French oil company Elf discovered 15th century Chinese galleon in South China Sea
BBC News | Asia-Pacific | Undersea treasure chest stirs up tensions
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Undersea treasure chest stirs up tensions
Thursday, April 29, 1999 Published at 20:40 GMT 21:40 UK
By David Willis in the South China Sea
The discovery has drawn huge crowds to Brunei's national museum
Shipwrecked treasure, recently recovered from the bottom of the South China Sea, is threatening to inflame a diplomatic row over an area believed to be rich in oil.
Divers working for the French oil company Elf, stumbled across the wreck of a 15th Century Chinese galleon containing a hoard of priceless porcelain and ceramic pieces.
Divers working for an oil company stumbled across the wreck
The ship went down off the coast of Brunei and is thought to contain one of the largest hauls of buried treasure ever uncovered.
Using the same two-seater submarine as those used to survey the Titanic, archaeologists uncovered an Aladdin's Cave of intricately painted ancient pottery.
For more than two months, a daily haul of hundreds of artefacts were hauled to the surface. Back on land, a vast hanger was built to clean and catalogue the discoveries, thought to be worth millions of dollars.
Timeless beauty
The treasure haul is thought to be worth millions
"It's a fascinating project," says John Perry, Managing Director of Elf Petroleum Asia.
"The artefacts themselves, in their day may have been ordinary things in the street but today they have a timeless beauty, which is so hard to define but so real to touch."
For Brunei, a nation keen to lessen its dependence on oil revenue, the discovery has become a source of new national pride.
The artefacts provide the tiny sultanate with something money alone cannot buy - symbols of a cultural identity which, officials hope, will boost tourism.
Historical claims
Hundreds of items each day have been recovered
But the discovery of a series of such wrecks has been seized upon by China as evidence reinforcing its historical claims on the South China Sea.
Beijing says the discoveries prove Chinese vessels have been sailing the area since ancient times.
Five other countries in the region also lay claim to all or part of area's maritime territory - in particular to the Spratly Islands, which are reputed to hold the key to a much needed new source of oil. (article continues)"