Historic Southeast Asian Shipwrecks with Ancient Ceramics: Maritime Trade and Sunken Treasures

Ceramic Shipwrecks in Southeast Asia

Shipwrecks are one of the best ways to study old Southeast Asian ceramics. They're like sealed time capsules. Since we know when the ship sank, we can figure out when the pottery on board was made. This helps date both the ceramics and the ship itself. Pottery, as many archaeologists will tell you, speaks a universal language when it comes to history and trade.

The waters around Southeast Asia have always been active. Before the 9th century, local trade was already strong. Then long-distance traders started showing up too, like the ones on the Belitung ship, which sank around that time. By the early 1500s, European powers entered the scene. Portuguese ships came first, then the Spanish, and eventually the Dutch, English, Americans, and others. That brought even more shipwrecks into these waters.

As pointed out more than twenty years ago, it's hard to say exactly how many wrecks have been found across the region. Part of the issue is figuring out where Southeast Asia ends and begins. For example, there are Dutch and Portuguese wrecks off the coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean. A Portuguese ship was found near the Seychelles. There might be other sunken European ships buried deep in Galle Harbor, off Sri Lanka. Many of them were heading from Southeast Asia or China back to Europe, packed with regional goods, including ceramics.

There are also wrecks along the Manila to Acapulco trade route, and others have been discovered near China, Hong Kong, and off the western coast of Australia. Since many of these ships carried Southeast Asian pottery, they can all be considered part of the broader story of ceramics in the region.

 

The Shipwrecks

The Avondster Shipwreck in Galle, Sri Lanka

The Avondster was an East Indiaman with Anglo-Dutch roots. It sank off the coast of Galle, Sri Lanka, on July 2, 1659. The ship broke loose from its anchor and ran aground while waiting to load areca nuts for transport to the Coromandel coast. A range of objects was recovered from the site, but no ceramics stood out. A model of the wreck and some recovered artefacts are on display at the Marine Archaeological Museum in Galle, which is inside the old Dutch Fort.

The Baja California Wreck and the Manila Galleons

More than 1,600 pottery shards were found along the desert coast of Baja California in northwest Mexico. These fragments were first linked to the San Felipe, a Manila galleon that sank in the late 1570s. That connection is now in doubt, so it's just called the Baja California wreck. The finds include blue-and-white Jingdezhen porcelain, kraak ware, kinrande pieces, and a mix of Zhangzhou porcelain and stoneware.

The Bakau Wreck: Early Chinese Ceramics in Southeast Asia

The Bakau wreck is one of the oldest Chinese shipwrecks found in Southeast Asia, dated to the 15th century. It likely left southern China and stopped at a Thai port near Bakau, a small island between Sumatra and Borneo. The ship was heading toward Indonesia when it sank. Its cargo carried ceramics from China, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The Batavia Shipwreck off Western Australia

The Batavia was a Dutch East Indiaman that went down in 1629 during its first trip to the Indies. It sank off the Houtman Abrolhos islands, near Western Australia. The wreck was found in 1963 and later excavated by the Western Australian Museum in the 1970s and 1980s. The ship left from Bantam to collect the cargo of a seized Portuguese ship. At the time, it held 120 tons of pepper, sugar, and gum benzoin, but no ceramics were recovered from the site.

The story of the Batavia wreck and the fate of its survivors has been told in several popular books. These accounts have helped make it one of the most well-known maritime disasters in Dutch colonial history.

The Banda Wreck and the Dutch VOC Trade

The Banda was a Dutch VOC ship that sank overnight between March 5 and 6 in 1615. It went down in the Indian Ocean near Mauritius on its way home. The ship had departed from Bantam, a major Javanese trading port, on December 27, 1614, bound for the Netherlands. The cargo was worth around 11,370 guilders and included cloves, nutmeg, and Chinese blue-and-white porcelain, specifically kraak ware. Some of these ceramics are now held in the Guimet Museum in Paris.

The Belanakan Wreck and the Ming Trade

The Belanakan wreck was found off the Indonesian coast in 1999 by local fishermen. The site was looted soon after discovery. Based on what's known, the original cargo may have held about 40,000 ceramic pieces. About 80 percent were high-quality Sawankhalok wares, 18 percent were blue-and-white Vietnamese pieces, and 2 percent were Chinese ceramics. The wreck is believed to date back to the Ming dynasty, specifically the Jiajing period (1522 to 1566). No official documentation of the site exists.

The Belitung Shipwreck: Early Maritime Trade Between China and the Middle East

The Belitung wreck, also called Batu Hitam after the reef where it was found, was a 15.3-meter Arab dhow. It likely came from the Middle East, probably from present-day Oman. The timber from the ship has been identified as Afzelia africana, a species from that region. It was on its way back from China when it sank off Belitung island in Indonesia, about 400 nautical miles southeast of Singapore. A local sea cucumber diver discovered the wreck in 1998.

One ceramic bowl found on board was marked with the date 826 CE. A bronze mirror dates to around 759 CE. Together, these artefacts help date the ship’s last voyage. Over 60,000 items were recovered from the site, including ceramics, precious metals, and other valuable goods.

More than 50,000 of the ceramics came from Changsha kilns. The rest came from Guangdong, Chaozhou, Xing, Yue, and Gongxian kilns. There was also earthenware, bronze mirrors, gold vessels, silver boxes, flasks, coins, and bronze pieces. The wreck offers clear proof that China had direct trade with the western Indian Ocean during the late first millennium.

Professor John Miksic notes that by 851 CE, Guangzhou had a Muslim community. The Arab writer Suleiman mentioned this when he visited the city. It’s possible the Belitung ship left from that port.

Today, some of the artefacts and a model of the ship are on display at the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore.

Binh Thuan Shipwreck

The Binh Thuan shipwreck was a Chinese junk that sank around 1608. It was found in 2001 by local fishermen, about 40 nautical miles off the coast of Binh Thuan Province in southern Vietnam. The cargo was mostly ceramic, but also included a large number of cast-iron pans. One major highlight was the large load of Swatow ware, made for trade with Southeast Asia and Japan.

This wreck gave researchers the first full shipment of Zhangzhou porcelain ever recovered. There was a nearly equal mix of underglaze blue and white ware and overglaze enamel-decorated pieces. Most of the ceramics were bowls, dishes, jarlets, and lidded boxes. These items were made during the peak period of Zhangzhou kilns, which lasted from the mid-1500s to the mid-1600s.

From the 34,000 items brought up, half stayed in Vietnam’s museums. The other half went to auction in Melbourne through Christie’s in 2004. This wreck continues to be a major case study for the ceramic trade during the Ming dynasty period in Southeast Asia.

Breaker Shipwreck

The Breaker shipwreck was found in 1990 near Breaker Reef in the South China Sea. The vessel, believed to be another Chinese junk, carried a cargo mostly made up of qingbai ceramics and other green and brown wares from the Fujian region. These were common export goods during the Song and Yuan dynasties.

In 1998, a major conference on Fujian ceramics was held, hosted by the Southeast Asian Ceramic Society, the Chicago Field Museum, and the Asian Civilisations Museum. Monique Crick presented a detailed paper on both the Breaker and San Isidro wrecks during the event. Her findings helped fill gaps in the trade history of Chinese ceramics across Southeast Asia.

Brunei Shipwreck

The Brunei Junk, sometimes called the Sultan’s Shipwreck, was found by chance during a geophysical survey by Elf Petroleum in May 1997, just off Brunei’s coast. The ship likely sank around 1500 CE. Out of the 13,261 items recovered, about 90 percent were ceramics. These included a heavy load of Chinese export wares, especially blue and white porcelain, as well as pieces from Vietnam, Thailand, and Burma.

