The discovery of a 30-meter-long merchant ship from the Southern Song (12th century) led to the establishment of an underwater archaeological museum in China.
National Geographic reported that in 1987 the British Maritime Research Company searched for a Dutch East India Company that had sunk in the South China Sea, but instead found a 30-meter merchant ship from the Southern Song period (12th century ). ).
The divers announced at the time that they had seen a ship that appeared to be at the beginning of its voyage when its cargo sank. Divers named it “Nanhai No. 1 ”because it was the first out -of -town expedition with the same name. The two -meter -thick layer of silt that covered the ship helped protect its hull and the goods it carried, including earthenware pots, silver ingots, and Song coins. However, due to lack of funding and necessary technology, this ship remained in place until 2002.
At this time, the ship was under the supervision of the Chinese Navy, as it did not allow even local fishermen to land there, citing the presence of a bomb from the days of World War II.
However, in 2007 the ship and its tonnage of 15,600 tons were removed and handed over to the Maritime Silk Road Museum in Guangdong Province on Hailing Island, which was specially built to display the sunken ship, which became China’s first underwater archaeological museum.
The ship “Nanhai No. 1 ”was placed in a large tank filled with seawater of constant temperature and covered with a layer of silt to prevent it from rotting and spoiling. Scientists continued to examine the ship and the goods it carried in these conditions, and in 2018 they discovered a pot dated 1183 and thought that its voyage, based on that date, was from the eighties of eleventh century.
source: mail.ru
Source: Arabic RT
