After more than 150 years, the No. 2 ancient ship in the Yangtze River Estuary "rediscovered"

　　China News Service, Shanghai, November 21 (Wang Ji) In the early morning of November 21, the Hengsha waters of the Yangtze Estuary witnessed a new historic breakthrough in China's underwater archaeology: 22 giant curved beams 48 meters long and 19 meters wide The caisson, which is 9 meters high and weighs about 8,800 tons, is loaded with the ancient ship. After nearly 3 hours of continuous underwater lifting, the moon pool in the middle of the salvage engineering ship "Fenli Lun" slowly emerged from the water, and the mast of the ancient ship was clearly visible.

After more than 150 years, the ancient ship Changjiang Estuary No. 2 finally "rediscovered the light of day".

Cultural relics and archaeological discoveries: fill in the gaps of ancient ships in the late Qing Dynasty

　　In 2015, under the guidance of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage organized the Archaeological Research Center of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Shanghai Cultural Relics Protection Research Center and other units to carry out key underwater archaeological investigations in the waters of Hengsha, Chongming, Yangtze River Estuary, through sonar scanning, etc. Technology discovered an ancient wooden ship, the archaeological number is "Yangtze River Estuary No. 2".

After 7 years of underwater archaeological investigation and exploration, the basic situation of the No. 2 ancient ship at the mouth of the Yangtze River has been ascertained.

　　The ancient ship No. 2 at the mouth of the Yangtze River is a wooden sailing ship, which was confirmed to be in the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty (AD 1862-1875). The depth of the waters is 8-10 meters. 9.9 meters, has been proven to have 31 cabins.

The structure of the upper part of the ancient ship, such as the bow, cable piles, main mast, left and right sides, etc., is complete. Judging from the current survey situation, it is speculated that it is most likely to be a sand ship that was widely used in Shanghai in the Qing Dynasty.

　　Through the small-scale cleaning of four cabins, neatly stacked Jingdezhen kiln porcelain and other exquisite cultural relics were found in the cabins.

In addition, a large number of cultural relics such as purple sandware, Vietnamese hookah tanks, wooden bucket remnants, masts, large ship materials, iron anchors, palm cables, pulleys, and building materials were also found in and around the hull.

In particular, the book on the bottom of the green-glazed cup that came out of the water has the inscription "Tongzhi Year System", which provides an important basis for the dating of ancient ships.

　　The Yangtze River Mouth No. 2 ancient ship is another milestone discovery in China's underwater archaeology. It is one of the largest, best-preserved, and rich in cultural relics found in China and the world. It fills China's There is a blank in the study of large wooden sailing ships in the late Qing Dynasty.

The integrity of the ancient ship's hull and the rich cultural relics on board are of great significance to the study of the history of shipbuilding, shipping, ceramics, and economics in China and the world.

Great integration of scientific and technological innovation: salvage technology is a success

　　In the Yangtze River Estuary, where the visibility is almost zero, looking for underwater cultural heritage is like finding a needle in a haystack.

At the beginning of the underwater archaeological work, the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage organized archaeological workers from the Archaeological Research Center of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, Shanghai Cultural Relics Protection Research Center, Shanghai University and other institutions to carry out cross-border cooperation with scientific and technological workers, jointly tackle key problems, and independently develop Developed the "Underwater Imaging Device for Muddy Waters", developed the "Key Technology and Application of Robotic Underwater Archaeological Equipment", and comprehensively used marine geophysical equipment such as unmanned boats, multi-beam sonar, side-scan sonar, shallow strata profilers, and magnetometers , Underwater surveys were carried out in the waters of the Yangtze Estuary.

　　After the State Administration of Cultural Heritage agreed to adopt an overall salvage method to protect the ancient ship No. Liang Fei contacted the overall migration technology of cultural relics to salvage the ancient ship.

This technology creatively integrates nuclear power arc beam processing technology, tunnel shield excavation technology, immersed tube tunnel butt joint technology, and uses high-tech technologies such as hydraulic synchronous lifting technology and comprehensive monitoring system.

　　In addition, in order to smoothly and safely lift the caisson formed by the curved beam and escort it to the dock, a special salvage engineering ship "Fenli Wheel" was also creatively designed and built.

The main scale of "Fenli Wheel" is 130 meters long, 34 meters wide, 9 meters deep, and the design draft is 6 meters. There are synchronous lifting devices at both ends. It opens in the middle of the ship and has a moon pool with a length of 56 meters and a width of 20 meters. .

The curved beam caisson loaded with the ancient ship after the completion of beam penetration is directly lifted from the seabed to the moon pool in the middle by the "Fenli wheel", and then transferred and unloaded to the dock. A ship has completed the tasks of lifting, transporting and unloading, which has high safety. , strong operability, high technological content and many other advantages.

　　On September 6 this year, the main operation ship "Dali" of the overall salvage project of the No. 2 ancient ship in the Yangtze River Estuary arrived at the waters where the ancient ship was located, and officially launched the overall salvage and archaeological protection of the ancient ship.

On September 29, offshore construction entered the stage of installing curved beams, and the first set of 22 sets of curved beams was officially passed down.

On November 15th, the 22nd group of arc-shaped beams was put in place.

On November 17, the special engineering ship "Fenli" arrived at the waters where the ancient ship was located, and the overall salvage entered a critical stage.

On November 21, after more than 70 days of hard work at sea, the ancient ship was successfully salvaged as a whole.

　　A few days later, the No. 2 ancient ship at the mouth of the Yangtze River will be brought into the No. 1 dock at the former site of the Shanghai Shipyard in Yangpu by the "Fenli Ship", opening a new stage of cultural relics protection and archaeological excavation.

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