Other cargo included metals, glass, beads, and even two rare ceramic pieces from the earlier Yuan Dynasty - a small blue and white jar and a gourd-shaped ewer. Some old Chinese firearms were also on board. Today, the collection is held at the Brunei Shipwreck Museum, where it offers a clear snapshot of trade goods from the late 15th to early 16th centuries.

Ca Mau Shipwreck

The Ca Mau shipwreck was a Chinese junk believed to be traveling from Canton (modern Guangzhou) to Batavia around 1725. Vietnamese fishermen came across the site in 1998, about 90 nautical miles south of Cape Ca Mau. The ship lay 36 meters below the surface. Some of the cargo had already been looted, but local officials managed to recover 32,569 artefacts and over two tons of metal from just two fishermen.

Later digs between 1998 and 1999 brought up more than 130,000 artefacts from the 450-square-meter site. Over 33,000 of them were dated to the Yongzheng reign (1723-1735), showing the ship sank during that time. Most of the ceramics came from kilns in Jingdezhen, Dehua, and Guangzhou.

In 2007, about 76,000 items from the wreck were sold through Sotheby’s. The findings were published by Nguyen Dinh Chien, a top ceramics expert and chief curator at the Vietnam Museum of History, in a detailed study of the site.

Chau Tan Shipwreck

The Chau Tan wreck is one of the oldest known shipwrecks found off the coast of Vietnam. It was discovered in the early 2000s and likely dates to the 8th or 9th century, making it a close contemporary of the Belitung wreck. Sadly, the site was looted, and a mix of unrelated shipwreck debris was introduced, making the original context unclear.

Still, some valuable items were found, including Tang Dynasty ceramics like Changsha wares and sancai figurines. Strings of bronze copper coins with 8th to 9th century dates were also recovered. Most of the artefacts are now privately held by a collector in Binh Son District. Despite the damage, the site remains important for what it tells us about early maritime trade in the region.

Cirebon Shipwreck (Also Known as Nan-Han)

The Cirebon shipwreck, sometimes called the Nan-Han, was found in February 2003 by fishermen in the Java Sea. They reported it to an Indonesian salvage company, PT Paradigma Putera Sejahtera, which then applied for permission to survey and recover the wreck. But while the company was still searching for private investors to help fund the auction, the site was heavily looted.

The ship was built using a West Austronesian method, identified by its lashed-lug hull and dowel holes, some still holding broken dowels. The cargo was massive - almost 500,000 ceramic pieces. Most of it came from Yue and Longquan kilns in China’s Zhejiang Province. These included Tang, Five Dynasties, and early Song Dynasty stoneware. One piece even had a potter’s mark dated to the year 968.

The wreck also held Chinese coins and a range of artifacts that helped confirm the ship dated back to the 10th century. What made the find even more important was the variety of goods on board. Middle Eastern Fatimid glass, polished Javanese bronze mirrors, bronze items from India, kendi from Southeast Asia, and Islamic jewelry molds were just part of the mix. Thousands of pearls, rubies, sapphires, and coral beads were also found, most likely from Indian Ocean trade ports.

Other items included raw lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, metal ingots of tin, lead, and possibly Indian wootz iron, and a mix of aromatic materials from Arabia, India, and Sumatra. This variety showed how deep and wide Southeast Asia’s trade connections ran at the time. The ship was clearly headed for Java.

A detailed report by a member of the Southeast Asian Ceramic Society dives into the ceramics found in the Cirebon wreck. Some of the items recovered are now stored at the Musée Royale de Mariemont in Morlanwelz, Belgium.

Diana Shipwreck

The Diana was a British Indian merchant ship that belonged to Palmer & Co., a Calcutta-based agency licensed by the East India Company. She sank on March 4, 1817, in the Malacca Straits, just off Malaysia’s west coast.

Her cargo included about 24,000 pieces of Chinese porcelain, mostly blue and white export ware. Some of this was meant for markets in India, while the rest was likely going on to England. What stood out was a group of 887 ceramic statues. These may have been decorative pieces intended for British buyers, where such figures were in style at the time.

The wreck was salvaged by Dorian Ball of Malaysian Historical Salvors, working with a license from the Malaysian government. Some of the ceramics are now on display at the National Museum in Malaysia. The rest were sold at a Christie’s auction in Amsterdam in 1995, earning $3.2 million.

Desaru Shipwreck

This Chinese ship, named after the town of Desaru where she sank, went down off Malaysia’s west coast in the 1840s. Salvaged by Sten Sjøstrand, she carried a cargo of Qing Dynasty Chinese ceramics that had stayed in excellent condition, thanks to the ship’s smart design. The goods were packed in lateral wooden chambers, separated in traditional Chinese style.

The cargo was full of blue and white ceramics from Jingdezhen and Dehua, along with Yixing teapots from Jiangxi. There was also Guangdong stoneware and a surprising number of ceramic soup spoons: over 50,000. That suggests the items were made with Asian food culture in mind.

The Yixing teapots stood out because each one was marked with either a potter’s name or a supervisor’s name, offering useful clues for ceramic scholars.

Samples from the Desaru shipwreck are housed in Muzium Negara in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A dedicated website also provides more images and background on the wreck.

Esmeralda Shipwreck

The Esmeralda is one of the most famous early European wrecks. She likely belonged to the fleet of Vasco da Gama and is one of the oldest known shipwrecks from the Age of Discovery. Although the wreck was found off Oman in 1998, the full story wasn't made public until 2016.

She was ripped from her anchorage near an island during a storm and slammed against rocks. The wreck was identified partly because of stone cannonballs marked with the initials "VS", standing for Vicente Sodré, da Gama’s uncle and the ship’s captain.

The Esmeralda went down with her sister ship, the São Pedro, around 1503. A rare silver coin found on board is one of only two known to exist. It was a special issue minted under King Manuel I for trade in the Indies.

Over a thousand ceramic fragments were recovered. Just over half were Portuguese. But the rest included Asian items too: Ming Dynasty porcelain from the Hóngzhì reign (1488 to 1505) and Martaban ware.

To learn more, look into the publication A Portuguese East Indiaman by D. L. Mearns and others, which goes into detail on the 1502-1503 voyage and what was found at the wreck site.

Espadarte Shipwreck and Ming Dynasty Ceramics

The Espadarte, a Portuguese ship, went down off the coast of Mozambique in 1558. It was the first known Portuguese vessel to head home after Portugal set up a permanent trade post in Macao in 1557. That timing matters because it gave them access to a better and wider selection of Chinese ceramics. This shipwreck is considered one of the most important finds of Ming porcelain ever uncovered on the African continent.

Over 1,000 blue-and-white porcelain pieces from the Jiajing period were found, most without reign marks, but still clearly dated by style. One standout was a bowl showing a rabbit in the middle of some plants. It was marked with the year 1553, which helped confirm when the ship went down. Some of the other designs include mythical animals, birds, flowers, and symbols linked to good fortune. There were also 17 rare overglaze wares with traces of red and green enamel.

Unfortunately, the site was hit hard by treasure hunters and sport divers in the 1990s. What’s left of the wreck is kept at the Maritime Museum on Mozambique Island. In May 2024, Dr. Teresa Canepa and Beth Gardiner gave a lecture about the porcelain from this wreck for the Oriental Ceramic Society in London. Members can watch the talk on the OCS website.

