600-Year-Old Pirate Ship Discovered in Mediterranean Sea Near Morocco

While searching for the remains of the HMS Sussex, an English warship lost in 1694, researchers from Odyssey Marine Exploration, a company specializing in treasure hunting, discovered the wreck of a 600-year-old pirate ship at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, between Spain and Morocco, reports Live Science. It is a small ship of about 14 meters (45 feet) heavily armed that was carrying kitchen utensils and metal tools probably to pass as merchants and avoid attacks. It would have sunk while on its way to capture slaves on the Spanish coast.

"The wreck is the first Algiers corsair discovered at the heart of Barbary," said maritime archaeologist Sean Kingsley, editor-in-chief of Wreckwatch magazine and researcher, to NewsWeek, before providing details on the characteristics of the ship. "Two defining features of pirate ships are heavy armaments and a cosmopolitan cultural content, derived from the many captured prizes. The wrecked Corsair ship was very heavily armed with muskets, four large cannons and 10 swivel guns," he specified. And to add: "The wreck fits the profile of a Barbary corsair perfectly in terms of location and character. The seas around the Strait of Gibraltar were the favorite hunting ground of the pirates, where a third of all the corsairs’ prizes were captured."

"The threat of the Algiers corsairs was a daily terror for the West. [...] The deep-water wreck is a precious echo of one of the great maritime horrors of the western Mediterranean," echoed Greg Stemm, director of marine artifact exhibitions and Odyssey Marine Exploration, head of the expedition.