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The
naval ship, commanded by Captain P Jayapal, was deployed
off Poompuhar, about 15 nautical miles north of
Nagapattinam since the end of February '04. The ship
carried out extensive hydrographic survey and diving
operations in the area off Tharangambadi
(formerly known as Tranquebar)
coast. During the operations that lasted for nearly a
month, the ship recovered a few prominent objects of
archaeological importance. An U-shaped structure, located
3 miles into the sea at a depth of 23 metres was
discovered during one of the dives. The structure was 85
metres in peripheral length, about 2 metres in height and
the distance between the arms was about 13 metres. The
structure was covered with marine growth and the centre
was buried under silt. The opening was to the north of the
structure and 40 meters to its north were two pillar
shaped structures. Local fishermen claimed that the
structure was one of the six such temples submerged
underwater.
The
ship also recovered a shipwreck supposed to be a Dutch
ship sunk by the French during the end of 18th century. On
carrying out dives over the structure, three lead ingots
about 1m long and weighing approximately 80 kgs each were
recovered. The markings on the ingots were "W.Blackett"
which was the name of a British company that manufactured
it and the marking of "1792" was presumably the
date of manufacture. Moreover, the ingots carried an
inscription 'Vior' in a heart-shape, which was the emblem
of the Dutch East India Company.
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