Flying Fish Wreck and Song Dynasty Pottery

The Flying Fish Wreck, found near Borneo, dates back to the Northern Song period, which ran from 960 to 1127. The wreck held many types of ceramics: brown-glazed ware, qingbai, black ware, green ware, and brown ware. One Yaozhou bowl was also recovered by the research team.

The name came from a large stoneware basin with a painted design of a flying fish. That artwork is known from the Cizhao kilns in Fujian, but it had never been found on a shipwreck before. The fish gliding across the center of the dish gave the wreck its nickname.

Michael Flecker and Tai Yew Seng wrote a detailed article on the find, covering the ceramics and other items. Their write-up includes technical notes from the excavation. You can find the full piece on Academia.

Geldermalsen and the Nanking Cargo

The Geldermalsen, a Dutch ship, sank on January 3, 1752, after running aground on a reef near Bintan Island. The wreck happened on a return trip from Canton to Batavia. The ship hit an uncharted rock at low tide, floated off when the tide rose, then hit the reef again and sank. Much of the cargo, around 200,000 pieces of porcelain, stayed intact.

Michael Hatcher salvaged the wreck a year later. The cargo was packed with fine Qing porcelain from the Qianlong period. Most of it was made in Canton and shipped for Dutch buyers through the VOC. The wares were auctioned in Amsterdam by Christie’s in 1985. The sale became famous, not just for the volume of ceramics, but also for the 125 gold bars shaped like shoes that were pulled from the wreck.

Colin Sheaf, the auctioneer, later named it one of his most unforgettable sales. The event and its impact are covered in a book by Christiaan J. A. Jörg titled The Geldermalsen History and Porcelain.

Godavaya Shipwreck and the Ancient Silk Road

The Godavaya shipwreck was found off Sri Lanka, near the fishing village that gave the wreck its name. The ship lies 33 meters underwater. The harbor itself was first discovered by German archaeologists in the 1990s. They realized it was once a major port along the maritime Silk Road.

The wreck includes a mound of metal bars that fused together underwater and other scattered items like glass ingots and pottery. Strong ocean currents and possibly even tsunamis helped toss the pieces across the sea floor over the centuries.

UNESCO has called this the oldest known shipwreck in the Indian Ocean, although research is still in the early stages. In December 2022, the US Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation announced it would help pay for the site’s excavation and conservation. The funding came through a grant of just over 82,000 dollars. The ceremony was held inside the Maritime Archaeological Museum in Galle, which is located inside the old Dutch Fort.

Götheborg and Swedish Maritime Trade

The Götheborg was a Swedish East India Company ship. It sank on September 12, 1745, right near its home port of Gothenburg. It had been sailing back from Guangzhou, loaded with goods. Even though it sank just within sight of land, the wreck was serious. It took out about two-thirds of the cargo.

Later salvage efforts and an underwater survey managed to recover about a third of the ceramics. The recovery led to one of the most famous marine archaeology museums in the world. The museum still draws a lot of attention today and offers a closer look at Sweden’s historical trade ties with China.

The Griffin Shipwreck and Its Chinese Porcelain Cargo

The Griffin was an English East India Company ship that sank in the Sulu Sea near Mindañao in the southern Philippines on January 20, 1761. It was one of just five EIC ships lost in the 1700s. The Griffin was carrying Chinese goods meant for Europe. Most of the cargo was tea, but it also held 7,500 pieces of Chinese blue and white porcelain from Jingdezhen. These pieces were made for export and aimed at the European market. A pair of tea cups from this wreck, along with their story, is featured on the Denver Art Museum’s website. The shipwreck and its cargo were later studied by Frank Goddio and Evelyn Jay in their book 18th Century Relics of the Griffin Shipwreck, published in Manila in 1998.

The Hatcher Cargo and Transitional Chinese Porcelain

In 1983, a Chinese junk was salvaged in the South China Sea by Captain Michael Hatcher. Though the ship’s real name is unknown, it became known as the Hatcher Cargo. The wreck held 25,000 pieces of porcelain. The cargo included kraak kendis, pear-shaped bottles, small boxes, and a large number of fine Transitional Wares. These wares were mostly blue and white porcelain, made in Jingdezhen during a rough period in Chinese history between 1620 and 1683. This was right at the end of the Ming Dynasty, when the Jingdezhen kilns were under extreme pressure. Two pieces from the wreck carried the date 1643. That led scholars to place the sinking around 1640 to 1645, just before the kilns shut down completely around 1645 to 1650.

The Hoi An Wreck and Vietnamese Ceramics

The Hoi An wreck was found off the coast of Hoi An, Vietnam. The ship was heading south toward Indonesia when it sank. It followed the South China Sea trading routes. The wreck held about 200,000 ceramic pieces, most of which came from the Chu Dau kilns in northern Vietnam. These wares have been dated to the middle or late 1400s. After recovery, the cargo was auctioned by Butterfields in San Francisco. The rest of the cargo included some pieces from Binh Dinh kilns in central Vietnam and a few items that may have been Guangdong blue and white ware.

Huaguangjiao One and Looted Southern Song Porcelain

The Huaguangjiao One, found near Huaguang Reef in the South China Sea, was discovered in 1996. It sat just three meters below the surface, near the Paracel Islands. By the time it was officially excavated in 2007, much of the wreck had already been looted, sometimes using explosives. The vessel was a 20-meter Chinese merchant ship from the Southern Song Dynasty, which lasted from 1127 to 1279. Still, over 10,000 artifacts were recovered by Chinese institutions. These included Jingdezhen blue and white pieces, celadons, and a group of soft-toned blue porcelains. Items from the wreck are now housed at the South China Sea Museum in Boao Town on Hainan Island.

The Intan Wreck and a 10th Century Trade Route

The Intan wreck is one of the oldest shipwrecks ever found in Southeast Asia. Indonesian fishermen came across it in 1997, about 40 nautical miles off Sumatra, in the Bangka Strait. The wreck was discovered after fishermen noticed birds diving for fish near the site. The ship was named after the nearby Intan Oil Field. Marine archaeologist Michael Flecker led the excavation, and carbon dating confirmed the ship sank in the 10th century.

The cargo was diverse. There were 8,000 ceramic pieces, about half of them small brown-ware pots from Guangdong and Fujian. The rest included white-glazed jarlets, green-glazed bowls, covered boxes, Thai fine paste bottles and kendis, Javanese-style gold jewelry, glass from the Middle East, organic remains, and a range of metal goods. There were dozens of Chinese coins minted around 918 CE. Flecker noted that the Chinese goods were likely transferred at a port in Sumatra, probably near Palembang, which was the heart of the Srivijaya empire at the time. Ceramics from the Intan wreck are now kept at the Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics in Jakarta. Flecker later published a full report on the site in The Archaeological Excavation of the 10th Century Intan Shipwreck, released in 2002.

Jade Dragon Shipwreck

The Jade Dragon wreck was a Southeast Asian trade ship that sank off the northern coast of Borneo. It was carrying Chinese longquan celadon ceramics from the 13th century. This is the only recorded shipwreck where the entire cargo was made up of longquan celadon pottery. Fishermen divers found the site in 2010, but by the time marine archaeologists got involved, the wreck was already stripped clean. Looters had taken most of the complete ceramics. Even parts of the wooden hull that had stayed intact were torn apart and scattered.

Marine archaeologist Michael Flecker was part of the licensed excavation team, but they arrived too late to recover anything meaningful. His full account of what happened is available in his article on the Jade Dragon shipwreck. He also discusses it in a piece about looting in Southeast Asian shipwrecks. Both articles offer more detail on how much was lost and what the wreck could have revealed.

