Shipwrecks in Malaysia

In his book Empire of the Winds, Phillip Bowring used the term "Nusantara", a term coined by the Java-based Majapahit kingdom to describe the archipelago that stretches from Papua in the East to Madagascar in the west, Java in the south and Taiwan in the north. He considers this corridor as the worlds "greatest maritime and cultural crossroads, a corridor connecting East Asia, the Arab-Persian world, Europe and the African coast".

The Malay Peninsular was part of the East-West network of ports

Because of its strategic location and the good fortune of being at the meeting point of two monsoons,  for about a thousand years the people of the Nusantara were the middle man for trade between the east and west. Their skills in boatbuilding and navigation enabled them to move cargo like silk and porcelain from China and pepper from this region to places like Gujarat and Musiris on the west coast  of India or Madagascar in Africa where the onward journey would take these goods to Rome or Greece. Goods from the West like glass from Rome and pearls from the middle east also reached China on Nusantaran vessels.

With a thousand year history being at the heart of world maritime trade, it is surprising that more shipwrecks have not been found in the waters surrounding Malaysia.

Location of historical wrecks around the Peninsular

Here are some of the things we know about these historical wrecks (defined as ships that sunk more than 100 years ago).

The Malaysian government has formalized the search and harvesting of these artifacts with Nanhai Marine Archeology Sdn Bhd, a private company specializing in historical wrecks.

Here is a video of one of the dives conducted on the 

Wanli wreck from the company's website.

 

Sukhothai fish and flower plate found on the Nanyang

Sukothai and Satchanalai pottery and cauldrons make up a big chunk of the cargo found

Sukhothai fish and flower plate found on the Nanyang

The wreck at Turiang would have looked like this Chinese Junk

The Royal Nanhai was made of wood native to Southeast Asia combining Chinese and Local shipbuilding technology

Diana was an East India Company tradeship that struck rocks off the coast of Tg Bidara while en route to Madras

The route taken by Diana on that unfortunate night on March 4, 1817

There are still numerous known wrecks that have eluded treasure hunters for decades. For example, in the areas around Cape Ricardo, Port Dickson where a sea battle was fought between the Dutch and Portuguese Armada most of the sunken ships have yet to be be found.

Similarly, in the vicinity of the mouth of Johor River, where Johor Lama once stood there were a lot of sea battles for the control of trade between the French, Dutch, Portuguese and English armada's.

Yet, the biggest catch would be the wreck of Flor De La Mar, the Portuguese Galleon that was used to in the Portuguese conquest of Melaka in 1511. When the city - noted for being one of the richest in the world at that time fell, the booty captured from the fallen kingdom was loaded on to Flor De La Mar to be transported back to Portugal via transit in Goa. According to a contemporary report, it was whilst sailing along the coast of Sumatra that the ship was caught in a storm. An attempt was made to seek refuge on the coast, but the ship was wrecked on a beach. As a result, the ship broke into two, and its back, which was embedded in the sand, demolished by the waves. Along with the ship, the treasure was also lost. 

Flor De La Mar was transporting the war booty taken from Melaka before it sunk in the Straits of Melaka in 1512.

When I sail, I always  wonder what hidden treasures lies beneath the waves.