Their action came after recent strong currents in the Mediterranean and consequent movement of sand left the wreck visible from the surface, sparking fears that it might be looted.
Also read: Divers probe ancient Med marble wreck
La Isabella was wrecked in a storm off the Andalusian coast on the night of 4 March, 1855. The vessel was carrying marble statues, some said to date back to Roman times, from Genoa to Calcutta in India to decorate a mansion.
The wreck, which lies in only 8m depth and 300m from shore opposite a hotel in the town of Benalmadena, is considered to be of important cultural interest and is a local diving attraction. Although it was designated as protected only in 2009, it was first identified in the 1960s, when a statue of Dionysus was spotted on the seabed and mistaken for a body.
The Civil Guard collaborated in the recent recovery operation with archaeologists from the Underwater Archaeology Centre of the Andalusian Institute of Historical Heritage. Items lifted to the surface included two 1.5m diameter marble plinths, a 1.5m-long slate slab, tiles and a 50cm bronze nail.
Local dive-centre Simply Diving offers dives on the “Marble Wreck” to see “slabs of marble, gravestones with clearly depicted family names, and the wreck’s own solid wooden frame that plays host to mating pairs of cuttlefish, octopus, conger eels and nudibranchs as well as schooling fish”.
Archaeologists are to carry out a survey of the current state of the wreck.
