Cabopino’s underwater dig could solve a 139 year old shipwreck mystery

Divers are about to slip beneath the waves off Cabopino with a detective style mission. What lies on the sandy seabed could finally reveal the identity of a 19th-century vessel lost on its way from France to Argentina.

Underwater archaeology campaign planned for mid-September

Work on the Cabopino wreck (pecio de Cabopino) is scheduled from September 15 to 30, led by the Andalucian Historical Heritage Institute (IAPH) through its Underwater Archaeology Centre (CAS). The team will document surviving timbers, metal fastenings and cargo remains, and produce a detailed 3D model of the site. These will allow researchers to study fragile elements without physical contact and, in time, support virtual reconstructions for public engagement.

A 39-metre Mediterranean merchantman on a sandy floor

First inspected in 2022 at the request of Malaga’s culture department, the site sits at an average depth of around six metres. Initial surveys recorded a visible structure roughly 39 metres long by 15 metres wide, construction features suggest the vessel was built using shipbuilding methods common in the Mediterranean and dates to the modern era, most likely the 19th or early 20th century. Coastal movements continue to expose fresh material, so more of the hull, cargo and onboard items may still be buried under the sand.

French tiles and barrels hint at global trade routes

Part of the original cargo is still in place on the wreck, giving researchers rare insight into late 19th-century maritime commerce. Archaeologists have identified wooden barrel fragments and large quantities of building ceramics, mainly French roof tiles and floor tiles bearing Marseille commercial marks active from the 1870s into the early 1900s. Together, these finds can help map distribution networks that linked Mediterranean production centres with markets across the Atlantic.

Could this be the Italian brig-barque lost in 1887?

Historical press research has uncovered reports of an Italian brig-barque (bricbarca), named Garegliano or Gagliano, wrecked in November 1887 after leaving Marseille with construction materials bound for Buenos Aires. Identification remains unconfirmed, but the overlap between documentary records and archaeological evidence is currently the leading theory under investigation.

The Cabopino campaign begins hot on the heels of work off San Pedro de Alcantara, where specialists recently took part in a study that identified another wreck as the Spanish line-of-battle ship (navio de linea) Fernando, built in Ferrol (1750–51) and lost in 1760 near Placer de las Bovedas.