13th Century Treasure Ship Raised...

[rogerluli]

Can't wait to see these goodies...

China raises 13th-century ship and its porcelain treasures from seabed

Chinese archaeologists have successfully raised the wreck of the Nanhai No 1, an 800-year-old merchant ship, from the depths of the South China Sea and will begin the laborious process of sifting through its cargo of exquisite porcelain and other treasures.

The ship went down in storms as it left a southern Chinese port to sail the rich trade route known as the ancient Marine Silk Road and was quickly buried in silt, which has preserved the priceless haul of 80,000 relics on board. At 30 metres long and 10 metres wide, it is the largest cargo ship discovered from that golden age of Chinese merchant history.

Salvage experts used a specially designed sealed steel box containing tons of seawater and silt to lift the ship from the seabed while keeping it in the environment in which it has been preserved for hundreds of years.

"We haven't seen any silt or water leakage from the box. The boat is still in almost the same environment as it has been over the centuries," Wu Jiancheng, head of the excavation project, told the Xinhua news agency.

Tow boats pulled the barge carrying Nanhai No. 1, which translates as "South China Sea No. 1", to a temporary port yesterday. It will be put on a huge air bed and sent to a custom-designed museum, built at a cost of 150 million yuan (£10.3m) by the Guangdong provincial government.

Initial excavations have yielded gorgeous green glazed porcelain plates, blue porcelain and gold, silver and tin pots, chinaware specially designed for markets in the Middle East, as well as 6,000 copper coins from the Song Dynasty (960-1279) when the boat was built. Mr Jiancheng reckons there are still up to 80,000 relics on the ship.

The treasure is impossible to put a value on, although given the prices antique Chinese vases are garnering in the world's auction houses these days, the haul must be worth billions of pounds. Some Chinese cultural relics experts in China say the importance of the find could be equal to that of the Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an.

Chinese traders began selling silks, porcelain and tea along the Marine Silk Road around 2,000 years ago, from southern ports in Guangdong and Fujian to countries in south-east Asia, Arab countries and Europe.

There have been several ships discovered in the area and the Nanhai No 1 was the first in 1987. Being buried in two metres of silt has done much to protect the vessel, but it has also made excavation challenging in the murky water.

The museum features a "Crystal Palace" – a glass-walled pool filled with sea water to house the ship – where the water temperature, pressure and other environmental conditions would be the same as the sea bed to better preserve the wreck. Visitors will be able to watch archaeologists at work through the glass.

Raising the shipwreck and keeping its valuable haul of porcelain intact has been a major challenge as scientists face stiff competition to rescue historical artefacts from both local fishermen and from high-tech salvage experts, often working secretly.

The treasures often find their way to auction houses in the US and other foreign markets.

Edited March 2, 2023 by Randy W (see edit history)

[IllinoisDave]

Yeah. I'd love to be there when they uncover all that stuff. I hope they have someone videotaping the whole process ala National Geographic.

[Shenzhen K-1]

Yeah. I'd love to be there when they uncover all that stuff. I hope they have someone videotaping the whole process ala National Geographic.

 

DITTO!! I have been a certified diver for years and enjoy stories like this!!

[david_dawei]

Ancient Ship Lifted

[IllinoisDave]

Ancient Ship Lifted

Thanks David.

I hope someone does a documentary on it.

[rogerluli]

Ancient Ship Lifted

Thanks David.

I hope someone does a documentary on it.

 

Hey I'll take the grouper that is swimming by...If nobody else wants it...

[david_dawei]

Seeing that the ship is being mentioned as 800 years old, that puts it in the Song Dynasty, which is often referred to as the Chinese Renaissance (the western one would come 400 years later).

 

In a quick search for some merchant information on the Song, I came across this long read, but will quote a small section:

 

http://econ.barnard.columbia.edu/~econhist...Wen%20paper.pdf

 

According to C. Huang (2003), new cities specializing in ceramic production were also emerging along the Fujian and Zhejiang coastal areas during the Song in response to the growing demand for porcelain from overseas, although they were deserted later during the Ming and Qing.

. . .

China had never seen its trade ties so extended as during the Song. Foreign merchants from Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, India, Arabia, and East Africa came to China via maritime routes. Copper coins, silk, tea, porcelain, and many other labor-intensive manufactured products, and knowledge-intensive products such as books and paintings were among the most sought-after Chinese exports. In return, China imported grain, cattle, timber, minerals, spices and other land-intensive products.

 

Chinese ships, known for their size and weight, and guided for the first time in the world history by magnetic compasses, regularly visited ports in Southeast Asian and the Indian Ocean (C. Huang 2003). It was also during the Song that China became the first nation in the world to adopt paper money and put it into wide circulation, a breakthrough in monetization and commercialization. This invention reflected both the growing demand for money, and willingness to base business on trust and credit.

[Shenzhen K-1]

Seeing that the ship is being mentioned as 800 years old, that puts it in the Song Dynasty, which is often referred to as the Chinese Renaissance (the western one would come 400 years later).

 

In a quick search for some merchant information on the Song, I came across this long read, but will quote a small section:

 

http://econ.barnard.columbia.edu/~econhist...Wen%20paper.pdf

 

According to C. Huang (2003), new cities specializing in ceramic production were also emerging along the Fujian and Zhejiang coastal areas during the Song in response to the growing demand for porcelain from overseas, although they were deserted later during the Ming and Qing.

. . .

China had never seen its trade ties so extended as during the Song. Foreign merchants from Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, India, Arabia, and East Africa came to China via maritime routes. Copper coins, silk, tea, porcelain, and many other labor-intensive manufactured products, and knowledge-intensive products such as books and paintings were among the most sought-after Chinese exports. In return, China imported grain, cattle, timber, minerals, spices and other land-intensive products.

 

Chinese ships, known for their size and weight, and guided for the first time in the world history by magnetic compasses, regularly visited ports in Southeast Asian and the Indian Ocean (C. Huang 2003). It was also during the Song that China became the first nation in the world to adopt paper money and put it into wide circulation, a breakthrough in monetization and commercialization. This invention reflected both the growing demand for money, and willingness to base business on trust and credit.

 

Thanks for the videos and post. I always enjoyed watching Jacques Cousteau!!

[SheLikesME?]

You just keep cleaning that water Roger

 

 

 

 

 

Just kidding Rog!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Randy W]

from the National Geographic (email)

China kept this shipwreck secret for decades

THE 800-YEAR-OLD FIND THAT WAS KEPT FROM THE WORLD

Wednesday, March 1, 2023

 

Quote

 

In December 2007 the Nanhai No. 1 and its precious contents (weighing a total of 15,600 tons) were transferred to the Maritime Silk Road Museum of Guangdong on Hailing Island, which had been built specifically to house the wreck. There, the Nanhai No. 1 was placed in a custom-made saltwater tank. Much of the cargo has not been removed from the junk’s hold. To prevent deterioration, silt and water cover the craft and its contents, and the tank is maintained at the same temperature of the waters in which the wreck was discovered. In these carefully monitored conditions, archaeologists continue to study the wreck.

 . . .

A discovery made in 2018 helped fix the timing of the voyage. A ceramic jar among the cargo goods was found to bear a black-ink inscription on its underside that links its manufacture to the year 1183, placing the trip in or after the early 1180s.

 . . .

In parallel to its historical importance, the Nanhai No. 1 has been a means for China’s government to project the country’s venerable history as a naval and trading power. Its discovery in 1987 occurred just as the Cold War was ending—and as China was beginning to play a new role on the world stage. By the time of the Nanhai No. 1’s raising from the seabed in 2007, China’s global economic importance was beyond question.