The Diaries
 
October 14th, 2006
:: 2006 :: 7/07 - 11/09 - 10/10 - 11/10 - 12/10 - 13/10 - 14/10 - 16/10 - 17/10 - 18/10 - 19/10 - 20/10 - 21/10 - 23/10 - 24/10 - 25/10 - 26/10 - 27/10 - 28/10 - 30/10 - 31/10 - 01/11 - 02/11 - 03/11- 04/11 - 06/11 - 07/11 - 08/11 - 10/11
- On dry land and at sea -

One of the Utile’s anchors
Credit : Jean-François Rebeyrotte

The divers looked the anemometer and the sea anxiously. In that morning, the wind was blowing 14 knots (against 18 the day before), so they decided to try to place the first marking buoys without any breathing apparatus.

Our divers could get into the water more easily than 2 days before, they tied up a first buoy on a big anchor located 125 metres away from the shore. A second buoy was tied up to the gun jib situated about 20 metres away north to the anchor.
So the two buoys showed everybody the wrecking place.

In an area starting from the shore to the a depth of 6 or 7 metres, we could find the heavy elements of the ship, including the anchors, guns and iron kentledges. We knew the number and dimensions of the Utile’s anchors and guns. The store ship was composed of four big anchors and two smaller ones, weighting 2997 pounds, 2798 pounds, 2600 pounds, 2570 pounds, 785 pounds, and 880 pounds. The artillery included twenty 8-pound canons, eight 4-pound canons, and two small swivel guns mounted on a fork.

The oven base
Credit : Max Guérout

Regarding the oven, it was one surprise after another. The oven base we had discovered the day before rested on another even wider base made of coral blocks maintained by a quite fragile mortar.  The limits were not very clear yet but the oven site coverage was close to 2x2 metres. We sampled the mortar for analysis, we thought it was lime obtained through coral calcination. We also found small ceramic pieces. These remains were very modest, but the certainty of having localised the oven used by the Utile’s castaways showed us how real was this story, perceived until then as a written story.

At that time, our search for the French camp was still vane, we extended the area day after day but with no significant finding.

Rédacteur : M. Guérout

      © GRAN 2004 - 2006