The small (1 km2) coral island of Tromelin, named in memory of the rescuer of the L'Utile slaves, is located in the Indian Ocean, 470 km east of Madagascar and 560 km north of the islands of Reunion and Mauritius.
For many centuries, navigators had difficulty positioning the island and often questioned its very existence. Its official discovery dates to only 1722, under the name of Ile de Sable.
Since 2005, Tromelin Island has been administered by the prefect of the Terres Australes et Antarctiques Françaises (French Southern and Antarctic Lands). It is now classified as a natural reserve and is an egg laying site for Green Sea and Hawksbill turtles. It is also inhabited by Frigate birds, the Red Footed Booby and the Masked Booby. Hermit crabs complete the fauna of the Island.
Devoid of water and natural resources, the island is now the site of a meteorological station.

The difficult conditions created by continually strong trade winds, often make the exploration and recording of this underwater site very difficult. One hundred and twenty dives have been conducted to a depth of 7 m.
This site, exposed to the rough seas caused by cyclones, still contains the anchors, artillery, and iron and stone ballast of the ship. Rigging is entangled in the coral. Numerous objects, including two fragments of the ship bell, have been found.
The vessel carried four large anchors and two smaller ones. Its artillery consisted of twenty 8 pound cannons, eight 4 pound cannons, and two perriers mounted on a fork.

The land excavations were undertaken in collaboration with the Inrap.
The graves of the slaves, sailors or others who drowned in the shipwreck have not been found.

The oven that was to be used to make biscuits for the voyage to Madagascar in the makeshift vessel was rapidly discovered. Excavation revealed numerous brick fragments on a coral base assembled with mortar.
In this oven, constructed around August 15, 1761, bread was cooked first, then biscuits made from the contents of 22 barrels of flour recovered from the ship.

On the highest point of the island (6 m altitude), the habitat of the slaves was situated in a zone highly disturbed by the recent construction of the weather station. One wall surface was nonetheless found, as well as several square metres of floor, revealing many objects and showing the meagreness of the resources available to the slaves: a few objects from the wreck (sword hilt, pipe bowl, shoe buckle, a Chinese pottery fragment), but especially six copper recipients, two of which were placed on the ground, and date to 1776. One of the recipients consists of at least nine fragments riveted together and alone symbolizes fifteen years of survival. A thicker copper leaf, probably creased during the wreck, served as a raw material reserve. It illustrates the relentless determination of the slaves to completely exploit all available materials from the wreck.
Study of the habitat floor has provided ample information, especially concerning the diet of the castaways. Bird and turtle bones were found, along with occasional fish vertebrae, demonstrating the difficulty of fishing in the large waves off the shore of the island.
The cinders found confirm the declarations of the survivors concerning the use of fire. They kept one fire permanently lit for fifteen years, feeding it with pieces of the wooden frame of the L'Utile, many of the nails of which are now found in the ashes. Analysis of this floor revealed two occupation levels, the second corresponding to the construction of a solid habitat.

The discoveries made on Tromelin Island are extremely valuable for several reasons:
- it is very rare to recover material traces of the daily lives of slaves in their historic and archaeological context;
- few examples of small human groups required to organize their survival in a closed, virgin, and relatively hostile environment have been studied;
- the traces left across a very restricted territory by a known number of individuals and during a known time span are extremely useful for our understanding of more ancient archaeological sites, particularly those related to voluntary or forced migrations. From this point of view, we can consider Tromelin Island as a genuine laboratory for this type of study.

This project is supported by UNESCO and its international research committee as part of the "International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition" and the program "Slave Route". The project is realized by the French Marine Archaeology Group (GRAN), under the authority of the prefect of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (TAAF). Financial support is provided by the Fondation Banque Populaire, the Reunion region and department, and the Direction Régionale des Affaires Culturelles, in collaboration with the Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives (Inrap), the mixed research service (UMR) of CNRS-Sorbonne-Musée de la Marine, the University of Reunion and the Société Française d'histoire maritime and the Confrérie des gens de la mer (French Society of Maritime History and the Brotherhood of Ocean Peoples), an association on Reunion Island.

The operation is directed by Max Guérout, who is assisted by:
Thomas Roman (Inrap), director of the land excavations
Joë Guesnon (GRAN), director of the underwater excavations
Sudel Fuma (PhD in history and director of the UNESCO chair at the Université de la Réunion
Cyril d'Andrea, medical doctor
Jean-Marie de Bernardy de Sigoyer, photographer of the Confrérie des gens de la mer
Sébastien Berthaut-Clarac (GRAN)
Arnaud Lafuma (Confrérie des gens de la mer)
Jacques Morin (GRAN)
Jean-François Rebeyrotte (Confrérie des gens de la mer)


A daily, bilingual journal (French-English) was maintained during the entire mission, allowing exchanges with 14 primary school classes.
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