Tradelière, last quarter of the 1st century BC
Country: France
Place: North-east of the Île Sainte-Marguerite, near Cannes (Alpes-Maritimes), at a depth of 48–50 m
Coordinates (approximate): 43.52, 7.05
Type: Roman merchant ship
Identified: No
Dated: Last quarter of the 1st century BC, based on the finds.
Beam: Unknown.
Keel Length: Unknown.
Length Overall: Unknown.
Number of Masts: Unknown.
History of the wreck
The Tradelière wreck was discovered in 1971, and excavation campaigns were carried out in 1973 and 1974 by Joncheray and Fiori, uncovering part of the ship’s hull. This was excavated by Pollino in 1986 (Pomey and Guibal 2004: 66). The ship’s cargo was heterogeneous, with more than ten amphora types from the eastern Mediterranean or southern Italy, together with glass and terracotta tableware, so the port of departure of its last voyage is placed in that region. The finds allowed the wreck to be dated to the last quarter of the 1st century BC.
During the 1999 sampling campaign of the research programme Dendrochronologie et dendromorphologie des épaves antiques de Méditerranée, a new intervention was carried out on the after port part of the hull, excavating a square of 4.80 × 4.40 m (Figure 1). The hull was extremely fragile despite its apparently good state of preservation.
Description of the site
The wreck lies at a depth of 48–50 m north-east of the Île Sainte-Marguerite, near Cannes. The 1999 excavation covered 4.80 × 4.40 m of the after port part of the hull (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Tradelière wreck: plan of the hull in the area excavated in 1999 (Michel Rival, CCJ-CNRS, after Pomey and Guibal 2004: 66).
Cargo
A heterogeneous cargo, with more than ten amphora types from the eastern Mediterranean or southern Italy, together with glass and terracotta tableware.
Ballast
Not reported.
Anchors
Not reported.
Guns
Not applicable.
Iron concretions
Not reported. No metal nails or bolts were used to fasten the framing.
Hull Remains
The remains recorded are the keel and sternpost, 16 planking strakes on the port side and three on the starboard side, 15 frames, and some fragments of stringers and ceiling strakes (Figure 1).
Keel, keelson and mast step
The keel (Pinus sylvestris), almost square, up to 18 cm wide and 20 cm high, has notched rabbets on its upper edges to receive the garboard strakes. The keel continues, through a trait de Jupiter (rayo de Júpiter) scarf with a horizontal key (Alnus glutinosa), into a very robust sternpost, 20 cm wide and 35 cm high, at an angle of 20° to the keel. As a particular feature, it has on its upper face a raised strip 4 cm high along its whole length, with a recess in its side faces; the frames are fitted onto this strip.
Frames
In the framing, of very varied and poorly selected species (Fraxinus excelsior, Castanea sativa, Quercus ilex and Juglans regia), floor timbers and half-frames alternate regularly up to the joint of the keel and sternpost, where there is a succession of four half-frames, where the bilge pump would have been. The futtocks are placed without contact with or fastening to the floor timbers and half-frames. The floor timbers are 16 to 20 cm moulded in the central part of the hull, then on average 8 to 10 cm, with a sided dimension of 8 to 12 cm and a room-and-space (malla) of 15 cm. The framing is fastened to the hull by wooden treenails, 1.2 cm in diameter on average, with no metal nails or bolts.
Planking
The garboard strakes have a section that changes from polygonal, 8 cm thick in their central section and inclined at 30° to the keel, to rectangular near the beginning of the sternpost, their thickness decreasing to 4.6 cm. This value corresponds to the size of the rabbet together with the raised strip on the upper face of the sternpost. In the central part of the hull, the garboard strakes form a pinched bottom with a deep bilge. The other strakes (Pinus sylvestris and Fraxinus excelsior) are 3.8 to 4 cm thick, with widths varying between 15 and 21 cm. Strake no. 16 is a classic wale, 12 cm thick. Lengths of planking strake are joined by bevelled scarfs. There is no protective lead sheathing, as was noted in 1986 (Pomey and Guibal 2004: 66).
Ceiling, thick stuff, and wales
Some fragments of stringers and ceiling strakes were found. Strake no. 16 is a wale 12 cm thick.
Caulking
No lead sheathing.
Size and scantlings
No estimate of the ship’s dimensions is given. The keel measures 18 × 20 cm, the sternpost 20 × 35 cm, the floor timbers 8–12 × 16–20 cm at a room-and-space of 15 cm, and the planking is 3.8–4 cm thick (garboard 8 cm).
Table 1. Scantling of the timber remains of the Tradelière Shipwreck
| Timber | Sided [cm] | Molded [cm] |
| Keel | 18 (max.) | 20 |
| Sternpost | 20 | 35 |
| Keelson | – | – |
| Maststep Mortise | – – | – – |
| Buttresses | – | – |
| Floor timbers | 8–12 | 16–20 (centre) 8–10 |
| Futtocks | – | – |
| Room-and-space At central frames | 15 | |
| Planking Garboard | 15–21 – | 3.8–4 8 to 4.6 |
| Wale | – | 12 |
| Ceiling | – | – |
| Main mast Ø Chock | – – | – – |
Planking: sided = width, moulded = thickness.
Wood
Keel and planking: Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris); some strakes of ash (Fraxinus excelsior). Scarf key: alder (Alnus glutinosa). Frames: ash (Fraxinus excelsior), chestnut (Castanea sativa), holm oak (Quercus ilex) and walnut (Juglans regia).
Bibliography
Pomey, P. and Guibal, F. 2004. Dendrochronologie et dendromorphologie des épaves antiques de Méditerranée: l’épave de la Tradelière. Bilan scientifique du DRASSM 1999, 66–67. Paris.