Java Sea Shipwreck

The Java Sea wreck was a Southeast Asian ship built using Austronesian lashed-lug techniques. It was found near Sumatra in the Java Sea. Local divers looted it heavily before it was commercially salvaged in 1996 by Pacific Sea Resources. The ship was loaded with Chinese iron and about 30 tons of ceramics. These included fine qingbai porcelain in blue and white, kendis from Thailand, and luxury items like elephant tusks and resin.

At first, radiocarbon testing placed the ship in the mid to late 13th century. But later analysis suggested it could date as far back as 1162 CE. After recovery, Pacific Sea Resources gave a portion of the artefacts to the Field Museum in Chicago for research. The Indonesian government sold off their share. Michael Flecker published a detailed study of the ship and its cargo. The wreck shows how much international trade was already in place between China and Southeast Asia at that time.

Karawang Shipwreck

In 2007, fishermen in the Java Sea pulled up a small jarlet caught in their net. They passed word along to friends onshore, which eventually led to the Indonesian salvage firm PT Nautik Recovery Asia getting involved. Divers found the wreck 55 meters underwater, covered in mud and sand. Based on the location and the cargo, the ship was probably headed to Java. Early coins and pottery date the wreck to the 10th century CE.

The site had a wide range of trade ceramics, along with metal ingots and tools. Some of the metal finds included tripod feet, which hadn’t been seen before. There were also perfume bottles, carved mirrors from China, cut crystal beads, and objects made from ivory and horn. These items go beyond trade. They offer rare clues about what people in 10th-century Java were using and valuing in daily life. This wreck adds a lot to our understanding of the region’s early economy and culture.

Ko Khram Shipwreck

The Ko Khram wreck was a 15th-century ship found in the Gulf of Thailand. It sank about 12 nautical miles southwest of Koh Khram. This was a hybrid South China Sea vessel carrying around 5,000 ceramic items. The cargo came from many different places. It included monochrome wares from southern China, blue and white ceramics from northern Vietnam, and green-glazed saucers from the old Champa region. It also had Thai pottery from three production sites, with most of the pieces coming from Thailand.

There were celadon bowls from Sawankhalok, black underglaze plates from Sukhothai with fish motifs, and storage jars from Singburi. What stood out most was the complete absence of Chinese blue and white porcelain. That absence supports the theory of a break in Chinese ceramic exports to Southeast Asia during part of the 15th century. Roxanna M. Brown called this the “Ming Gap.” Her findings show that during that time, regional producers stepped in to fill the demand. Some of the recovered Ko Khram ceramics are now on display at the Maritime Museum in Chanthaburi.

Ko Si Chang III Shipwreck: 15th Century Southeast Asian Maritime Trade

The Ko Si Chang III ship went down in the South China Sea sometime between 1460 and 1487. It was excavated in 1986 by the Thai-Australian Underwater Archaeological Research Project. Around 300 intact ceramics were recovered. The haul included 7 Vietnamese blue and white pieces, 5 Chinese blue and white wares, 1 brown-glazed cup from Champa, and 1 Sukhothai bowl. Notably, no Sawankhalok pottery was found.

The wreck also held 29 unglazed kendi, 83 earthenware pots, 142 earthenware lids, 18 Singburi storage jars, and 25 assorted items. The current location of these ceramics is unknown, and they haven’t been seen in any public collections or museum displays since.

Lena Shoal Shipwreck: Late 15th Century Chinese Trade Vessel

The Lena Shoal wreck sank off Busuanga Island, near Palawan in the Philippines, around 1490. It was likely a Chinese junk or South China Sea trading vessel. Its cargo came mostly from China, with a few pieces from Thailand and Vietnam. The ship was on a route that may have included stops at Hormuz and Aden, or it may have traded goods locally with Muslim sultanates in places like the Moluccas, Borneo, and the southern Philippines.

Local fishermen first found the wreck in 1996. Much of the cargo was looted and ended up on the black market. What remained was later salvaged in 1997 by Frank Goddio and the National Museum of the Philippines. The ceramics included blue and white Chinese porcelain, qinghua wares from the Hóngzhì era (1488 to 1505), celadon-glazed and green-glazed longquan stoneware, and fahua porcelain. Other finds included Thai Sawankhalok stoneware, Burmese jars, lacquerware, bronze gongs, copper vessels, glass beads, and even early Chinese firearms.

Lingga Shipwreck: Early 12th Century Southeast Asian Ship

The Lingga wreck, named after nearby Lingga Island, sank in the early 1100s. It was a Southeast Asian-built ship using lashed-lug construction, a regional design method. It carried cargo from China, mainly ceramics and iron, most likely from Guangdong. Researchers dated the wreck to the final years of the Northern Song dynasty, between 960 and 1127.

Recent studies also narrowed down both the ship’s port of departure and its destination. This kind of detail helps build a clearer picture of early regional trade. Photos and full documentation are available in a detailed report by Michael Flecker, which also covers similar wrecks like Pulau Buaya and the Flying Fish, discussed in a 2019 talk to SEACS members.

Longquan Shipwreck: A Massive Ming-Era Trading Vessel

The Longquan wreck, one of the largest wooden ships ever found in the South China Sea, was more than 30 meters long. It went down off the west coast of Malaysia and was discovered in 63 meters of water in 1996. Based on the cargo, it likely sank around 1400, possibly even in the 1380s. It was built in a South China Sea style tied to Chinese business networks operating overseas.

The vessel was fully loaded. About 40 percent of the ceramics were Chinese, including white-glazed porcelain from southern China and longquan celadon. No Chinese blue and white porcelain was on board, which helped scholars narrow down the period when China first began exporting those wares.

Thai ceramics made up another 40 percent of the cargo. About half of those were Si Satchanalai celadon, and the rest were classic Sukhothai pieces with single fish or floral designs painted in iron oxide. A few Suphanburi storage jars were also found. No Vietnamese items were recovered from this wreck.

Mauritius Shipwreck: VOC Vessel Off West Africa

The Mauritius, a Dutch VOC ship, sank off Cape Lopez near Gabon in 1609. A French salvage team recovered the wreck in 1985. Among the finds were over 200 ceramic pieces, mostly Chinese kraak blue and white porcelain. About 165 pieces were from that style. Some may have come from the San Antonio, a Portuguese ship captured by the Dutch in 1605. Others might have been private purchases or special orders.

Alongside the kraak shards were 7 pieces of Zhangzhou ware and a few Chinese-style stem cups. These finds reflect how Asian ceramics traveled far beyond Asia, even to the Atlantic coast of Africa.

Nan’ao No. 1 Shipwreck: Late Ming Dynasty Trade Ship

The Nan’ao No. 1 wreck was found in 2007 near Nan’ao Island, off Guangdong’s coast in China. The ship was 27 meters long, with a hull divided into separate compartments. It held about 20,000 ceramic pieces, plus bulk cargo like copper, iron, and other trade items.

This merchant ship dates back to the late Ming dynasty, during the Wànlì era from 1583 to 1619. Most of the ceramics were blue and white porcelain, many decorated with dragons. These were likely headed to Macau or Batavia, from where they’d be shipped further into Southeast Asia or even to Europe.

Tests on the ceramics showed they came from two major kiln areas: Jingdezhen and Zhangzhou. The discovery was considered one of the top ten archaeological finds in China in 2010, and it offers a clear snapshot of maritime trade in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

Nanhai I Shipwreck and Song Dynasty Ceramics

The Nanhai I was a Chinese trade ship that went down in the South China Sea during the Southern Song Dynasty, between 1127 and 1279 CE. It was first discovered in 1987 during a joint effort between China and a UK company while working on the Rimsberg wreck from the Dutch East India Company. In 2007, the team surrounded the entire wreck and the surrounding seabed in a large steel cage. They moved the whole thing to a museum built specifically for it in Yangjiang.

