The wrecks of the Great War (1914-1918) - Off the French Mediterranean coast

The wrecks of the Great War (1914-1918) - Off the French Mediterranean coast by Jean-Pierre Joncheray, François Brun, Claude Roquelaure, Michel L'Hour

Summary:

Jean-Pierre Joncheray is an old regular of the GAP editions. We owe him the long series of wrecks: 50 wrecks in Corsica, published in 2002, then, in regular succession: 80 wrecks in Marseille and its region, 100 wrecks in the French Riviera, from La Ciotat to Saint-Tropez, 100 wrecks in the French Riviera, Monaco, Riviera du Ponant, to which he has already added The adventure of the submarine Alose, this submersible that he discovered in 1975, and now classified as a Historical Monument.
At the same time, crowning his long career as an underwater archaeologist, Jean-Pierre "invented" in a way what should be called steam archaeology, an innovative application of the methods of underwater archaeology to contemporary wrecks, from steamships to airplanes. For, before him and his first "shipwrecks in Provence", which date from the early 1980s, were noble, and considered, only the studies of ancient deposits, Etruscan, Greek or Roman.
In the wake of this, our favorite author tackled a subject which, it must be admitted, is of current interest: the 1914-1918 war, otherwise known as the "Great War". To tell the truth, Jean-Pierre had not waited for this commemoration to collect, year after year, for more than forty years, an important documentation on the maritime and Mediterranean aspects of the conflict. He had visited all the wrecks related to this period, surrounded himself with the best underwater photographers, and consulted the most eminent specialists on the subject.
The call to "tek" divers, these new explorers of the great depths, was often necessary. With François Brun and Claude Roquelaure, the co-authors, the exhaustiveness was realized up to the borders of our Mediterranean coast. The result is here: seventeen lost vessels, more than ten wrecks visited in the waters, their history before the fateful day of their sinking, the circumstances of their loss, and the description of their remains, when these were accessible.
The quality of this work seems established if one savors the preface, under the prestigious signature of the Director of the Department of Subaquatic and Underwater Archaeological Research, Michel L'Hour.