As soon as the wreck of the Artemis had occurred, the Maritime Prefecture called in the salvage tug, Abeille Languedoc, which immediately mobilised to the site from the port of La Rochelle. An assistance agreement was signed between the Artemis shipowner and Les Abeilles International.

The salvage and assistance system was put in place and on that same evening, every part of the salvage system was on site and ready to act, with salvage crew, vessels, materials and equipment from LeHavre all in place. The salvage crew made permanent changes in the salvage plan which in turn led to changes in the system andbackup provided on site by the Alcyon.

After the initial analyses and surveys done on the day of the wreck, the decision was made to conduct an emergency refloating procedure focusing on the assistance opportunities possible under a wide range of weather and tidal conditions. On the bank, 'pools' were dug around the hull using onshore mechanical equipment in order to cut down on the friction and free the freighter from the sand.

On March 11 and 12, after three attempts to tow the freighter, in short intervals between each high tide, the crew was able to establish different riggings and to move the hull noticeably toward the sea despite extremely harsh weather conditions, with force 8 winds on the Beaufort scale and surges of 4m to 6m with waves crashing onto the beach. On 13 March, 50 cu/m of diesel in the freighter's hold was pumped out, preventing any risk of pollution.

In addition, protective measures were approved to preserve the integrity and the safety of the vessel. Given the unfavorable weather forecast, the Salvage Master of the Abeilles International Salvage unit decided to respond as early as possible.

Facilitated by the deep and extensive sinking basin (nearly 100m around the freighter), which was dug on the starboard side of the vessel so as to be able to rotate it, a manoeuvre was performed by the Abeille Languedoc in front (with a pull capacity of 160 tons) and the Alcyon in back (pull capacity of 65 tons), freeing the Artemis and refloating it under optimum conditions.

The salvage crew inspected the freighter for integrity and water tightness before allowing it to be towed by the Alcyon to the port of La Rochelle, under escort by the Abeille Languedoc, for redelivery to its owner.