Over 21,000 complete artifacts and about 2,600 broken pieces have been uncovered. Most are ceramic, but the haul also included hundreds of gold and silver items. Among the pottery are bluish-white qingbai porcelain from Jingdezhen, green-glazed ceramics from Longquan, and multi-colored glazed wares from Fujian kilns like Dehua and Cizhao. This wreck helped push forward marine archaeology in China and offered a clear look at trade goods during the Song era.

Nanyang Shipwreck and Thai Celadon Ceramics

The Nanyang was a blended vessel built with Southeast Asian hardwood and techniques alongside Chinese methods. Discovered in October 1995 near Tioman Island off Peninsular Malaysia, it carried mostly Thai ceramics. The cargo included between 10,000 and 15,000 celadon pieces from the Sawankhalok or Si Satchanalai kilns, along with 20 Sukhothai plates and several large Suphanburi storage jars. These are similar to ones later found in the Longquan wreck. No Chinese blue-and-white porcelain was on board.

This wreck is especially important because it helps date when Si Satchanalai kilns were producing celadon plates. It’s the oldest wreck found with that type of cargo. Together, the Nanyang, Longquan, and Royal Nanhai wrecks confirm that celadon production at Thai kilns was active by the early 1400s.

Nassau Shipwreck and Dutch-Portuguese Conflict

The Nassau was a Dutch ship from the Dutch East India Company that sank in 1606 off the coast near Port Dickson, Malaysia. It wasn’t carrying trade goods. It went down after a naval battle with the Portuguese during a failed attempt by the Dutch to capture Malacca. Though the Dutch didn’t succeed then, they eventually took the city from the Portuguese in 1641. While not a commercial wreck, it holds historical weight because of its role in colonial battles for control of key trade ports in Southeast Asia.

Nossa Señora da Luz and Portuguese Ocean Trade

The Nossa Señora da Luz, or “Our Lady of the Light,” was a Portuguese carrack. It sank on November 7, 1615, off Faial Island in the Azores while sailing back from Goa. The ship was loaded with goods like textiles and spices. It's not to be confused with another Portuguese vessel, the Nuestra Señora de la Luz, which sank in 1752 near Montevideo, Uruguay. These ships were part of the long route connecting Portuguese colonies in Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

Nuestra Señora de la Concepción and the Manila Galleon Trade

The Nuestra Señora de la Concepción was a Spanish galleon that wrecked off southern Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands on September 20, 1638. At 150 feet long and weighing 1,200 tons, it was one of the largest ships of its time. It was part of the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade and left Manila that August, carrying 400 passengers and a full load of Asian goods.

A salvage team recovered the wreck in 1987. They found valuable items, including gold and a mix of jars, and around 10 kilograms of broken blue-and-white porcelain. About half of those shards were Kraak ware, with no Transitional-style ceramics found. William Mathers led the salvage and wrote about it in National Geographic in 1990. The ship is also famous for being captured by Sir Francis Drake in 1579.

Ceramic expert Maura Rinaldi later studied the Kraak shards in detail. Her work appeared in publications by Pacific Sea Resources. There are also short writeups of her public talks about the cargo contents.

Nuestra Señora de la Limpia y Pura Concepción and Forgotten Spanish Treasure

This Spanish ship sank in 1641 on its way back from Veracruz to Spain. Some of the treasure was recovered in 1687, but the location was kept secret and eventually lost. In 1978, a treasure hunter found the site again. Only a few low-quality Kraak porcelain pieces were found, and they now sit in the Museo Casas Reales in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. While the ceramics were limited, the ship remains part of the story of early transatlantic trade and its impact on ceramic movement.

Nuestra Señora de la Vida: Manila Galleon Wreck near Mindoro

In 1620, the Nuestra Señora de la Vida, a Manila galleon headed out of the Philippines, sank after crashing into a reef near Isla Verde, just off Mindoro Island. The wreck was excavated in December 1985. What researchers found scattered over a wide area were hundreds of fragments of Chinese blue and white porcelain. Only thirty pieces were recovered intact. This wreck matters because it marked the first time that archaeologists found the keel and original fittings from a Spanish galleon. That gave them new insights into how these ships were built and what they carried.

Nossa Senhora dos Mártires: The Pepper Wreck from Lisbon

The Nossa Senhora dos Mártires, also called the Pepper Wreck, was a Portuguese Indiaman that sank in 1606 near Lisbon at the mouth of the Tagus River. The ship was returning from a nine-month voyage from Cochin when a storm took it down. Between 1996 and 2001, the wreck was excavated. Among the items found were pewter plates, green and yellow glazed Chinese earthenware, Martaban jars, lead shot, cannonballs, and a stack of seven porcelain dishes with straw still packed between them. One of the most valuable finds was a shard of blue and white porcelain showing a pomegranate. Kraak expert Maura Rinaldi used that single piece to help date a style of kraak porcelain called Border III to between 1590 and 1610. That’s how important even one shard can be in pinning down a timeline.

Pandanan: Chinese Junk off Southern Palawan

The Pandanan was a Chinese junk that sank near Pandanan Island, close to the southern tip of Palawan in the Philippines. A pearl diver looking for a lost basket found it in 1993. The ship dated to somewhere between 1460 and 1500. Experts estimate it once carried around 20,000 ceramic items, but only 4,722 artifacts were recovered. That included metal goods, beads, and a wide mix of ceramics. About 30 to 60 of them were Chinese, and around 80 were Vietnamese blue and white. Most of the ceramics, roughly 75 percent, were from Champa in central Vietnam. There was even one piece of Burmese celadon. Four antique pieces from the Yuan Dynasty were also on board, likely collected and traded long after they were made. Some of the blue and white ceramics showed what might have been Islamic motifs. Early Chinese firearms were also found, adding to the historical value. The find gave a rare look at trade and design links in the 15th century.

Pontian: Oldest Known Southeast Asian Shipwreck

The Pontian is the oldest shipwreck ever found in Southeast Asia. It was discovered in a riverbank eroding along the Pontian River in Malaysia. Radiocarbon dating placed the wreck between the 3rd and 5th centuries CE. Only a few ceramics were found, but they matched pottery seen at Oc Eo in southern Vietnam, a trading site from the 1st to 6th centuries. That connection helps trace early maritime trade networks between Malaysia and Vietnam, centuries before larger ships from China or Europe entered the scene.

Prasae Rayong: Gulf of Thailand Wreck with Southeast Asian Ceramics

The Prasae Rayong was found in the Gulf of Thailand and visited by a Thai-Danish team in 1997. Not much has been published about it. It likely dates to between 1470 and 1487. The cargo once held around 4,000 to 5,000 ceramic pieces, mainly from Sawankhalok and Vietnam. Only nine ceramics believed to be from this wreck have surfaced in private collections. No Chinese blue and white porcelain has been confirmed from the site so far. While the details are limited, it still stands as one of the few known wrecks showing regional trade in Southeast Asian wares before Chinese blue and white flooded the market.

