National Geographic History - USA (2022-05 & 2022-06)

DISCOVERIES

local fishermen away with
mis information of live World
War II–era bombs in the area.
A plan to raise the Nanhai
No. 1 was developed in 2002;
it was put into action five
years later. Open at the bot-
tom, a 3,000-ton custom-
made steel cage was lowered
over the wreckage site. Sen-
sors had been placed along
the seafloor so that the box
could be carefully guided in-
to place without damaging
any of the centuries-old
material below.

Heavy concrete blocks

were then placed on the top

of the box to push its sides

down into the silt and below

the bottom of the wreck.

Then divers threaded strong

beams through holes in the

sides of the box, creating a

bottom to the cage. After the

concrete blocks were re-

moved, the massive steel

cage—with the Nanhai No. 1

and the surrounding sedi-

ment now contained in-

side—was slowly raised to

the surface.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 93

THE SOUTHERN SONG DYNASTY (a.d. 1127-1279)

rapidly developed its merchant navy after being

pushed out of northern China. It relied mainly on

junks, ships with a rectangular hull and steered

by a sternpost rudder. The Nanhai No. 1 follows

the typical proportions of a junk from this period.

SHIPS OF THE SONG

MARITIME SILK ROAD MUSEUM OF GUANGDONG

A REPLICA OF THE NANHAI NO. 1, BUILT IN 2014, ON A VISIT TO MACAO