Time-consumingyears, spendingbillion, salvageNanhai No. 1, valueHundred million.
On December 21, 2007, a hugely expensive project finally reached its final moment. The project cost 3 billion yuan and lasted several years, and finally resurfaced an ancient merchant ship that had been sleeping for 800 years.
This scene is of great significance to the whole country, not only to complete this huge project, but also to let us re-understand history and feel the charm of ancient civilization.
The significance of this project is far beyond our imagination!
Nanhai No. 1 modelSince 2019, archaeological experts have been cleaning up Nanhai No. 1 for more than ten years. So far, about 180,000 cultural relics have been discovered, including daily necessities, gold, silver jewelry, and various types of porcelain.
However, the clean-up of the entire wreck is not over and is not expected to be completed until the end of 2022. If you're at the Yangjiang Museum, you might even see the cleanup site.
In this wreck, archaeologists discovered a puzzling thing: the shipwreck contained a large number of Southern Song Dynasty coins, numbering more than 17,000.
This makes archaeologists very puzzled, why did a merchant ship carry so much Chinese-produced currency to sea?
During one of the archaeological discoveries, the archaeologists found a large number of artifacts, among which a huge number of copper coins caught their attention. They speculate that these coins are actually "commodities", suggesting that foreign exchange has existed in the world more than 800 years ago.
This discovery shows that the merchants of the time were very skilled in business. In addition to a large number of coins, archaeologists have also found a large number of porcelain and iron tools, in addition to gold and silver jewelry, jewelry, necklaces and other valuables.
Experts speculate that the total value of the excavated artifacts is as high as $300 billion, but the shipwreck is worth much more than that. It is a very important archaeological discovery that reveals to us the world of commerce more than 800 years ago.
After 30 years of salvaging a shipwreck, this project not only contains priceless cultural value, but also bears witness to China's unprecedented progress in the field of ships and underwater operations.
It is worth mentioning that while China was salvaging the wreck, the British also found it during a salvage operation and tried to salvage it. Fortunately, the attitude of the Chinese leader was resolute and strictly forbade the British to salvage, which allowed the precious artifacts to be kept in our own hands.
So, how did the wreck get discovered by the British? Why are they salvaging in China's waters? It all started back in 1987.
In 1987, a group of Britons who were keen on shipwreck salvage traveled the world in search of a chance to unearth treasures. They arrived in China and targeted the legendary shipwreck of the Rhineberg, which was laden with large quantities of gold and silver, which was said to have sunk off the Yangjiang River.
However, their search did not go as planned, and they accidentally discovered China's "Nanhai No. 1". All this because a Chinese diver detected two small black spots in the water, and out of curiosity, he dived underwater and accidentally found the ship's mast.
Although the ship he found did not look like the Rheinberg, after it surfaced, he reported his findings to the top.
The British were planning to make a small fortune, but they stumbled upon a priceless shipwreck with a huge amount of porcelain, gold, silver, jewelry, and ancient coins. The British were immediately ecstatic and intended to continue the salvage, making a big profit.
However, a Chinese leader stepped forward and resolutely stopped the British from salvaging it. He believed that regardless of the value of the wreck, the British were only allowed to salvage what they called the Reinberg, and the British had no right to salvage the Chinese ship that was discovered.
The discovery of numerous cultural relics in our waters, especially in Chinese waters, naturally does not tolerate such actions by other countries. After fierce negotiations, the Chinese team leader successfully stopped the British salvage operation and prevented these huge quantities of cultural relics from falling into the hands of other countries and becoming a tool for their profits.
Although the salvage was prevented and the well-preserved artifacts were sent to the relevant institutions for identification, China did not have the ability to salvage underwater at that time, and even the archaeological team had never had experience in underwater salvage.
Thus, despite the discovery of Nanhai No. 1, for a long time China did not carry out salvage work. And when the news of China's discovery of a shipwreck of great value spread, the surrounding countries heard about it, and naturally they also had the idea of getting a piece of the pie.
In 1989, Japan sent an archaeological team to China in the hope of assisting China in the salvage of Nanhai No. 1. At that time, China's underwater salvage technology was not mature enough, so the two sides reached a salvage agreement and conducted several reconnaissance of the discovery site.
However, the cooperation was eventually terminated for unknown reasons, and for 12 years, no salvage work was carried out until 2001, when it was successfully landed.
However, the reason for the sinking of this top Chinese merchant ship at the time still puzzled the archaeological team members.
The cleaned cultural relics sent from the Nanhai No. 1 Museum show the prosperity of the Song Dynasty on the sea. This massive merchant ship was undoubtedly the most advanced at the time, so why did it finally sink here?
Once again, archaeologists turn to numerous artifacts and think carefully. More than 180,000 artifacts, including a large number of coins, porcelain, iron, gold and silver jewelry. Ironware? Could the Song Dynasty export iron tools 800 years ago?
Archaeologists have questions about this. Through the verification of relevant information, archaeologists found that the Song Dynasty strictly prohibited the export of iron tools, but this ship contained a large number of iron tools.
According to the speculation of archaeologists, the merchant somehow bribed the local ** before his trip 800 years ago, and was able to secretly bring a large number of iron tools on the ship.
Before the iron was shipped, his ship was already loaded with a large number of ceramics, gold and silver, and was almost full. However, fortune blinded him, and he eventually decided to take the risk of bringing the ironware aboard, but unfortunately, the voyage ended in failure and the ship was shipwrecked.
The precious cultural relics that have been sleeping on the seabed for 800 years have finally been rediscovered thanks to the efforts of the salvage team. In order to salvage the shipwreck, which was laden with cultural relics, the Chinese archaeological team spent several years traveling to the South China Sea with sophisticated equipment.
The first attempt at salvage resulted in thousands of artifacts, which shocked the archaeological experts present, who had to adjust their original salvage plans. This salvage not only revealed the wonder of ancient navigation technology for us, but also gave us a deeper understanding of ancient civilizations.
The original salvage methods could not cope with such a rich collection of artifacts, and the archaeologists decided to adopt a completely new strategy. The entire wreck is salvaged together, which not only protects the cultural relics inside the ship from destruction, but also retains the research value of the whole ship.
This decision takes into account the value of the hull itself, as well as environmental factors such as wind and waves on the sea, to maximize the protection of the cultural relics.
Although this plan was more challenging and risky than the previous one, archaeologists still chose it and prepared for it for several years. Finally, in 2007, the completion of the Huatianlong made the plan possible, and it only took one day to successfully salvage the wreck.
This successful salvage work is not only a successful case of the world's first use of the overall hull salvage scheme, but also its significance far exceeds the value of the wreck itself, marking China's great progress in science and technology, and a global recognition of China's scientific and technological strength.