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Posted on 12/21/2007 7:10:22 PM PST by JACKRUSSELL
(BEIJING) — After 800 years at the bottom of the sea, a merchant ship loaded with porcelain and other rare antiques was raised to the surface Friday in a specially built basket, a state news agency reported.
The Nanhai No. 1, which means "South China Sea No. 1," sank off the south China coast with some 60,000 to 80,000 items on board, Xinhua News Agency reported, citing Wu Jiancheng, head of the excavation project.
Archaeologists built a steel basket around the 100-foot vessel, and it took about two hours for a crane to lift the ship and surrounding silt to the surface, Xinhua said. The basket was as large as a basketball court and as tall as a three-story building.
Green-glazed porcelain plates and shadowy blue porcelain items were among rare antiques found during the initial exploration of the ship. Archaeologists have also recovered containers made of gold and silver as well as about 6,000 copper coins.
The ship dates from the early Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). It was discovered in 1987 off the coast near the city of Yangjiang, in Guangdong province, in more than 65 feet of water.
The Nanhai No. 1 was placed on a waiting barge. It will be deposited in a huge glass pool at a museum where the water temperature, pressure and other environmental conditions are the same as where it has lain on the sea bed.
Feng Shaowen, head of the Yangjiang city cultural bureau, said visitors will be able watch the excavation of the ship through windows on the pool.
The recovery of the Nanhai No. 1 was originally scheduled for Saturday, but organizers decided to raise it a day early because of favorable weather.
That’s a pretty good feat to pull off..
I wouldn’t mind having some some of the porcelain.
What an amazing story! Thanks for posting it.
I didn’t see the words “lead paint” in the article. Every story I’ve seen concerning China in the last few months has contained the words “lead paint”.
ping
The crap will be on the shelf at Walmart by spring.
Junk??? (had to say it)
LOL!
They are pulling out all the stops to build that massive navy, aren’t they?
There is “red lead’ paint on the crane.(?) But don’t worry...that’s a good thing [for the crane!].
Keep watching Ebay.
The government of Spain has submitted a claim that this ship may have sailed from a port in Spain and, therefore, Spain claims rights to all the treasure on board.
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Thanks csvset. I hope the crew's okay. ;') |
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F the chinese - let them pay restitution to the 60 million they killed in the last century.
They were left vulnerable to the Europeans and descended into the jingoism of the Boxers. They put themselves into a dark age from which they are only now emerging.
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