Pulau Buaya: Large Ceramic Haul from Indonesian Waters

The Pulau Buaya wreck was discovered by fishermen off the coast of Pulau Buaya in Indonesia’s Riau Archipelago. The ship likely sank in the 11th or 12th century. It carried more than 32,000 pieces of Chinese stoneware, mainly celadons and qingbai, along with some Southeast Asian earthenware and metal items. Most of the ceramics came from Guangdong and southern Fujian kilns. A few qingbai-style bowls may have come from Jingdezhen. Since no longquan celadon was found, the ship was probably from the start of the Southern Song period. Also recovered were kendis made from fine clay and rough pots that were likely used by the crew. The wreck highlights China’s strong export trade during the Song era and its influence on regional ceramic production.

Quanzhou Shipwreck and Southeast Asian Trade

The Quanzhou shipwreck, found in the mudflats off the coast of Fujian Province near Quanzhou, dates back to the 13th century. It was built in southern China and didn’t carry any ceramics. Instead, the cargo was mostly organic materials from Southeast Asia. Items like incense, pepper, frankincense, ambergris, and mercury were found on board. Even though there were no pottery pieces, this find helps us understand what kinds of goods were being traded between China and Southeast Asia at the time. It shows there was strong demand for natural products in Chinese markets, and that ceramics weren’t always a priority in every trade route during that period.

Rang Kwien: The Coin Wreck

The Rang Kwien shipwreck was discovered in the Gulf of Thailand. It was built in China and is known today as the "coin wreck" because over 200 kilograms of coins were recovered from it. The coins date from the 14th century all the way through the early Ming period, during the reign of the Hongwu Emperor from 1368 to 1398. But the ship itself likely sank around 1500. A total of 264 ceramic items were found. Around half were Thai earthenware. Another 28 percent were Vietnamese transitional ceramics. About 10 percent came from China, mostly storage jars. Other finds included ten Suphanburi storage jars, nine vessels from Sawankhalok, and one plate from San Kamphaeng in northern Thailand. This mix tells us a lot about trade routes and ceramic distribution across the region.

Royal Nanhai: A Deep Water Time Capsule

The Royal Nanhai was discovered in 1995 near Kuantan, Malaysia by Sten Sjøstrand. The shipwreck was in deep water, which helped keep its cargo almost fully intact. The ship itself was a mix of Southeast Asian and Chinese construction, and it likely sailed from Ayutthaya heading to either Sumatra or Java. Over 21,000 pieces of celadon from Si Satchanalai and Sawankhalok were recovered. There were no ceramics from Sukhothai. This helped confirm that Sawankhalok celadon dates to the 15th century and not later. Tucked away next to the keel, a hidden compartment held some high-value items. These included one Chinese celadon bowl, two Vietnamese blue and white covered boxes, and five Chinese blue and white bowls that match styles dated to the Interregnum period between 1436 and 1464. One dish had a rare moon hare design, believed to have been used as early as the 14th century. Carbon testing on the wood gave a date range between 1320 and 1460. This wreck is one of the most informative finds for dating Southeast Asian ceramics.

Risdam: Dutch Ship in Malaysian Waters

The Risdam was a Dutch East India Company ship that sank in 1727 near Mersing, Malaysia. It had sprung a leak and was eventually abandoned. It was found in 1984, but only a few items remained: two storage jars, one tin ingot, and two elephant tusks. Later on, authorities recovered additional artifacts from illegal divers. These included 90 more tusks and 100 tin ingots. The storage jars on board were key in dating the output of the Thai Maenam Noi kilns in central Thailand, which were active from the 15th to early 18th centuries. Even though the ship was mostly empty, what was found helped archaeologists date other regional finds more accurately.

San Diego: A Spanish Galleon Turned Warship

The San Diego was a Spanish galleon that once sailed the Manila to Acapulco route. It was in port, waiting for its next voyage to New Spain, when a Dutch fleet approached Manila in 1600. The ship was hastily converted into a warship and loaded with 14 cannons. But the captain, Lieutenant General Antonio de Morga, was inexperienced, and the ship became too heavy. It sank on December 14, 1600, near Fortune Island in Batangas after a battle with the Dutch flagship Mauritius, during the Wanli reign. More than 350 people died, including about 60 members of the Spanish aristocracy living in Manila.

The wreck was found and salvaged by Franck Goddio in 1992 and 1993. It was the earliest known European shipwreck found in Southeast Asia at the time. Over 35,000 objects were recovered, including more than 800 stoneware jars, some of which came from Burma. There were also over 5,000 Chinese blue and white ceramics. Among the most surprising finds were two enamelled ceramics from Zhangzhou, a bowl and an oblong box, which have led experts to believe that Zhangzhou ceramic production may not have started until the late 16th century. Another surprising discovery was a group of Japanese sword guards, suggesting that part of the crew may have been Japanese. The story of the wreck and the artifacts recovered was published in Treasures of the San Diego by the National Museum of the Philippines in 1996.

San Isidro Shipwreck and Its Early 16th-Century Porcelain

In 1995, a wreck was found near the village of San Isidro on Luzon's west coast, just north of Manila. The ship was a Chinese junk. Most of its cargo was blue and white porcelain from the early 1500s. These were everyday items: bowls, dishes, saucers, and storage jars made from stoneware.

In April 1998, the Southeast Asian Ceramic Society, along with the Chicago Field Museum and the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore, held a conference focused on Fujian ceramics and their trade across Southeast Asia. At that event, Monique Crick gave a talk about both the Breaker Junk and the San Isidro wreck. Her research gives more insight into the ceramics and trade routes of that time.

San José Galleon and Qing Dynasty Porcelain

The San José wasn’t lost in Southeast Asian waters, but it's still relevant. It carried Qing Dynasty porcelain, which makes it part of the ceramic trade story. This Spanish galleon, part of the Armada de la Guardia de la Carrera de las Indias, was a heavily armed ship. It was on its way to Colombia when the British attacked and sank it on June 8, 1708.

Its cargo was massive: 200 tons of emeralds, gold coins, silver, and Chinese ceramics. That makes it one of the most valuable shipwrecks ever discovered. In 2015, the wreck was located. Today, Colombia, Spain, and Bolivia all claim ownership. The Colombian government has called it the “holy grail of shipwrecks.” Legal battles over who owns what are still ongoing.

Santa Antonio de Tanna and Ceramics from East Africa

The Santa Antonio de Tanna wasn’t a trade ship. It was a Portuguese warship built in India. It sank in 1698 near Fort Jesus in Mombasa, Kenya. This wreck was the first one in East Africa to be studied in detail by archaeologists. Discovered in 1963, it revealed over 15,000 items.

Some of the ceramics were in good shape. These included a Qing Dynasty porcelain bowl, a tall black-glazed Kalong jar from Northern Thailand, and a broken Portuguese plate with a Maltese Cross design. These finds show the wide range of goods moving between Asia and Africa during the late 1600s.

Santa Cruz Wreck and Its 15th-Century Cargo

The Santa Cruz shipwreck was found off the coast of Santa Cruz in northwest Zambales, North Luzon, in the Philippines. The ship was built in the South China Sea style. Evidence suggests it may have been made in Thailand, which lines up with both its construction style and the cargo it carried.

Archaeologists recovered nearly 15,000 artifacts. Most of these were glazed stoneware and porcelain. About 86 percent came from China, 9 percent from Thailand, with smaller amounts from Vietnam, Burma, and a few other places. Other recovered items included iron cooking pots, bronze weapons, tin, earthenware, beads, gongs, and tools made from wood and stone.

One standout piece is a crescent-shaped kendi that now sits in the National Museum of the Philippines. This wreck gives us a clear view into the flow of Asian ceramics and other goods during the 15th-century maritime trade. It also tells us a lot about regional shipping technology and trade networks of that period.

