"Nanhai No.1", a Song Dynasty (960-1279) ship that sank some 840 years ago in the South China Sea off Guangdong Province, is at the center of an ambitious plan to salvage the wreck and its contents in their entirety, and place them in a giant glass pool where further excavation and salvage works will be conducted.

The plan was approved by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) earlier this month.

Bureau experts said that the best time to dredge the ship from the seabed would be between March and May next year, when climate conditions are the most stable.

More than 5,000 tons of ship, silt, porcelain and other cultural relics will be lifted out of the sea.

Experts from Cultural Bureau of Yangjiang said this salvage plan is the first of its kind in the world. The plan took years to develop. Although approved of in principle, details of the plan are still restricted information for the time being.

The reason why this plan is so different is that traditionally, archaeologists would first excavate relics and other contents contained in a wreck before salvaging the actual ship. In this plan, however, Chinese experts intend to "put" the wreck, in its entirety, into a giant steel box and raise it out of the water.

Once this is done, the wreck will be transferred into a 12-meter-deep glass pool to ensure that environmental and pressure changes do not damage the relics. Conditions in the pool, such as water temperature, pressure and other environmental conditions, will mimic those in the sea where the ship has been "sleeping" for the last 800 years.

Archaeologists will conduct further excavation work in the pool. According to a Beijing Morning Post report, the entire salvage process will cost at least 100 million yuan (about US$12.3 million).

Guangdong authorities have earmarked 150 million yuan (about US$18.5 million) to build a "Marine Silk Road Museum" to house the salvaged ancient ship.

"Nanhai No.1" is the biggest cargo ship from Song Dynasty. Yu Weichao, curator of the National History Museum, had the honor of naming the ship. “This was the first ancient vessel to be discovered on the "Marine Silk Road" of the South China Sea. That's how it got its name."

The ship was found in 1987, some 20 nautical miles west of Hailing Island, Yangjiang City, in Guangdong Province, lying more than 20 meters deep. It is about 30 meters long and 10 meters wide.

Green glazed porcelain plates, tin pots, shadowy blue porcelain ware and other rare antiques were found during initial exploration of the ship. Archaeologists said there are an estimated 50,000 to 70,000 relics on the ship.

Two meters of silt have helped to preserve and protect these treasures and the ship for almost a century, but the silt has also made excavation difficult.

Much mystery surrounds the "Nanhai No. 1". Archaeologists still cannot determine if it was a Chinese or foreign commercial ship. Among the items found onboard were cobra bones, a gold belt and gold bracelets, which indicate a Western Asian affiliation.

Archaeologists also don't know where the ship last weighed anchor. The four batches of porcelain found include a shadowy-blue glaze typical of Jingdezhen Town in Jiangxi Province; white porcelain, which is the hallmark of Dehua Town in Fujian Province; black-glazed porcelain from Jianyao in Fujian; and celadon porcelain belonging to Longquan in Zhejiang Province.

Blue and white porcelain was popular in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, at that time, but none has been discovered so far. Archaeologists therefore believe that although the ship might have sailed on the Marine Silk Road, it might not have actually started out from Guangzhou.

(China.org.cn by Chen Lin, July 30, 2006)