Nanhai One
Hailing Island, Yangjiang, Guangdong, China (pin at the museum where the ship is displayed)
What happened
More than 800 years ago, during China's Southern Song dynasty, a large wooden merchant ship sank in the South China Sea off the coast of Guangdong. It was loaded with goods for overseas trade, including porcelain, iron, gold, silver and coins. In 1987, a team searching for a different shipwreck found it instead.
Why it matters
It is one of the largest and best-preserved ancient Chinese trading ships ever found. Its cargo shows how goods travelled across the sea from China to other lands, along the Maritime Silk Road.
What came next
In 2007, the whole ship was lifted from the seabed and moved into a giant water tank at the Maritime Silk Road Museum on Hailing Island. By 2019, archaeologists had recovered nearly 200,000 objects from it.
Did you know?
The wreck was found by a team that was actually looking for a Dutch ship from the 1700s called the Rijnsburg.
Timeline
- 1127 to 1279 CEThe ship sinks during the Southern Song dynasty.
- August 1987A Chinese and British team finds the wreck by accident.
- 2007The ship is lifted whole from the seabed.
- 2009The Maritime Silk Road Museum opens on Hailing Island.
- 2013 to 2019Archaeologists excavate the ship inside the museum.