The National Museum in Kuala Lumpur held a special exhibition from July 10- Oct 31, 2018 called “Sunken Treasure Exhibition: The Underwater Secret”, in which recovered items, mostly ceramics, from a dozen wrecks around the coasts of Peninsular Malaysia were displayed.
Below is Part 1 of the countdown on shipwrecks near Malaysia.
1. Desaru
The Desaru would have looked something like this according to Muzium Negara.
Date sank: 1840s
Date wreck found: May 2001
Location: Two nautical miles off the coast of Desaru, Johor. (Hence the name of the wreck – the actual name of the vessel is unknown.)
Depth of wreck site: 20 metres
Type and dimensions of vessel: Chinese junk, 8 metres wide. Made from pine with cedar bulkheads.
Cause of the wreck: Attack by pirates is one possible cause of the sinking.
Items recovered from wreck: A large quantity totalling 6,385 intact pieces of blue and white porcelain and other ceramics, mostly intended for everyday use rather than high quality ware.
Ceramics recovered from the shipwreck include Yixing teapots and other products, Jingdezhen porcelain bowls, tea cups and earthenware probably destined for use by the Chinese community in Melaka. Also 50,000 soup spoons.
2. Singtai
Date sank: Around 1550
Date wreck found: April 2001
Location: Some 12 nautical miles from Redang Island
Depth of wreck site: 53 metres
Type and dimensions of vessel: Chinese junk of 22 metres in length
Items recovered from wreck: Heavily loaded with Si Satchanalai, Sukhothai and Maenam Noi kiln ceramics from Thailand. Hundreds of large Singburi storage jars were found in the main hold.
3. Longquan
Date sank: 1400’s
Date wreck found: 1996
Location: 23 nautical miles off the coast of Terengganu
Depth of wreck site: 63 metres
Type and dimensions of vessel: A large South China Sea junk over 30 metres long with a support beam of eight metres.
Items recovered from wreck: There may have been 100,000 ceramic items on board. Salvaged ceramics comprise 40% Chinese ceramics, 40% Si Satchanalai celadon and 20% Sukhothai underglaze ware.
4. Wanli
Date sank: 1625
Date wreck found: 2004
Location: Discovered six nautical miles off the coast of Dungun, Terengganu
Depth of wreck site: 42 metres
Type and dimensions of vessel: A Portuguese carrack. Has become known by the name Wanli since the ceramics carried date from the reign of Emperor Wanli of China.
Items recovered from wreck: Chinese blue and white porcelain from the Guangyinge kiln site in Jingdezhen, China. Known as Kraak porcelain (named after the Portuguese carracks which transported it) it was designed specifically for export to the European market.
5. Royal Nanhai
Date sank: 1460
Date wreck found: 1995
Location: In international waters around 40 nautical miles off Kuantan on east coast Peninsular Malaysia
Depth of wreck site: 46 metres
Type and dimensions of vessel: A mid-15th century South China Sea junk about 28 metres long and eight metres wide.
Items recovered from wreck: The salvage, which was completed in 1998, retrieved more than 21,000 ceramics including some very early blue and white bowls from the Jingtai/Tienshun interregnum period (1450-1464).
6. Xuande
Date sank: 1540s
Date wreck found: 1996
Location: 39 nautical miles north of Tioman Island
Depth of wreck site: 53 metres
Type and dimensions of vessel: Nothing of the junk remained, presumed rotted away.
Items recovered from wreck: The site of this shipwreck unearthed 170 pieces of Chinese blue and white porcelain and 130 pieces of Si Satchanalai and Sukhothai underglaze ware buried under mud.
Six pieces of the porcelain bore the mark of the Xuande Emperor reign (1426-1435). Two metal cannons were also found.
7. Risdam
Date sank: Jan 1, 1727 during her third voyage to the Dutch East Indies.
Date wreck found: 1984, when the Royal Malaysian Customs interrupted illegal treasure hunters.
Location: Three nautical miles from Mersing, Johor
Depth of wreck site: Five metres
Type and dimensions of vessel: The Risdam, owned by the Dutch East India Company (VOC), was built in 1713, weighing 520 tonnes with a length of 37 metres.
Items recovered from wreck: Tin ingots, elephant tusks, storage jars, Dutch bricks, sappanwood, lead ingots. This interesting report written in 1985 noted that the wreck was an extremely well preserved example of an 18th century Dutch East Indiaman and recommended that it be protected from looters, excavated and raised.
That was 33 years ago. It’s anybody’s guess what happened to the proposal and what the current state of the wreck is.
Keep a lookout for Part 2 of Shipwrecks in Malaysia.
This article first appeared in malaysia-traveller.com