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Java Sea shipwreck yields Ming bounty
More than 12,400 Chinese ceramic artefacts believed to have been produced in the Ming dynasty era were recovered recently from a ship wreck in Belanakan waters off Subang, West Java
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ore than 12,400 Chinese ceramic artefacts believed to have been produced in the Ming dynasty era were recovered recently from a ship wreck in Belanakan waters off Subang, West Java.
The pieces have been collected in the past month in and around the wreckage of a 50 meters by 20 meters vessel that lies 58 meters under the surface of the Java Sea.
The pieces comprise white ceramic plates, bowls and vases with blue motifs (mostly floral), 40 percent of which are still in a good condition, said Aji Sularso, the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry director general for surveillance and controls, on Wednesday.
“The vessel is believed to have been a cargo ship that sank around the 1600s ... Archaeologists say the blue motifs on the white porcelain pieces are typical of Ming dynasty ceramics,” he said.
Aji was on a patrol boat monitoring the recovery of the ceramics, 48 miles off the coast of Belanakan.
“Given the large amount of cargo, we predict we will need to continue diving for a year to secure all of its precious load, which may top 1 million pieces; a lot more than the number of items secured from the shipwreck in Cirebon,” he said.
Aji said he hoped to find gold bars among the cargo, which would cover the cost of the survey and recovery, which was estimated to exceed US$10 million — the total amount spent salvaging items from the Cirebon shipwreck.
The shipwreck in Belanakan waters was found during a survey conducted between July and October last year, after local fishermen reported their fishing nets had come up with porcelain items.
The recovery of the artifacts, Aji said, began in early April, involving 22 professional divers especially hired to secure precious items from the shipwreck.
The Indonesian government, through the National Committee for Shipwreck Cargo Salvage, worked with a local private firm, PT Comexindo, to conduct the survey, as well as to secure and store the recovered items.
“Archaeologists say the blue motifs on the white porcelain pieces are typical of Ming dynasty ceramics.”
Aji said all activities were carried out under the supervision of the committee, which is a joint team representing the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, the Culture and Tourism Ministry, the Navy, the National Police and the Defense Ministry.
He added that there were indications there was another shipwreck in Belanakan waters, with the recent finding of 2,300 pieces of stolen artifacts believed to have been taken from the area.
Almost every day for the past month, Aji said, two divers had retrieved the artifacts using special diving equipment at a depth of 60 meters.
When the Post visited the location, however, heavy rain and strong winds had hampered any diving activities. The crew said they had suffered bad weather for the past three days.
PT Comexindo hired a total of 40 crew members, including professional local divers, to secure the artifacts.
The activities of the crew have been constantly monitored by six supervisors from the committee for shipwrecks.
