The South China Sea shipwrecks are two shipwrecks discovered in the South China Sea. The shipwrecks may yield important archaeological evidence about the marine Silk Road trade route linking ancient China with the Western world.
South China Sea-I was discovered in 1987 and is the marine Silk Road area. It dates back to the Song Dynasty era (960-1279).
A few days after South China Sea I began to be excavated in early June 2007, a second wreck, named South China Sea-II was discovered using satellite navigation. The official Xinhua news agency cited Guangdong archaeologists and said the wreck was 7 to 18 m long and at a depth of 20 m, and also cited preliminary studies showing the ship shows it may have sunk after hitting a reef around the early 17th century. Over 300 pieces of porcelain, including bowls, plates, pots and bottles, were recovered from this wreck.
Famous quotes containing the words south, china, sea and/or shipwrecks:
“Whenever I’m asked why Southern writers particularly have a penchant for writing about freaks, I say it is because we are still able to recognize one. To be able to recognize a freak, you have to have some conception of the whole man, and in the South the general conception of man is still, in the main, theological.”
—Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964)
“Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve, I’ve dreamed of havin’ my own things about me. My spinet over there and a table here. My own chairs to rest upon and a dresser over there in that corner, and my own china and pewter shinin’ about me.”
—Frank S. Nugent (1908–1965)
“Now small fowls flew screaming over the yet yawning gulf; a sullen white surf beat against its steep sides; then all collapsed, and the great shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled five thousand years ago.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
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—Alice Foote MacDougall (1867–1945)