In the 1980s, the Guangzhou Rescue and Salvage Bureau and the British maritime expedition team went to the South China Sea to salvage.
In the beginning, their joint salvage target was the wreck of the East India Company, but instead of finding the Shipwreck of the East India Company, they found another giant ancient ship that had sunk on the seabed for 800 years.
Later, the state spent 300 million yuan to salvage this huge shipwreck that sank under the water and did not see the light of day.
At first, many people thought that it was a rather crazy mistake to pay such a large price to salvage a shipwreck.
As a result, everyone was pleasantly surprised to find that there were 80,000 treasures hidden in this shipwreck.
What is the origin of this giant shipwreck, and why are there so many rare treasures? According to archaeologists, this shipwreck is the earliest discovered in China, the largest hull, and the most complete preserved ocean-going trade merchant ship.
As a result, the shipwreck is now commonly known as "Nanhai One". Most of the treasures found by archaeologists in the "Nanhai No. 1" are products of the Song Dynasty.
In addition to valuables such as gold, silver, copper and iron, there are many exquisite porcelains. Inside there are porcelain from the Dehua kiln in Fujian, porcelain from Jingdezhen, and porcelain from the Longquan kiln.
Most of these porcelains are of very high quality and are fairly well preserved. Some archaeologists said that the United States has conducted some auctions of porcelain. Some of the porcelain that was auctioned off, both in style and age, was very similar to the porcelain found in the shipwreck.
The porcelain that was auctioned off, the final price, was basically hundreds of thousands of dollars. In other words, the porcelain in the wreck of the "Nanhai No. 1" can sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars at random if one or two pieces of porcelain are taken out and put on the auction floor.
It is worth mentioning that only part of the complete porcelain salvaged by the staff from the shipwreck is In Chinese style, and the remaining porcelain is full of exoticism.
Experts speculate that this may be a special product produced by porcelain merchants in the Song Dynasty who accepted overseas orders and processed and produced.
Mr. Geng Baochang, who was the president of the China Ancient Ceramics Association, after seeing the porcelain in the shipwreck, once sighed and said that he had been engaged in porcelain research for a lifetime, but he had never seen such porcelain, and he had never even heard of many things.
In fact, this situation is not particularly puzzling, because the Song Dynasty was the first heyday in the history of Chinese porcelain.
At that time, there were five famous kilns in China, and any one of them could shock the four sides. There are many international friends, especially fond of Song Dynasty porcelain, who come to China to order porcelain.
Because of this, merchants in the Song Dynasty often received orders from abroad and then shipped these porcelain abroad through sea transport.
According to some sources, in that relatively backward era, merchants from the Netherlands and Portugal often sent Chinese porcelain to Europe for sale.
At that time, the price of porcelain in China was almost the same as that of gold. Even so, these porcelains were in short supply. Every time it comes out on a foreign market, it causes an uproar.
According to the Zhufan Zhi, Song Dynasty porcelain was transported to more than 50 countries, and even Tanzania in Africa has Song Dynasty porcelain.
It is worth mentioning that in addition to the praiseworthy exquisite porcelain, there are many gold objects worth mentioning in the "South China Sea No. 1".
The gold necklaces and gold bracelets in the "Nanhai No. 1" are shining one by one, and there is basically no trace of rust.
Different from modern gold ware, the specifications of gold necklaces in the Song Dynasty are generally relatively large, some gold necklaces are up to 1.7 meters long, and some gilded bracelets are larger than rice bowls.
Therefore, experts judge that the wearer of these gold objects should be a strong and relatively burly person.
In addition to these much-talked about historical relics, does the discovery of Nanhai No. 1 help academic research?
After many studies, experts were pleasantly surprised to find that the salvage location of the "Nanhai No. 1" was located on a very special route.
Historically, this route was known as the Maritime Silk Road. Therefore, the salvage of "Nanhai No. 1" not only proves the history of the Maritime Silk Road, but also provides rare physical materials for the study of China's maritime history and shipbuilding history.
In addition, the salvage of this shipwreck also provides a lot of necessary information for terrestrial archaeology, and to a certain extent, makes up for the historical gap in cultural research.
All in all, the salvage of the shipwreck, although it cost a lot of money, but compared to its value, the money was very worthwhile.
After the "South China Sea No. 1" was completely salvaged, it entered the Crystal Palace and was well protected.
Eventually, the Crystal Palace, which carries the "South China Sea No. 1", was officially opened by the relevant departments and became a tourist attraction.
Ordinary people are particularly curious about it and have come to see it. Most of the tourists who have been to the Crystal Palace feel particularly shocked, and even have a feeling of lingering.
After the "Nanhai No. 1" was exhibited, many people found it incredible, because it is a wooden structure ship. In everyone's impression, things with wooden structures can easily be corroded after being damp. If this is the case, why can the "Nanhai No. 1" persist underwater for 800 years without completely decaying?
Experts later explained that there were two main reasons why the Nanhai-1 could be preserved for so many years.
First, the place where the "South China Sea No. 1" sank, the oxygen concentration was very low, and after it sank to the bottom of the sea, it should be quickly covered by silt in the sea. In this way, the "Nanhai One" is equivalent to entering an oxygen-starved environment, so it has not been too damaged by oxidation.
Second, the wood used in "Nanhai No. 1" is not an ordinary thing, but a relatively strong pine. Folk have always been rumored that the blisters are thousand-year-old pines, and the wind blows thousands of years of fir. What is made of pine wood can indeed resist the erosion of water to a certain extent.
Having said that, the people in charge of the care of crystal palaces were not negligent. After all, the "Nanhai No. 1" is a treasure that the country has spent a lot of money and painstakingly salvaged from the seabed, and it really needs to be well protected.
If it is really damaged because of improper preservation, it will not only seriously affect future archaeological research, but also make the corresponding person responsible bear certain responsibilities.
The "Nanhai No. 1" shipwreck was properly protected, so where were the treasures on board sent?
The porcelain and gold, silver and jade in the shipwreck are all cultural relics with high historical value and collection value, and they can also assist the country's cultural research to a certain extent, so they have also been properly protected. Among them, some of the treasures have also become the treasures of the town hall of the cultural relics department.