Operation launched to salvage ancient ship from Yangtze estuary
Rendering of the Yangtze River estuary No. 2 ancient vessel.
Workers ready to salvage the Yangtze River estuary No. 2 ancient vessel.
Location of the ancient vessel.
A wooden vessel, dating back to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and found sunken in the Yangtze River estuary, will have its mysterious veil lifted after eight years with the launch of China's biggest-scale ancient vessel salvage and protection project in Shanghai on Wednesday.
The vessel, named Yangtze River estuary No. 2 ancient vessel, is a wooden sailing boat built around 1862-75 during the reign of Emperor Tongzhi.
It is buried in sludge 5.5 meters deep and the water area where the ship sank is 8 to 10 meters deep.
The remains of the ship are about 38.5 meters long and 7.8 meters wide and it has 31 cabins based on current findings.
The upper deck and mainmasts of the ship are complete.
The ship is probably a sand vessel with flat bottom, widely used for water transportation in Shanghai during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing dynasties, according to Zhai Yang, deputy director of the Shanghai Cultural Heritage Protection and Research Center.
In 2015, an underwater archeological investigation in the Hengsha area of Chongming Island detected a sunken iron vessel via sonar scanning technology.
The iron warship was named the Yangtze River estuary No. 1 ancient vessel. As archeologists expanded the scanning scope, the wooden vessel was found north of the warship.
Exquisite items, including porcelain kilns of Jingdezhen, a world-famous porcelain capital in northeast Jiangxi Province, have been found in four cabins.
A large number of cultural relics such as Yixing zisha (purple clay) wares, hookah cans made in Vietnam, wooden buckets, ship masts and iron anchors have been unearthed near the ship.
"There are diverse categories and large amounts of cultural heritage items which are well preserved or can be repaired," Zhai revealed.
Between July and September last year, big wares, including porcelain works of the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368) and a 60-centimeter-high blue and white porcelain vase, were found.
"Some porcelain wares have signs indicating they were made during the reign of Emperor Tongzhi, providing important proof of the vessel's history," said Zhai.
The launch ceremony of the salvage and protection project.
Some porcelain works on the vessel.
A cup found on the vessel.
He shared stories behind the finding of the ship on Wednesday.
"When we first detected the ship, it was totally covered in sludge with a single mast exposed," said Zhai.
"The underwater archeological work was like a blind touch considering the water quality and low visibility of the estuary," Zhai said. "Even if we wear diving flashlight with strong light, we can see almost nothing."
"The archeological work depends on advanced underwater scanning equipment," he said.
"It took six years to learn the value of the ship. But its exact shape, length and items onboard will only be known when the ship is salvaged.
"We are replicating the living scenes of people of that time during the archeological work.
"Because sunken ships are usually buried by sand, they are able to maintain a piece of history well and we are taking a journey through time during archeological work."
Zhai revealed that they have only one photo of the ship due to the water quality of the estuary, and the porcelain are well placed in lines as seen in the photo.
"We were excited and stunned when we saw the photo," he gushed. "It is the first time that we saw the real face of the ship."
"There are still many mysteries behind the ship, such as its name, where it was built, and what was its destination, to which we hope to have answers," said Zhai. "We will solve these one by one, but it may take a long time."
The Yangtze River estuary No. 2 ancient vessel is another milestone finding in China's underwater archeology history after the Nanhai No. 1 cargo ship from the Southern Song Dynasty (1127–1279).
Nanhai No. 1 is widely believed as the largest and best-preserved Song Dynasty ocean-going merchant trade ship.
"The Yangtze River estuary No. 2 ancient vessel is one of the biggest and best-preserved ancient wooden sunken ships with the largest amount of cultural relics onboard found so far in the world," proclaimed Fang Shizhong, director of the Shanghai Administration of Culture and Tourism and director of the Shanghai Administration of Cultural Heritage.
"It is a precious cultural legacy with significant history, and scientific and art value," he said.
Simulation experiment of the salvage operation.
A bowl found on the ship.
The whole salvage work is scheduled to finish by the end of this year, or September as hoped, according to Fang.
"But it depends on weather, hydrology conditions and there are some uncertainties during the salvage process," he added.
The finding of the ship provides important support for research on the "Maritime Silk Route" and is a witness to Shanghai's position as a world trade and shipping center in modern times and an important leg on the "Belt and Road," Fang pointed out.
Due to its good condition and rich array of items onboard, the boat also has significant scientific value for Chinese and even global shipping, science and technology, maritime and porcelain history research, authorities said.
Due to change of water current flow and riverbed conditions, the preservation of the vessel faces severe threats despite the protection efforts.
To prevent it from natural and human damage, experts suggested that archeological work start as soon as possible for future protection and research.
"Because the underwater visibility of the Yangtze River estuary is almost zero, considering water turbidity, it is impossible to conduct underwater archeological mapping and other work," Zhou Dongrong, deputy director of the Shanghai Salvage Bureau, explained.
"We therefore decided to salvage the whole ship after evaluating three salvage solutions.
"This way we avoid digging and it can best preserve the heritage onboard in a short time with minimal cost," he added.
The amount of sand in the Yangtze River estuary is huge, with rapid water flow, forcing experts to drop the salvage plan that was used for Nanhai No. 1.
Simulation experiment of the salvage operation.
Some of the porcelain works discovered on the vessel.
An auction in Shanghai as the city aims to create an international antiquities and artworks trade center.
Shanghai establishes an international antiquities and artworks trade center.
Instead, a huge arch-shaped box, 51 meters long, 19 meters wide and 9 meters high, supported by 22 "arch beams" will be used to wrap the ship, which will then be hoisted up.
The whole box with the ship inside will weigh nearly 10,000 tons plus sand and sea water.
The technology, to be used in the world for the first time, will merge advanced techniques such as tunnel shield and hydraulic pressure hoisting, which have never been applied in cultural heritage and archeological fields.
An ancient ship museum will be built at the former site of a shipping plant along the Huangpu River in Yangpu District for the public to explore stories behind the Yangtze River estuary No. 2 ancient vessel.
Two former docks will be turned into an archeological base of the sunken ship and mysteries behind the vessel will be solved here by archeologists.
Meanwhile, the Shanghai international antiquities and artworks trade center was unveiled at the Museum of Art Pudong on Wednesday.
Between October 26 and 28, the China International Antiquities and Artworks Trade Fair will be held at the museum and it will become an annual event from this year, authorities announced.
During the 5th China International Import Expo this year, an exclusive display area of antiquities and artworks will debut and is expected to attract a slew of international top-class art institutions to exhibit their collections.
Shanghai's cultural and tourism authorities will establish an antiquities credibility supervision and management platform via digital means and blacklist auction companies indulging in irregular practices to regulate the market.
Last year, Shanghai hosted 1,004 antiquities and artworks auctions with total trade volume surpassing 6 billion yuan (US$950 million), up nearly 25 percent from a year earlier and accounting for about one fourth of the national market share.
