Underwater archaeologists in Croatia have made an unprecedented musical discovery while surveying an armed merchant ship that sank near Cape Franina at the east end of the Kamenjak peninsula in the late 16th century.
The ship was carrying the disassembled components of some 10 brass trumpets, along with ceramic vessels, glass beads and red glass bowls and probably a main cargo of grain, and is thought to have sunk off southern Istria in an unexpected Adriatic storm. The nearest city to the site is Pula.
Trumpets were exceptionally rare and costly at the time, according to the dive-team from the International Centre for Underwater Archaeology (ICUA) in Zadar, led by Luka Bekic and Maja Kaleb. They say that fewer than 10 trumpets from the 16th century can currently be found in all the world’s museums.
Inscriptions on the instruments indicate that they originated from Strasbourg in France and Leiden in the Netherlands – both cities from which trumpets have not previously been connected.
The ship is currently thought from the Dutch ceramics and trumpets to have been of Dutch origin and engaged in trade between Leiden, Venice and Constantinople but archival research could yet prove otherwise, say the team.
The underwater archaeologists from Zadar are still working at the wreck site, along with Pula Police Intervention Unit officers and other divers from Slovakia, Germany, Slovenia and Spain. Other finds have included fragments of timber pulleys and ropes.
The three iron cannon along with the ship’s anchors are being cleaned and treated on the seabed using an “innovative and advanced” protective treatment to prevent further deterioration so that recreational divers will be able to visit and enjoy the site in future. It is hoped to display the trumpets in Pula.
Photogrammetry techniques are being used to create a 3D model of the wreck-site. The work is being funded by Croatia’s Ministry of Culture & Media.
Also on Divernet: COINS LED DIVERS TO ANCIENT ROMAN SHIPWRECK, DIVERS UNCOVER STONE AGE ROAD IN CROATIA, THE SECRETS OF THE SVETI PAVAO, SECRETS OF PAG ISLAND: THE STORY OF A MIRACULOUS ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERY
