In 2003, in excavation squares G24 and G25 a ten-square-metre structure was discovered some fifty centimetres below the wreck of the Dauphine. It was provisionally dubbed Natière 4, but it 2008 it was identified as a fragment of the Dauphine's forecastle, which had turned and slipped beneath the remains of the port side of the ship's hull.
A circular opening, three-quarters of whose circumference was visible, was identified as the foremast-hole. It was 54 cm in diameter. The beams were remarkably thin and spaced far apart, indicating that the support for the forecastle – itself made from young oak timbers – was slight indeed.
