SHINAN – WRECKED IN 1323
In 1975 a Korean fisherman called Choi Hyung-gun netted a priceless catch: some 650-year-old vases. His accidental haul led to the discovery of an amazing ancient Asian shipwreck.
He also accidentally attracted treasure hunters who tried to drag up more of the valuable cargo. The government stopped them, confiscated the loot and called in the navy to protect the site.
Navy divers worked for over eight years to recover 24,000 artefacts, and even recovered most of the ship’s hull, for archaeologists to preserve and study on land.
At 33.5 m long, the Chinese ship was an ocean-going trading vessel that sank in the 1320s. It had been heading to Japan, carrying valuable ceramics and coins, until disaster struck off Korea.
Before the discovery of the Shinan shipwreck (named after the islands closest to the wreck), most information about early Asian ships came from historic illustrations and written accounts, such as those by Marco Polo. The explorer gave clues like ‘one ship will take as much as five or six thousand baskets of pepper’, but no useful dimensions. Studying an actual ancient vessel is priceless for archaeologists.