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:
“The South is very beautiful but its beauty makes one sad because the lives that people live here, and have lived here, are so ugly.”
—James Baldwin (1924–1987)
“Whether the nymph shall break Diana’s law,
Or some frail china jarreceive a flaw,
Or stain her honour, or her new brocade,”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)
“When the fierce north-western blast
Cools sea and land so far and fast,
Thou already slumberest deep;
Woe and want thou canst outsleep;
Want and woe, which torture us,
Thy sleep makes ridiculous.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“... overconfidence in one’s own ability is the root of much evil. Vanity, egoism, is the deadliest of all characteristics. This vanity, combined with extreme ignorance of conditions the knowledge of which is the very A B C of business and of life, produces more shipwrecks and heartaches than any other part of our mental make-up.”
—Alice Foote MacDougall (1867–1945)