2026年4月29日 / 美国东部时间下午2:39 / 哥伦比亚广播公司/法新社
在法国海岸外地中海海面深处，一台遥控水下机器人的机械臂正轻柔地夹住一块靠近16世纪沉船的古老陶罐。
“操作必须极度精准，不能破坏遗址，不能搅动沉积物，”海军军官塞巴斯蒂安说道，出于安全原因他不便透露全名。
本次任务是法国领海内最深沉船的多次考古考察任务中的首次，距离法国里维埃拉仅两小时航程。去年，军方在海底进行例行勘测时，偶然在拉马图耶海岸附近、圣特罗佩附近海域发现了这艘16世纪商船。
2026年4月7日，在法国东南部卡马拉4号沉船考古任务期间，法国海军水下机器人专业操作人员与研究人员通过屏幕实时观看“ROV C 4000”遥控潜水器的传回画面。 蒂博·莫里茨/法新社/盖蒂图片社
考古学家认为，这艘船当时从意大利北部出发，装载着陶瓷制品和金属棒，随后沉没。
如今，法国海军与文化部水下考古部门重返现场，对这片沉没在海平面以下1.5英里多的海域中的残存文物进行勘测。
大炮与成堆陶罐
海军并未公开沉船遗址的具体位置，他们将其命名为“卡马拉特4号”——即便大多数人也没有能力抵达如此深的海域。
任务的海军拖船载着水下机器人和两个作为临时考古学家办公室的大型集装箱抵达现场时，太阳才刚刚升起。
工作人员将配备摄像头和机械臂的机器人放入水中。
一名海军军官通过长缆绳操控机器人下潜，专家们在屏幕上监控其缓慢下潜的过程。
一小时后，这款最大下潜深度可达4000米的设备在海床上的成堆圆形陶罐上方缓缓移动。
通过搭载的摄像头，它逐渐向甲板上的团队展示了沉船的全貌。
摄像头捕捉到一门大炮的画面，以及数百件带有花卉图案、十字架和鱼类装饰的陶罐与盘子。
考古学家称，他们偶然在法国南部海域水下1.5英里多的位置发现了这艘16世纪商船的残骸。 法国海军 via 法国水下与海底考古研究部
机器人每秒拍摄8张照片，连续拍摄3小时，总计采集超过8.6万张图像，之后将用于创建遗址的3D模型。
考古学家弗朗卡·奇贝奇尼对水质清澈感到十分高兴。
“能见度极佳，你几乎意识不到这里水深如此之大，”她说。
“这很可能是一艘载有利古里亚地区釉面陶器的商船，”她补充道，利古里亚是意大利西北部的一个大区。
她表示，这艘船的货物应该是在热那亚或附近的萨沃纳港口装载的。
专家此前已在沉船中发现了两口大锅、一个锚和六门大炮。
现场还发现了现代垃圾，比如一个汽水罐或空酸奶容器。官方发布的一张照片显示，锚旁边似乎有一个铝制易拉罐。
考古学家称，他们偶然在法国南部海域水下1.5英里多的位置发现了这艘16世纪商船的残骸。 法国海军 via 法国水下与海底考古研究部
“有史以来打捞到的最深文物之一”
水下考古项目首席考古学家玛丽娜·萨达尼亚表示，这些发现将成为了解该沉船沉没时代贸易路线的关键线索。
“关于16世纪商船的详细史料并不多，因此这是研究海事历史的宝贵信息来源，”她说。
当机器人小心翼翼地将一个陶罐放入保护箱时，专家们都屏住了呼吸，生怕将其打碎。
萨达尼亚说，从海底打捞上来的陶瓷制品中有三分之一会碎裂。
团队总共打捞上来数个陶罐和盘子。
回到陆地上马赛南部港口城市的实验室后，萨达尼亚用水冲洗其中一个陶罐。
圆润的罐身上布满深蓝色线条，勾勒出矩形图案，其中一些区域用绿松石蓝上色，或装饰有藏黄色的符号。
“这是法国沉船打捞史上最深的文物之一，”她说。
这张照片展示了2026年4月16日，在马赛DRASSM实验室分析期间，从卡马拉4号沉船中打捞上来的陶瓷陶罐。 蒂博·莫里茨/法新社/盖蒂图片社
在此之前，法国官方发现的最深沉船是2019年在南部城市土伦附近海域水下1.4英里处发现的“拉米内夫号”潜艇残骸。这艘法国潜艇在1968年执行例行任务仅4分钟后就沉没，艇上52名海军官兵全部遇难。
本周二，官方宣布另一艘16世纪沉船在瑞典海岸附近的军事演习中被一艘海军舰艇发现。
Robot exploring France’s deepest shipwreck finds cannons and ceramics that sank 5 centuries ago
April 29, 2026 / 2:39 PM EDT / CBS/AFP
Deep below the surface of the Mediterranean Sea off the French coast, the pincer of a remotely guided underwater robot delicately closes around a centuries-old jug lying near a 16th-century shipwreck.
