The recent discovery of ancient Greek shipwrecks in deep waters in the middle of the Mediterranean, has changed the old theory that Greeks with their light merchant ships and no navigational instruments, sailed only long the coast of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

According to the old theory, Greek merchant ships used to t ravel along the coast and avoided crossing the sea for lack of navigational instruments. After the discovery of murals in the ruins of Santorini that depicted ships in African ports, or near coastal landscapes with palm trees, the late Greek archaeologist Spyros Marinatos explained that Minoan sailors were using the same methods of direction as modern-day sponge fishermen, who sail from the islands of Dodecanese to Cyrenaica in North Africa. Marinatos said that sailing south from Crete, the fishermen could see the top of Cretan mountains until they could distinguish the coast of Libya.

With the depth of the Mediterranean reaching over 4000 meters, it was not possible to distinguish shipwrecks in deep waters. Not any longer. Using 'Remote Control Vehicles,' (ROV) scientists today can discover items of interest and photograph them in the deepest sites of the Mediterranean. As a result of this effort, they have discovered shipwrecks in really deep waters. One of the most interesting finds was that of a ship dating back 2300 years, discovered in 1999. The ship lay halfway between Cyprus and Alexandria, Egypt and it was loaded with wine jars.

Archaeologists believe that the ROV will discover many more shipwrecks, as it is searching the dark depths of the Mediterranean. The ROV is attached to a mother ship, where is the center controlling its sonar and photographic equipment. As soon as the sonar spots something of interest at the bottom of the sea, strong lights are activated and the area is photographed by remote controlled cameras.