China to recover ancient shipwreck's treasures

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

China is to start removing treasures from its greatest ever marine archaeological discovery, six years after the wreck was raised from the seabed in a giant metal box, reports said Friday.

The wooden Nanhai 1 sank near Yangjiang in the southern province of Guangdong during the Southern Song Dynasty of 1127-1279, with an estimated 60,000 to 80,000 items on board.
For centuries it was preserved under the sea by a thick covering of silt, and it was discovered accidentally by a British-Chinese expedition looking for a completely different vessel, the Rhynsburg from the Dutch East India Company (VOC).
The Nanhai 1 was salvaged in 2007, and its cargo of porcelain, lacquerware and gold objects is "more than enough to stuff a provincial-level museum", said the Southern Metropolis Daily.

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