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Wreck - hunter have discovered the clay of a small 17th - century pirate ship , known as a Barbary Barbary pirate , in deep water between Spain and Morocco .
The crash is " the first Algiers Barbary pirate found in the Barbary heartland , " maritime archaeologistSean Kingsley , the editor - in - honcho ofWreckwatch magazineand a research worker on the discovery , told Live Science .
The ship was carrying a cargo of pots, pans and other metal items made in Algiers, supposedly so that the ship could masquerade as a trading vessel.
The vessel was heavily armed and may have been heading to the Spanish sea-coast to becharm and enslave people when it slump , its inventor said .
But it was post a cargo of pots and pans made in the North African city of Algiers , credibly so that it could masquerade as a trading vessel .
Florida - establish fellowship Odyssey Marine Exploration ( OME ) located theshipwreckin 2005 during a hunt for the clay of the 80 - throttle English warship HMS Sussex , which was lost in the sphere in 1694 .
Barbary pirates were a major threat in the Mediterranean and Atlantic from the 15th until the 19th centuries.(Image credit: Public domain)
" As so often bump in searching for a specific shipwreck we found a lot of situation never seen before,“Greg Stemm , the father of OME and the expedition loss leader , tell Live Science in an email .
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The 2005 expedition also recover the wrecks of ancient Roman and Phoenician ship in the area , Stemm said .
The Barbary pirates preyed on ships and captured slaves in raids on coastal settlements along the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts of Europe.(Image credit: Public domain)
word of the Barbary pirate wreck is only being release now , in anew clause by Stemm in Wreckwatch , after panoptic historical research .
Dread pirates
The Barbary Barbary pirate pirates were preponderantly Muslims who began operating in the fifteenth 100 out of Algiers , which was then part of the Ottoman conglomerate .
Much of the westerly coastline of North Africa , from modern - day Morocco to Libya , was known as the " Barbary Coast " at the time — a name derived from the Berber the great unwashed who live on there ; and its pirates were a major threat for more than 200 days , preying on ship and conducting slave raids along the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts of Europe .
The people captured in the hard worker maraud were bear for ransom or sell into theNorth African slave tradethat run in some Muslim countries until the early 20th century .
Captives from the corsair raids were ransomed or sold into slavery, sometimes at this slave market from the time in Algiers.(Image credit: Public domain)
But the piratical bodily process of the Barbary corsairs came to an remnant in the early 19th C , when the pirates were defeated in the Barbary Wars by the United States , Sweden and the Norman Kingdom of Sicily in southerly Italy .
Sunken ship
The Barbary pirate wreck lies on the seafloor in the Strait of Gibraltar , at a profundity of about 2,700 foot ( 830 meters ) .
The ship was about 45 feet ( 14 m ) long , and research indicate it was a tartane — a small ship with triangularlateen sailson two masts that could also be propelled by oars .
Tartanes were used by Barbary plagiariser in the 17th and 18th centuries , in part because they were often mistaken for fishing vessels , meaning other ships would n’t distrust pirates were onboard , Kingsley aver .
The corsair wreck was located in deep water in the Straits of Gibraltar, about midway between Morocco and Spain. It was heavily armed with the iron swivel guns (shown here) and four Dutch cannons.(Image credit: © Seascape Artifact Exhibits Inc. )
" I ’ve see tartanes described as ' low - level pirate ships , ' which I care , ” Kingsley said .
The wreck hunter explored the deep-set corsair using a remotely operated vehicle ( ROV ) , which revealed the vessel was armed with four large cannons , 10 swivel guns and many musket for its work party of about 20 pirates .
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This glass wine or liquor bottle in the corsair wreck was made in Belgium or Germany.(Image credit: © Seascape Artifact Exhibits Inc.)
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" The crash neatly fits the profile of a Barbary Barbary pirate in location and character reference , " Kingsley say . " The seas around the Straits of Gibraltar were the plagiarist ' preferred hunting reason , where a third of all corsair award were taken . "
Stemm added that the wrecked ship was also equip with a very rarefied " glass " — an early type of telescope that was radical at the clip and had believably been entrance from a European ship .
Other artefact of the wreck support the notion this was a pirate ship oppressed with stolen goods .
" throw off into the sunken mixing a collection of glass liquor bottle made in Belgium or Germany , and afternoon tea bowlful made in Ottoman Turkey , and the shipwreck search highly suspicious , " he said . " This was no normal North African coastal trader . "