Santa Margarita and the Dangers of Early Manila Galleons

The Santa Margarita was a Manila caravel that sank in 1522 near Rota Island, part of the Northern Mariana Islands. The ship was carrying too much and ended up in trouble. After surviving harsh conditions at sea, 300 crew members were captured and killed by the local Chamorro people.

Until the year 2000, only broken pieces had been found from the wreck. But then, a full piece was recovered: a Ming Dynasty blue and white porcelain bowl. It was decorated with a deer in the center and had a scalloped rim with eight panels, a common kraak ware design meant for export.

The story of this ship is brutal, but it adds to what we know about early colonial shipwrecks and trade routes across the Pacific. It also connects to a longer list of Spanish-era wrecks found in the Northern Marianas between 1552 and 1905.

Santo Alberto Shipwreck and Chinese Kendis

The Santo Alberto, a Portuguese nau, went down off Sunrise-on-Sea in South Africa in 1593. At the wreck site, researchers found broken pieces of kraak porcelain and frog-shaped kendis. These frog kendis, along with others shaped like cows, elephants, squirrels, and lobsters, came from private kilns in Jingdezhen. They were made during the Wanli period, between 1573 and 1620, and were meant for export. These animal-shaped vessels were part of a larger trend in ceramic production from that time.

Sāo Bento and Early Ming Porcelain

The Sāo Bento was built in Lisbon in 1551 and lost near the Msikaba River in South Africa in April 1554. It had sailed from Cochin, carrying pepper and other goods typical of the India Route. The wreck’s exact location wasn’t known until 1968, when waves started washing porcelain shards onto Msikaba beach. Experts like John Ayers from the V&A dated the ceramics to around 1530 to 1560. Most pieces were simple bowls and dishes, many marked with the name of Emperor Xuande. Still, the designs didn’t match the actual Xuande period and seemed more recent. One shard bore the mark of Jiajing, placing it no earlier than 1522. Other coarse ceramic finds showed a qilin at the center, a mythical creature popular in Chinese art.

Sāo Gonçalo and Kraak Ware

The Sāo Gonçalo sank in 1630 while anchored near Plettenberg Bay at the Cape of Good Hope. It was a smaller Portuguese nau on its way back to Europe. Around 1000 pieces of blue-and-white kraak porcelain were found near the shoreline. These shards likely came from the ship’s cargo, showing just how much Chinese export ware was being shipped out of Asia at the time.

Sāo Joāo and Jiajing-Era Porcelain

The Sāo Joāo was built in Lisbon in 1550 and sank off Port Edward, South Africa, in 1552. The ship left Cochin in February of that year, heavily loaded with pepper, wood, spices, drugs, Chinese porcelain, 200 Portuguese passengers, and 300 enslaved people. Only eight Portuguese and 17 slaves survived, rescued by a passing ivory merchant. While the wreck itself hasn’t been found, beaches near Port Edward and Msikaba have yielded shards traced back to both the Sāo Joāo and the Sāo Bento. Some porcelain pieces showed the Taoist trigram, a popular symbol during Jiajing’s rule from 1522 to 1566. One of the most valuable finds included inscriptions inside a coin image that read "long life" and "riches and honor." Another had the character for "Fu," which means blessing or good fortune. Two key shards had Jiajing’s name, dating the wreck to between 1522 and 1566. Other pieces included a four-lug jar, possibly Swatow ware, landscape scenes, and Arabic calligraphy on porcelain.

Sāo Jorge and Southeast Asian Ceramics

In 2008, a wreck was discovered off Ras Ngomeni, Kenya. It may be the missing Sāo Jorge, a Portuguese ship lost in 1524. From 2010 to 2013, Chinese and Kenyan archaeologists explored the site. Among the artifacts were Persian goods and Southeast Asian ceramics. These included a celadon plate from Thailand, likely Sawankhalok ware, and a jar from Burma. This mix of cargo shows how widespread trade connections were in the early 1500s, linking Africa, the Middle East, and Asia through the Portuguese routes.

The Shah Muncher Shipwreck

The Shah Muncher went down near Pedra Branca, about 300 meters off Singapore’s coast. It was excavated between 2019 and mid-2021. Records confirm it was an Indian-built merchant ship on its return from China when it sank on January 8, 1796. That trip was also its heaviest cargo load ever.

Archaeologists identified it using the ship's location, old documents, and the items found on board. The wreck held a wide range of cargo: Chinese ceramics, zinc ingots, four Admiralty anchors made before 1813, and 24 iron cannons. A detailed early report written by Dr. Flecker breaks down the vessel’s history and contents. It’s available through the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore.

The Sinan Shipwreck

The Sinan wreck was found off Korea’s coast in 1976. The ship had gone under around the year 1325. It was a Chinese merchant vessel, most likely built near Fuzhou, that left Ningbo in Zhejiang Province heading for Hakata in Japan. It never reached its destination.

The cargo shows how Korea, China, and Japan traded during the Yuan Dynasty. Over 180,000 pieces of Chinese ceramics were found. Most of the haul was Longquan greenware, Yingqing, Shufu, and white porcelain from Jingdezhen. It also included black-glazed ware from Jizhou, 79 Jun ware items, Jian bowls, and Cizhou black-glazed pieces. Only three ceramic pieces were Korean. The ship also carried a huge number of Chinese coins, the newest dated to 1310 or 1311.

Interestingly, the Sinan ship carried no Chinese blue-and-white porcelain, which helps date the start of Jingdezhen’s blue-and-white exports to after 1323. The full collection is on permanent display at the National Museum of Korea in Seoul.

The Singtai Shipwreck

The Singtai was found in April 2001, about 12 nautical miles from Pulau Redang off Malaysia’s northeast coast. The ship used wooden dowels, which links it to the South China Sea shipbuilding style.

The main cargo was large storage jars from the Maenam Noi kilns in Singburi, Thailand. There were also a few Si Satchanalai covered boxes with underglaze designs, and some Sukhothai underglaze bowls. No fish plates were found. Based on the materials, the ship likely dates to around 1550. This suggests Sukhothai kilns might have still been active well into the 16th century.

The Tanjung Simpang Shipwreck

This wreck was discovered off Sabah’s coast and contained ceramics from China’s Northern Song period, making it one of Malaysia’s oldest known shipwrecks. But heavy looting damaged the site badly. Marine archaeologist Sten Sjøstrand reported that most of the ceramic cargo was stolen.

Only 303 ceramic items were left, along with 250 kilograms of broken pieces.

The Tek Sing Shipwreck

The Tek Sing, or True Star, was a massive Chinese junk with three masts. It left Amoy on January 14, 1822, headed for Batavia. But on February 5, it sank on the Belvidere Shoals. It was carrying silk, porcelain, and over 1,600 Chinese immigrants looking for work on Java’s sugar plantations. Only 190 survived, earning the wreck its nickname: the Titanic of the East.

Salvager Michael Hatcher found the wreck in 1999. The cargo held roughly 350,000 items, including porcelain from the 15th to 19th centuries, cannons, watches, mortar and pestles, and storage jars covered in coral. It became one of the largest ceramic hauls ever recovered from a shipwreck. The collection was sold at auction in Stuttgart, Germany, by Nagel Auctions in 2000.

Temasek Shipwreck

First called "Shipwreck 1" when it was found near Singapore, this wreck was later renamed Temasek. That’s the old name for Singapore, used around the 14th century. The excavation was led by marine archaeologist Dr. Michael Flecker. The wreck held a huge load of Longquan greenware and other ceramics. But the most important find was the massive amount of Yuan dynasty blue and white porcelain. In fact, this shipwreck has more of it than any other known wreck.

