There are numerous shipwrecks near Malaysia, some already salvaged and others still waiting to be discovered.
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 2 of the countdown on shipwrecks near Malaysia.
8. Nanyang
Date sank: 1380
Date wreck found: 1995
Location: 10 nautical miles from Pulau Pemanggil
Depth of wreck site: 54 metres
Type and dimensions of vessel: A small South China Sea junk around 18 metres long with a five metre-high mast. The hull of the ship was joined by wooden dowels similar to the perahu boats still made in Terengganu today.
Items recovered from wreck: The cargo has yet to be salvaged but 400 ceramic pieces have been recovered for study purposes. These include Si Satchanalai celadon ring-handled bottles, celadon dishes, bowls and earthenware.
9. Ranee
Date sank: 1923
Date wreck found: 2005
Location: Five nautical miles from Tanjung Sedili Kecil, Johor
Depth of wreck site: 20 metres
Type and dimensions of vessel: Built in Lubeck, Germany in 1906. Made of steel with twin propellers and net weight of 317 tonnes. Belonged to Straits Steamship Company.
Sank with loss of 31 lives on Mac 14,1923 along the Sedili Coast, Johor after colliding with another ship called the Boribat.
Items recovered from wreck: She was carrying a cargo of tin, rubber and rattan from Singapore to Kuantan.
Also on board were royal regalia wedding gifts which were to have been presented to the Royal family in Kuala Kangsar, Perak. Items which have been salvaged so far include gold buttons and glass ceramics.
10. Turiang
Date sank: 1370’s
Date wreck found: 1998
Location: 100 nautical miles off the set coast of Johor
Depth of wreck site: 42 metres
Type and dimensions of vessel: A Chinese junk (quanzhou type) with wooden frame and hull planks joined by iron nails. 26 metres long with a mast of 7.5 metres.
Items recovered from wreck: Despite Turian’s great age, her ceramic cargo was still in good condition and recovered items included Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai pottery such as Longquan celadon, early green glazed ware from Si Satchanalai, decorative bowls from Vietnam and underglaze black fish and flower plates from Sukhothai.
11. Diana
Date sank: 1817
Date wreck found: 1993
Location: Discovered close to a Petronas oil rig eight km off Tanjung Bidara in the Straits of Malacca after an extensive search by Malaysia Historical Salvors.
Depth of wreck site: 34 metres
Type and dimensions of vessel: The Diana was a 350-tonne British East India Company country ship.
Items recovered from wreck: After being covered in mud for over 170 years the cargo was still in good condition and some 24,000 pieces of blue and white ceramics were recovered along with galls beads, green tea, ginger, ginseng, camphor and rhubarb.
12. Nassau
Date sank: 1606
Date wreck found: 1993
Location: Close to the Bambek Shoal, about 5 km from Port Dickson.
Type and dimensions of vessel: Nassau was a Dutch East India Company (VOC) warship which was sunk on Aug 16, 1606 in a naval clash with Portuguese ships known as the Battle of Cape Rachado.
Map of shipwrecks Near Malaysia
Here is Malaysia Traveller’s map of the above wreck sites. Please note that the locations are only rough estimates based on the limited information provided from publicly available sources.
Obviously unauthorised treasure hunters are not welcome so locations tend to be kept vague.
Many of the wrecks were discovered by fishermen pulling up pieces of ceramics in their nets.
While the discoveries are welcome the downside is that the nets cause considerable damage to any parts of the wreck raised above the seabed and can break valuable ceramics.
In addition to the above, there are a number of other famous shipwrecks in these waters and some less well-known wrecks.
These include:
• Middleburg 1606 (1993) Bambek Shoal
• Sao Salvador 1606 (1993) Bambek Shoal
• Don Duarte de Guerra Bambek Shoal
• Geldermaisen
• Kudat Wreck
• Tanjung Simpang Shipwreck
• Pontian Boat
From World War Two, the mighty British battleships HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales were sunk by Japanese aircraft not far from the island of Redang.
Their locations are designated as war graves and are not to be disturbed but there has been reports of illegal salvage operations looting the sites for scrap metal.
Shipwrecks near Malaysia not yet found
The most famous treasure-laden ship in this region which has never been found is the Flor de la Mar (1511) thought to be off the coast of Northeast Sumatra.
Other wrecks which have not yet been located are:
• Caroline (1816) Bambek Shoal and a bunch of Portuguese vessels which may have been involved in the Battle of Rachado:
• Sao Simao
• Todas os Santos
• Erasmus
• Santa Cruz
• Nossa Senhora de Conceição
• Santo Antonio
• Sao Nicolao
This article first appeared in malaysia-traveller.com