Coppers from the Battle of Trafalgar: Metallurgical Analysis of Structural Fastenings from the French ships Fougueux (1785-1805) and Bucentaure (1804-1805)

HORACIO DE ROSA; NICOLAS CIARLO; MARÍA LUCCHETTA; PABLO MARINO

Procedia Materials Science

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Año: 2015 vol. 8

Camposoto site (San Fernando,Andalusia, Spain), are presented. The research of the site, developed by the Underwater Archaeology Centre (CAS) of the Andalusian Historical Heritage Institute (IAPH), allowed identifying the underwater remains as the French Navy ship Fougueux (1785-1805). This was a 74-gun ship, one of the vessels of the combined Franco-Spanish fleet, which on October 21st, 1805, fought against a British fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar. By means of Optical Microscopy (OM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), information about the thermo-mechanical processes which affected the objects was obtained. In addition, the chemical composition of the materials was determined by Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry (EDXRS). This data is considered a good indicative of the last steps of the manufacturing process and the quality of the alloys used. Aiming to performa comparative study, some samples from the site Bajo Chapitel (located in the Cadiz Bay), were analyzed. The artifacts of this site are most likely associated with the Bucentaure (1804-1805), another French ship that fought in the mentioned battle.