Honored Leaders

Mr Kamel  Abou el-Saadat

Biography:

Kamel Abou el-Saadat is an Alexandrian pioneer in fishing in Egypt, during the 1960s. He provided valuable architectural information about the antiquities he discovered underwater in different places, which played a great role in directing the attention towards the sunken treasures in Egypt’s Mediterranean. The 1960s and 1980s, of the last century, are considered two of the most important periods that witnessed Abou el-Saadat’s architectural accomplishments; in the 1960s, he salvaged a huge statue of a Ptolemaic queen dressed like goddess Isis; sunken remains of the ancient Eastern Harbor and its famous Lighthouse were found at Qaitbay site. Assisted by the Egyptian Navy, he salvaged a huge red-granite statue lying next to Al Silsilah, and the statue known as Isis Pharia next to the Citadel of Qaitbay. In addition, he played an important role as a guide and expert for a number of missions working on underwater archaeological excavation of sites in Alexandria; UNESCO project headed by Honor Frost at the site of the Citadel of Qaitbay in 1968.

Abou el-Saadat continued once again his archaeological excavations by the 1980s of the past century when he found—as he believed—a marine barrier, a number of stony anchors in Maamoura, as well as several marine quays around Nelson Island in Abu Qir Bay. He was then able to locate some ships of the French fleet which sunk in Abu Qir Bay. Thus, he assisted Jack Doma, 1983/1984, in his excavation in studying and salvaging a part of Napoleon Bonaparte’s fleet. However, Abou el-Saadat’s agonizing death accident in 1984 on board Le Bon Pasteur, a French ship, during his participation in the search project for Napoleon’s fleet between (1984/1985), tragically brought an end to his rich journey.