"Nanhai No.1", a Song Dynasty (960-1279) ship that sank some 840
years ago in the South China Sea off Guangdong Province, is at the center of an
ambitious plan to salvage the wreck and its contents in their
entirety, and place them in a giant glass pool where further
excavation and salvage works will be conducted.
The plan was approved by the State Administration of Cultural
Heritage (SACH) earlier this month.
Bureau experts said that the best time to dredge the ship from
the seabed would be between March and May next year, when climate
conditions are the most stable.
More than 5,000 tons of ship, silt, porcelain and other cultural
relics will be lifted out of the sea.
Experts from Cultural Bureau of Yangjiang said this salvage plan
is the first of its kind in the world. The plan took years to
develop. Although approved of in principle, details of the plan are
still restricted information for the time being.
The reason why this plan is so different is that traditionally,
archaeologists would first excavate relics and other contents
contained in a wreck before salvaging the actual ship. In this
plan, however, Chinese experts intend to "put" the wreck, in its
entirety, into a giant steel box and raise it out of the water.
Once this is done, the wreck will be transferred into a
12-meter-deep glass pool to ensure that environmental and pressure
changes do not damage the relics. Conditions in the pool, such as
water temperature, pressure and other environmental conditions,
will mimic those in the sea where the ship has been "sleeping" for
the last 800 years.
Archaeologists will conduct further excavation work in the pool.
According to a Beijing Morning Post report, the entire salvage
process will cost at least 100 million yuan (about US$12.3
million).
Guangdong authorities have earmarked 150 million yuan (about
US$18.5 million) to build a "Marine Silk Road Museum" to house the
salvaged ancient ship.
"Nanhai No.1" is the biggest cargo ship from Song Dynasty. Yu
Weichao, curator of the National History Museum, had the honor of
naming the ship. “This was the first ancient vessel to be
discovered on the "Marine Silk Road" of the South China Sea. That's
how it got its name."
The ship was found in 1987, some 20 nautical miles west of
Hailing Island, Yangjiang City, in Guangdong Province, lying more
than 20 meters deep. It is about 30 meters long and 10 meters
wide.
Green glazed porcelain plates, tin pots, shadowy blue porcelain
ware and other rare antiques were found during initial exploration
of the ship. Archaeologists said there are an estimated 50,000 to
70,000 relics on the ship.
Two meters of silt have helped to preserve and protect these
treasures and the ship for almost a century, but the silt has also
made excavation difficult.
Much mystery surrounds the "Nanhai No. 1". Archaeologists still
cannot determine if it was a Chinese or foreign commercial ship.
Among the items found onboard were cobra bones, a gold belt and
gold bracelets, which indicate a Western Asian affiliation.
Archaeologists also don't know where the ship last weighed
anchor. The four batches of porcelain found include a shadowy-blue
glaze typical of Jingdezhen Town in Jiangxi Province; white
porcelain, which is the hallmark of Dehua Town in Fujian Province; black-glazed porcelain from
Jianyao in Fujian; and celadon porcelain belonging to Longquan in
Zhejiang Province.
Blue and white porcelain was popular in Guangzhou, Guangdong
Province, at that time, but none has been discovered so far.
Archaeologists therefore believe that although the ship might have
sailed on the Marine Silk Road, it might not have actually started
out from Guangzhou.
(China.org.cn by Chen Lin, July 30, 2006)