“You have to be extremely precise so as not to damage the site, so as not to stir up sediment,” says navy officer Sebastien, who cannot give his second name for security reasons.
A two-hour journey from the French Riviera, Sebastien is overseeing the first of several archaeological missions on the deepest shipwreck in French territorial waters.
A routine army survey of the seabed uncovered the 16th-century merchant ship by chance last year in waters off the coast of Ramatuelle, close to Saint-Tropez.
Pilots specializing in underwater robots from the French Navy, along with researchers, watch live feeds on screens showing the “ROV C 4000,” a remotely operated vehicle, during an archaeological mission on the wreck of the CAMARA 4 in southeastern France, April 7, 2026. Thibaud MORITZ /AFP via Getty Images
Archaeologists believe the ship was sailing from northern Italy loaded with ceramics and metal bars before it sank.
Now the French navy and the culture ministry’s underwater archaeology department are back to inspect the surviving artifacts lost more than 1.5 miles below sea level.
Cannons and piles of jugs
The navy is keeping secret the location of the wreckage site, which they have dubbed “Camarat 4” — even if most people would unlikely have the means to reach a site so deep.
The sun has barely risen when the mission’s navy tugboat arrives on site, carrying an underwater robot and two large containers acting as makeshift offices for marine archaeologists.
Its crew lower the robot — which is equipped with cameras as well as pincers — into the water.
A navy officer guides the robot down, linked to the ship through a long cable, as experts monitor its slow descent on screens.
An hour later, the device designed to plunge as deep as 4,000 meters is gliding over piles of round pitchers on the sea floor.
Slowly, through its cameras, it reveals the wreck to the team sitting on deck.
It captures footage of a cannon, as well as hundreds of pitchers and plates, decorated with floral motifs, crosses and fish.
Archaeologists say they discovered by chance what they say are the remains of a 16th-century merchant ship more than 1.5 miles underwater off southern France. National Navy via France’s Department of Underwater and Submarine Archaeological Research
The robot shoots eight pictures per second for three hours, grabbing more than 86,000 images that will then be used to create a 3D model of the site.
Archaeologist Franca Cibecchini is delighted the water is so clear.
“The visibility is excellent. You almost can’t tell it’s so deep,” she says.
“It is most likely a merchant ship carrying glazed pottery from Liguria,” a region in the northwest of Italy, Cibecchini adds.
She says it could have been loaded on to the ship in the ports of Genoa or nearby Savona.
Experts previously identified two cauldrons, an anchor and six cannons at the shipwreck.
Modern waste, such as a soda can or an empty yogurt container, were spotted too. One image released by officials appeared to show an aluminum can next to an anchor.
Archaeologists say they discovered by chance what they say are the remains of a 16th-century merchant ship more than 1.5 miles underwater off southern France. National Navy via France’s Department of Underwater and Submarine Archaeological Research
“One of the deepest objects ever recovered”
Marine Sadania, the lead archaeologist on the underwater dig, says findings will be key to understanding trade routes at the time the ship sank.
“We don’t have very detailed texts about merchant ships in the 16th century, so this is a valuable source of information on maritime history,” she says.
The experts hold their breath as the robot lowers a pitcher into a case as gently as possible, so as not to break it.
A third of all ceramics extracted from sea digs end up breaking, Sadania says.
In total, the team hauls up several jugs and plates.
Back on land, in a laboratory in the southern port city of Marseille, Sadania runs water over one of the jugs.
Dark blue lines run across its rounded side, creating rectangles, some of which are colored in with turquoise blue or decorated with saffron-yellow symbols.
“It’s one of the deepest objects ever recovered from a wreck in France,” she says.
This photograph shows a view of a ceramic jug, recovered from the wreck of the CAMARAT 4, during its analysis at the DRASSM laboratory in Marseille on April 16, 2026. Thibaud MORITZ /AFP via Getty Images
Before this discovery, the deepest French authorities had found a sunken vessel was 1.4 miles under sea level off the southern city of Toulon in 2019. The wreckage belonged to La Minerve, a French submarine that plunged to its demise in 1968 with 52 navy crew on board, only four minutes after the start of a routine assignment.
On Tuesday, officials revealed that another 16th-century shipwreck was discovered by a naval vessel during a military exercise off the coast of Sweden.