Some of the blue and white pieces show a rare pattern called mǎnchíjiāo. That design links to Emperor Wenzong, who ruled from 1328 to 1332. Because of this, experts believe the ship sank sometime after 1330, likely between 1330 and 1340. You can view a small group of these ceramics at the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore.

The dating of the Temasek wreck matters a lot. When compared to the Sinan wreck, which sank in 1325 and had no blue and white porcelain on board, it helps researchers pinpoint when Chinese blue and white started appearing in trade. This could close a long-standing gap in the timeline of early Chinese ceramic exports.

Turiang Shipwreck

The Turiang was a Chinese ship, most likely sailing south from Thailand toward Borneo or Sulawesi when it sank in the early 1300s. It was found in May 1998 and later excavated by Sten Sjøstrand. He estimated that about 30 percent of the cargo had already been lost, probably because of heavy fishing in the area.

The ship carried about 1,200 ceramic pieces. Around 35 percent were Chinese, mostly celadon and large storage jars from southern China. About 8 percent came from Vietnam, and the rest, about 57 percent, came from Thailand. Notably, there was no blue and white porcelain at all. That detail helps confirm the early date, since blue and white ceramics didn’t begin appearing in exports until around 1328.

The Turiang is one of the oldest shipwrecks ever found with Thai export ceramics. These include the well-known ring-handled jars from Sukhothai, stacks of Sukhothai fish plates, and pieces from Si Satchanalai. The ship also showed that black underglaze ware was being made in both Sukhothai and Vietnam at the same time. This style was popular before Chinese blue and white took over the market.

Some of these ceramics are now in the National Museum in Kuala Lumpur and the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena.

Vung Tau Shipwreck

The Vung Tau ship was a lorcha, a type of Chinese-Portuguese hybrid vessel. It combined Chinese and European shipbuilding styles. It went down around 1690, during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, about 100 miles off southern Vietnam near the town of Vung Tau. It was likely headed to Batavia when it caught fire and sank.

The cargo included Chinese export porcelain made for Europe, especially blue and white pieces from Jingdezhen kilns. Most of these were made between 1662 and 1722. There were 28 different base marks in underglaze blue. Along with that, the ship also carried white wares meant for resale in Holland and the Islamic world, and more basic regional wares meant for buyers across Southeast Asia.

The Vietnamese government later recovered the cargo and sold most of it in a large auction in 1991. The scale of the sale was unlike anything before it. More information on this wreck and the porcelain found on board is available in the book Porcelain from the Vung Tau Wreck by Christiaan J. A. Jörg and Michael Flecker.

Wanjiao One Shipwreck

The Wanjiao One, also known as the Bowl Reef shipwreck, was named by local fishermen who kept pulling up bowls in their nets. It was a Chinese trading vessel, probably working along the coast. It sank off the coast of Pingtan County in Fujian Province, China. The ship was discovered in June 2005, and it’s the first shipwreck ever found in that area.

Inside, there were about 17,000 ceramic items. Most were everyday goods like cups, bowls, and vases. But the real standout was the 10,000 pieces of blue and white porcelain from the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, which ran from 1654 to 1722. These finds show how wide the market was for Chinese blue and white during that time, and how much porcelain was moving along China’s southern trade routes.

Wànlì Shipwreck

This Portuguese shipwreck lies off the east coast of Malaysia. Marine archaeologist Sten Sjøstrand spent six years tracking it down. Once it was confirmed to be carrying porcelain from Jingdezhen made during the Ming dynasty under Emperor Wànlì (1573 to 1619), the wreck was named accordingly. The ship is believed to have been a small trading vessel owned by private Portuguese merchants.

Based on the style of the ceramics, the ship likely sank around 1625. But a saucer dish with an inscription dated to the 7th year of the Tianqi reign, 1627, suggests it may have gone down closer to 1630 or 1635. The damage points to a possible naval battle, maybe with a Dutch ship. The entire stern was blown off. Over 9,000 kilograms of broken ceramics were found scattered in the wreckage, which suggests an explosion from the ammunition hold might have caused the ship to sink.

The full story is told in The Wànlì Shipwreck and its Ceramic Cargo by Sjøstrand and Sharipah Lok Lok. Among the discoveries were some unusual pieces. Chen Huasha, a research director at the Palace Museum, said it was the first time a Chitan figure had been seen on Chinese blue and white porcelain. Another item shows a woman in Han-style dress, possibly meant to represent Wang Zhaojun, one of China’s legendary Four Beauties.

Other ceramics blended Chinese history with European design. Some featured flowers and plants found along the Mediterranean coast. There were also seventy tall, bell-shaped blue and white cups with river scenes, likely made for drinking chocolate. These finds suggest that by the 1620s and 1630s, Portuguese traders were exporting more affordable goods (originally made for Chinese buyers) back to Portugal.

Witte Leeuw Shipwreck

The Witte Leeuw was a Dutch VOC ship. It sank in June 1613 after a battle near the island of St. Helena in the southern Atlantic while returning from Bantam in West Java to the Netherlands. Though it went down far from Asia, it's included here because of the ceramics it carried and its historical importance.

The ship was salvaged in 1978. Divers recovered about 200 to 399 kilograms of porcelain shards. Most of it was blue and white kraak ware made during the reign of Emperor Wànlì. Only 290 pieces were found intact. Some storage jars were also recovered, similar to those found on the wreck of the Concepción. These finds were acquired by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, which published a detailed catalogue in 1982 titled The Ceramic Load of the Witte Leeuw 1613. Some pieces are also on display at the island’s museum in Lower Jamestown.

The wreck also features in Timothy Brook’s Vermeer’s Hat. In a chapter named after the book’s title, Brook shares the dramatic story of the ship’s final voyage. He notes that the porcelain wasn’t even listed on the official manifest. That document only included 15,000 bags of pepper, 312 kilograms of cloves, 77 kilograms of nutmeg, and 1,317 diamonds.

Xuāndé Shipwreck

The Xuāndé wreck was discovered in April 1966 off the coast of Malaysia. It got its name from six ceramics found onboard that bore the Xuāndé reign mark, which dates from 1426 to 1435. However, those marks are now thought to be later Ming copies.

The wreck also carried Thai ceramics, including covered boxes decorated in underglaze black from the Si Satchanalai kilns. But no celadon was found. The ship also had Sukhothai bowls, but none of the well-known fish plates usually linked to that era.

The dating of the wreck is still uncertain. No wood was recovered, so carbon dating wasn’t possible. And the mix of ceramics didn’t offer a clear answer. Right now, the best guess is that the ship sank sometime between the late 1400s and the 1500s.

 

The Special Asian Blog Collection:

1. Ceramic Production in Southeast Asia: Historical Periods, Styles, and Techniques

2. History of Ceramics in the Malay Region: Ancient Pottery, Cultural Heritage, and Trade in Southeast Asia

3. Vietnamese Ceramics History: Ancient Pottery, Trade, and Craftsmanship

4. Traditional Philippine Pottery: Tapayan Jars, Earthenware, and Indigenous Ceramic Heritage

5. History of Thai Ceramics and Traditional Pottery Art

6. Southeast Asian Ceramics: Khmer, Lao, and Burmese Pottery Traditions

7. Historic Southeast Asian Shipwrecks with Ancient Ceramics: Maritime Trade and Sunken Treasures

8. Top Museums in Asia for Southeast Asian Ceramics: Where to See Ancient Pottery and Porcelain