The Portuguese Wanli shipwreck

The Portuguese Wanli shipwreck of 1625 was discovered six miles off the east coast of Malaysia after pottery appeared in fishermen’s nets in 1998. The ship was found six years later, loaded with blue and white antique Chinese porcelains belonging to the Ming Dynasty, the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644. The vessel became known as the Wanli shipwreck after the ceramic recovered was found to have been made in the town of Jingdezhen during the reign of Emperor Wanli (1573-1620).

Only a small part of the ship has been recovered intact; most of the hull was damaged and a large part of the cargo has been lost, seemingly destroyed by a huge explosion which is likely to have followed a battle between the Portuguese ship and a rival vessel, maybe Dutch. An archaeological reconstruction suggests that when the fire reached the ammunition store, the stern was literally torn off by the resulting explosion, and the remains sank to a depth of 40 meters. Much of the ceramic cargo was broken by the explosion but despite this more than 9,000 kilos of porcelain shards were recovered from the site. These bear witness to the forms, styles and types of decoration that were being traded in this period.