Fig 1: Israeli
Submarine Dakar lost at sea in
January of 1968
Nauticos discovered several interesting bottom contacts during the search for Dakar in the
early spring of 1999.
Over 300 sonar contacts were evaluated
and 22 were deemed worthy of visual inspection. On May 28th, the 19th day of
searching and on the19th ROV dive, the Israeli submarine Dakar was at long last located
(Fig. 1).
Among the many targets analyzed, one in particular stood out as being of potentially
significant historical importance. Video and sonar imagery was collected at this site to
document the target for later examination. This imagery was provided to the Institute of
Nautical Archeology at Texas A&M (INA) to determine the origins and significance of
this ancient shipwreck.
In addition to this ancient shipwreck Nauticos discovered five other sites nearby. These
sites were not examined to the same extent as the ancient shipwreck site and include a
modern freighter and an amphora site. Nauticos and the INA have joined forces to explore
these sites. This summary provides an overview of what we currently know about the main
ancient shipwreck site and our plans for future expeditions.
