History has come alive in the waters off Italy and a Stock Island-based company has made it happen.

An underwater archeology team with RPM Nautical Foundation has found what only a handful of crews have uncovered. A 13-member crew aboard the Hercules brought to the surface an ancient bronze battering ram in the sands of the northwest Sicily coast that predates the birth of Christ.

The find, discovered in nearly 300 feet of water, has taken the crew back to an ancient battleground that pitted Romans against Carthaginians at a time when the weapons were crude and the fighting was brutal hand-to-hand, ship-to-ship combat, said Jeff Royal, RPM archeological director.

What makes RPM Nautical's find more significant than the four other similar finds is that the company's archeologists have been able to more accurately pinpoint their find to a specific battle, confirming stories that have been passed down from generation to generation, and referenced in historical records. Most other finds have been random, with ancient artifacts or pieces of ancient warships of that era being pulled up by fishermen or commercial boat operators, Royal said.

The ram was attached to the bow of a ship that was used in a 241 B.C. skirmish called the Battle of the Egadi Islands, off a body of water that has been a shipping pathway dating back to the time of the Roman Empire. The Romans traveled the waterway on their way to and from North Africa, Royal said.

The Battle of Egadi Islands pitted 200 Roman ships against 100 Carthaginian ships. The battle was one of the last of the first Punic War and led to the Carthaginian's surrender, Royal said.

Rams were attached to the bow and used to sink enemy ships by slamming into their side.

"We are going to chasing down this battle for years to come," Royal said.

The RPM crew located the ram and brought it to the surface using a sophisticated remote operating vessel, fitted with video cameras and mechanical arms that were controlled on the surface.

The crew has spent the last five summers working with the Italian government to chart and map the sea floor there and uncover ancient artifacts of Italian maritime history.

Hercules and her crew next will travel to the former Soviet-block nation of Albania to dive and map areas of coastline that very few divers have seen, as diving mostly was not tolerated in the former communist country, Royal said. The Albanian coastline is an area in need of special protection, or at least focus by researchers at this time. Keeping the country's marine cultural resources from looters has been a problem since the collapse of the country's communist regime in 1990.