam: Unknown.
Keel Length: Unknown.
Length Overall: Unknown.
Number of Masts: One mast step is attested.
History of the wreck
The Titan wreck lies off the end of the Île du Levant, near Hyères, between Toulon and Cannes.1 Discovered in 1948, its archaeological excavation began in 1957 under the direction of Philippe Tailliez with the help of the Navy. After the work on the Grand Congloué wreck, this excavation could be considered the first scientific one, with photographic recording in vertical view, the drawing of plans and the plotting of the recovered material by coordinates. The finds allowed the author to date the wreck to the second half of the 1st century BC.
Description of the site
The wreck lies at a depth of 27–29 m. The cargo formed a mound 30 m long, 12 m wide and 2 m high. The excavated hull remains measured 20 × 4 m.
Cargo
At the time of excavation the ship’s cargo consisted of 700 Dressel 12 amphorae with salted fish (tuna and gastropods) of Baetican production, some with almonds and many still sealed with terracotta opercula. They were stowed in two layers. Undoubtedly a large number of amphorae were looted in the two years before the excavation began. The shipboard tableware recovered included Campanian B ware: small cups of Lamboglia forms 2 and 3, bowls of forms Lamboglia 1 and 10, Lamboglia 5 and Dragendorff 17 paterae. The common ware was mainly olpai and two Dressel 3 lamps; there were also copper vessels (a large patera, a cyathus and a spoon), flat mills, a Dressel 1B amphora, fragments of tiles, a lead anchor stock and some coins (two copper semisses and a votive coin at the foot of the mast step, Figure 1).
Figure 1. Coin with the prow of a ship found in the main cavity of the mast step (later than 89 BC) (after Gianfrotta and Pomey 1981: 233).
Ballast
Not reported.
Anchors
A lead anchor stock was found; another, recovered in 1955 at the opposite end from the sternpost, seems to indicate the position of the bow.
Guns
Not applicable.
Iron concretions
Not reported. Copper nails joined the two layers of planking.
Hull Remains
The excavated hull remains measured 20 × 4 m, with double planking in at least three of the strakes examined, joined by copper nails. No lead sheathing was detected. A 10 m portion of the keel was cut, although it was never treated afterwards. The hull lines are flat-bottomed. One of the frames begins its curve (bilge) about 2 m from the keel.
Keel, keelson and mast step
The keel was 19.5 cm wide and 22 cm high. At the end of the mound the sternpost was found, 1.50 m long. A section through a central part of the hull shows that the bottom is not pinched, although the keel has a notched rabbet and the garboard strakes are of polygonal section, meeting the second strake almost at right angles to the vertical of the keel (Figure 2).
A keelson fits over the framing by means of grooves or notches cut in its underside. The keelson, the frames and the keel itself are joined by vertical treenails passing through all three pieces. The mast step or keelson, notched over the framing, has a possible bolt fastening it to the keel which, according to the drawing, does not pass through to its underside. It was 37 cm wide and 33 cm high (Tailliez 1965: 88, fig. 35).
Figure 2. Drawing of the section of the keel in the central part of the hull of the Titan (after Tailliez 1961: 195).
Frames
The frames were very close together, with a room-and-space (malla) of 15 cm (Figure 4). The floor timbers have a limber hole of square section (Figure 3). According to the figure, the building process would have continued with the fitting of the floor timber by wooden treenails serving as guides for blind nails. It is in direct contact with the keel. Nails were also used to fasten the garboard strake to the rabbet and to the floor timber itself.
Figure 3. Photograph of the central section of a floor timber with its square limber hole (photo by Tailliez, after Benoit 1958: 13).
Figure 4. Photograph of the excavation, showing the strong framing of the hull of the Titan (after Tailliez 1961: 194).
Planking
The planking strakes were 4 to 8 cm thick. The second planking was fitted afterwards, its strakes being joined by tenons locked by pegs and then nailed to the first planking (Figure 5).
Figure 5. Drawing of the garboard strake of the main and secondary planking, and of a hull strake fastened to a frame in the central part of the hull (after Tailliez 1961: 195).
Ceiling, thick stuff, and wales
Not reported.
Caulking
No lead sheathing was detected.
Size and scantlings
The cargo mound measured 30 × 12 m and the hull remains 20 × 4 m. The keel measures 19.5 × 22 cm, the mast step or keelson 37 × 33 cm, and the framing is robust and tightly spaced (15 cm).
Table 1. Scantling of the timber remains of the Titan Shipwreck
| Timber | Sided [cm] | Molded [cm] |
| Keel | 19.5 | 22 |
| Keelson / maststep | 37 | 33 |
| Maststep Mortise | – – | – – |
| Buttresses | – | – |
| Floor timbers | – | – |
| Futtocks | – | – |
| Room-and-space At central frames | 15 | |
| Planking | – | 4–8 |
| Ceiling | – | – |
| Main mast Ø Chock | – – | – – |
The sternpost was found over a length of 1.50 m.
Wood
The species used for the hull are pine (keel), oak2 and perhaps cypress.
Bibliography
Benoit, F. 1958. Nouvelles épaves de Provence. Gallia 16.1: 5–39.
Gianfrotta, P. A. and Pomey, P. 1981. Archeologia subacquea. Storia, tecniche, scoperte e relitti. Milan: Mondadori.
Tailliez, P. 1961. Travaux de l’été 1958 sur l’épave du « Titan » à l’île du Levant (Toulon). In Atti del II Congresso Internazionale di Archeologia Sottomarina (Albenga 1958), 175–198. Bordighera: Istituto Internazionale di Studi Liguri.
Tailliez, P. 1965. Titan. In J. du Plat Taylor (ed.), Marine Archaeology: Developments during Sixty Years in the Mediterranean. London: Hutchinson.
Notes
1 All the information in this summary of the Titan wreck, as well as photographs and bibliography, has been taken from ATLAS – Patrimoine Archéologique Littoral Maritime, developed for online publication by Souen Fontaine (Arkaeos) and Franca Cibecchini (DRASSM), except for the observations on the ship’s construction, which are the author’s own.
2 There are no further data on the presence of oak in its construction. It cannot be established whether this species was used for the planking strakes; if so, it would be one of the few known examples.