In the 1870s, the year of Qing Tongzhi.
The port of Shanghai was opened. The "Qing merchants" who are eager to mine gold through ocean trade are eager to try.
A merchant ship full of cargo is sailing, and the 38.5-meter-long hull shows the magnanimity of the ship's owner. The central part is about 7.8 meters wide, and the 31 cabins are filled with Jingdezhen porcelain... Merchant ships sailed to the coastal waters of the East China Sea, and the ship owners of the Shanghai port were already looking at it...
However, the weather is unpredictable.
With a loud bang, the ship hit the reef!
The sailors' rescue for several hours was no longer helpful, and the captain had to abandon the ship.
The merchant ship is like an elderly killer whale, closing its eyes and slowly sleeping into the bottom of the sea.
This sleep is 150 years.
How could the shipowner of that year not have thought of it?
The offshore waters of that year have already impacted the Delta. The shipwreck is sleeping 5.5 meters below the seabed of Shanghai's Hengsha Island.
And this shipwreck turned out to be. The most complete preserved, largest and most culturally resonant wooden shipwrecks have been found in underwater archaeology on the mainland!
He is the "Yangtze River Mouth No. 2".
6 years of underwater archaeological exploration, archaeologists have made thorough preparations for salvage, but for the shipwreck, there are nine mysteries that have not been solved so far.
The "hardcore" fifth-generation salvage process in history
In October 2021, the General Office of the State Council issued the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Protection of Cultural Relics and Scientific and Technological Innovation", which included the No. 2 ancient ship at the mouth of the Yangtze River as a major project in China's underwater archaeology, which caused a sensation in the world.
The salvage will adopt the world's unprecedented "arc beam non-contact cultural relics overall relocation technology", which protects the integrity of the ancient ship to the greatest extent.
It can be described as the "hardcore" fifth-generation salvage process in history.
Heritage value?
In the early stage, 439 pieces of porcelain were extracted. The 4 compartments that have been opened are estimated to be filled with 320,000 pieces of porcelain!
This is even larger than the Guangdong Song Dynasty "Nanhai No. 1" shipwreck discovered 35 years ago!
The sheer volume of cultural relics has shaken the ancient world to the present. It is enough to support the construction of an ancient ship museum with great world influence.
The "Qing Shang" civilization has reappeared
A large number of porcelain bottom books "Tongzhi Year System" provide iron evidence for the dating of ancient ships. Archaeologists and historians have shown a keen interest in the life of Qing dynasty maritime merchants in the shipwreck living pods.
Unexpected discovery.
In July 2021, the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" shipwreck unexpectedly found a large whole vessel such as a 60-centimeter-high bean-green glazed blue-and-white vase. And this is the obvious Yuan Dynasty porcelain. Archaeologists are puzzled.
Where did it come from and where are you going?
In 2019, the underwater archaeology team collected the broken mast of the ancient ship "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" and identified it as "Southeast Asian Borneo Double Wood".
There are also a large number of purple sand ware, Hookah jars produced in Vietnam and other cultural relics.
This can only be preliminarily concluded that the merchant ship was traveling from Shanghai to and from somewhere in Southeast Asia.
Is it to set sail or to return?
Six years of exploration, the bow point is no longer clear under the impact of sediment on the seabed.
Are there any other shipwrecks?
According to the convention of archaeological excavations of shipwrecks. There will be other shipwrecks nearby.
After the opening of shanghai, the estuary of the "golden waterway" of the Yangtze River flourished as the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road. Archaeologists speculate. In this busy and complex route, there is a high probability that there will be other shipwrecks that will become today's underwater relics.
For example, in 2015, the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 1" discovered was an iron warship of the Republic of China;
So, are there still number three and four?
Who is the shipowner?
There is no historical record, but the value of the items from the salvage and the initial judgment is staggering! It is impossible to determine the identity of the master.
Cause of shipwreck
Underwater archaeology found that the attitude of the "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2" was tilted to the left, and the stern of the ship was slightly sunken. This is completely impossible to determine the cause of the shipwreck.
March 2, 2022 AD.
Shanghai. Officially opened the "Yangtze River Mouth No. 2" salvage excavation.
We'll see.