A storm that came from the north caught the ship and sent it towards the rocks more than 2,000 years ago. Rain, wind and waves made navigation difficult. To try to save the lives of his crew, the ship's captain made a drastic decision: they had to get away from the coast so as not to all die crushed against the stones.
The storm did not subside and the wreck could no longer withstand the pressure. She sank near the Illes Formigues, an archipelago made up of four islets off the beach of Calella de Palafrugell (Baix Empordà). In that same place, just a few years earlier, another Roman ship that was transporting wine already ended up at the bottom of the sea.
Archaeologists have named them Formigues I and Formigues II and the latest work carried out at the marine site has allowed specialists from the Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya (MAC) to recreate the second of the sinkings in 3D and include it as part of the exhibition. 'Wrecks. Submerged history'.
The amphoras recovered from this wreck from the 1st century B.C. they still had remains of salting (partially dehydrated fish with salt to preserve it for longer and enhance its flavor). But what has surprised researchers the most has been finding a “ray from Jupiter”.
This is the name given in naval architecture –and in carpentry- to the system that allows the keel to be joined with the stern and bow wheel, coupling the timbers in a zigzag pattern. This way of joining the tables recreated the powerful weapon (lightning) that the main god of Roman mythology (equivalent to the Greek Zeus) launched against those he wanted to punish.
The good state of conservation of the wood of the hull of the Formigues II ship -discovered in 2016- has made it possible to locate the technical details that reveal how it was built. The ship was transporting salted fish and fish sauce from the province of Bética -now Andalusia- and its destination was probably the port of Arles or Narbonne.
This site, which is about 50 meters deep, is the first underwater site in the Iberian Peninsula that is studied as if it were on dry land. It was during the recent work carried out at the stern of the wreck that the amphoras were removed and the singular Jupiter lightning bolt was found, in addition to finding the base of one of the struts that supported the ship's deck.
"The ray of Jupiter is a very elaborate and solid union, which joins the keel, the main longitudinal axis of the boat, with the stern wheel", explains Rut Geli, head of the Underwater Archeology Center of Catalonia (CASC), in statements to the ACN agency.
To get the two pieces of wood to end up merging into one, they were fitted together using a zigzag pattern. Other of these 'rays' have been found in shipwrecks in the Mediterranean, but the Formigues II is unique because it is in a very good state of preservation. In some cases, a votive coin was even placed between the timbers for good luck, an offering that is still kept among some sailors.
The amphoras were stored in the stern part and inside there were still scales and remains of fish such as horse mackerel, mackerel or bonito. Archaeologists already discovered a year ago that these containers were lined with black cistus resin instead of pine. This aromatic shrub was highly valued in antiquity to make perfumes or medicines, but its use to preserve food was unknown.
