Largely looted, this area rich in wrecks was mapped and inventoried by a UNESCO mission.
“We were incredibly lucky! The weather was exceptional and all of our objectives were achieved.” It is in a tired but emotional voice that Alison Faynot, underwater archaeologist at Unesco, summarizes from the port of Bizerte (Tunisia) the 14 days of the mission carried out with about twenty colleagues from countries bordering the Mediterranean. The objective of this unprecedented mission, carried out under the aegis of the UN agency, was to collect data on the Esquerquis bench.
Located between Italy and Tunisia, the area is known to be a cemetery of shipwrecks. Cheerfully plundered for decades, it should soon be the subject of an international protection plan.
The Sicilian Channel, also known as Cap Bon, has been a strategic place for the countries of the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years from a military, commercial and cultural point of view. Maritime traffic was dense and there were many shipwrecks! From Antiquity to…
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