Secrets of wrecks

Secrets of wrecks by Anne and Jean-Pierre Joncheray

Summary:

The two archaeologists Anne and Jean-Pierre Joncheray have devoted their lives to shipwrecks, to their research and excavation, and to the historical stories that these disasters told in the background. The result of this quest, this book details twenty-five emblematic shipwrecks ranging from prehistoric times to the Second World War, from the Cosquer cave to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's mythical Lightning. Several stories intertwine here, first of all History, the big one, and it is thundering: from Greek and then Roman trade in the Mediterranean to the all-out submarine war of 1917, including the occupation of Provence by the Saracens in the tenth century or the capture of Toulon by the English fleet in 1793! The investigation carried out by the authors, dive after dive, from libraries to archives, also reveals precious slices of life, the silent history of the men embarked on these ships with a fatal destiny. Finally, this book is also the story of a mad passion: that of a couple devoured by the secrets of wrecks, custodians of a phenomenal knowledge of our sunken past, with a daily life peppered with breathtaking discoveries - from the first Etruscan ship, with a sewn hull, to this prototype of modern submarines, planted vertically at a depth of 50 meters - but also of disappointed explorations in murky and icy waters, at unmentionable depths...