Piece of historic Qing warship pulled from sea
An 18-ton iron plate from an historic warship has been pulled from the sea in east China’s Shandong Province.
An 18-ton iron plate that was confirmed to be part of the wreckage of a renowned battleship of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) has been lifted out of the water in east China’s Shandong Province, archaeologists said on Saturday.
The plate, 2.86 meters long, 2.6 meters wide, and 33 centimeters thick, was craned out of the seawater near Liugong Island in the city of Weihai, the former base of the Beiyang Fleet, on Thursday — the 126th anniversary of the First Sino-Japanese War, commonly known in China as the Jiawu War.
The plate provided strong evidence that the shipwreck was part of the “Dingyuan,” flagship of the Beiyang Fleet, as it echoed the written records in the shipbuilding contract of the vessel in terms of material and other details, said Zhou Chunshui, leader of the underwater archaeological survey team of the Dingyuan Battleship.
The plate has been moved to the former base of the Beiyang Fleet at Liugong and is being desalted for preservation.
With a displacement of 7,670 long tons, the ship was built in Germany. It was damaged after being torpedoed by the invading Japanese fleet in February 1895. Its captain ordered it scuttled to prevent it from falling into enemy hands.
