Excavation continues on ancient shipwreck near Shanghai

The archaeological excavation of the shipwreck at the mouth of the Yangtze River has made significant progress, the Shanghai Municipal Administration for Culture and Tourism announced on Friday.

On July 15, a new workboat named Fenli, tailor-made for the excavation of the ancient shipwreck named Boat No. 2, completed production in Nantong of Jiangsu province, and arrived in Shanghai, ready to work on lifting and transporting the shipwreck.

The excavation of a merchant shipwreck known as Boat No. 2 at the Yangtze River Mouth, dating to the reign of Emperor Tongzhi (1862-1875) of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) is one of the most important underwater archaeological excavation projects in China, which began on March 2.

The shipwreck, sitting 5.5 meters below the ocean bed at a shoal in Chongming district of Shanghai, was said to be "the largest and best-kept, with the largest number of cultural relics on board in China's underwater archaeological findings," according to Fang Shizhong, director of the municipal administration for culture and tourism.

On June 1, Dali, the primary workboat for the excavation project, went to the shipwreck site to conduct preliminary cleanup.

A team consisting of professionals from the municipal administration for culture and tourism and Shanghai Salvage Bureau worked nonstop for 35 days on Dali.

They confirmed that the ancient shipwreck was 38.1 meters long and 9.9 meters wide, and the prow was facing south. They brought up scattered objects around the boat on the ocean floor, including the rudder, anchor, ropes and a purple clay teapot.

Dali successfully completed its mission of pretreatment of the shipwreck on July 6 and left the Yangtze River mouth to Shanghai harbor.

Fenli, which will continue the operation, including lift and transport of the shipwreck, is 130 meters long and 34 meters wide. It can open up in the middle, where it has a moonpool 56 meters long and 20 meters wide.

Such a unique design will enable Fenli to lift the shipwreck directly from the bottom of the ocean to its moonpool, and transport it to Shanghai Shipyard.

These procedures would traditionally have to be conducted by three different boats, so the design of Fenli will ensure the maximum safety of the cultural relic, according to Zhai Yang, deputy director of the municipal center for the protection of cultural relics. Fenli and its innovative design will provide new ideas for similar underwater excavation projects.

Later in August, the primary workboat Dali is expected to return to the site to excavate the ancient shipwreck together with Fenli. Boat No. 2 at the Yangtze River Mouth will have her full secret brought out of the muddy water soon after that.