On November 21, the largest wooden shipwreck discovered in the underwater archaeology in China so far - the No. 2 ancient ship in the Yangtze River Estuary 2 was successfully carried out overall salvaging of water in the Yangtze River Estuary waters. According to the arrangements of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, today (November 25), the No. 2 ancient ship in the Yangtze River Estuary was taken to the No. 1 dock at the former site of the Yangpu Binjiang Shanghai Shipyard by the "Fengli Wheel", opening a new stage of cultural relics protection and archaeological excavation.
The ancient ship No. 2 of the Yangtze River Estuary is a trading merchant ship in the Qing Dynasty. It is another major milestone discovery in China's underwater archaeology after the " Nanhai No. 1 " shipwreck in the Guangdong Song Dynasty discovered in 1987. The ancient ship is about 38.1 meters long and 9.9 meters wide. It has proven to have 31 cabins. The integrity of the hull and the rich cultural relics on board are of great significance to the research on shipbuilding history, shipping history, ceramic history, , economic history, etc. in China and the world.
Since the discovery of the No. 2 ancient ship in the Yangtze River Estuary in the waters of Hengsha Island in Chongming in 2015, more than 600 cultural relics have been released from water, including porcelain. Through some of the ship-borne cultural relics salvaged, "Yangtze River Estuary 2" was confirmed to be in the Qing Dynasty's Tongzhi period (1862-1875 AD), about 150 years ago, and is very similar to the time when Shanghai opened its port.
reporter learned from Tunnel Co., Ltd. Shanghai Tunnel that in this archaeological project, Tunnel Co., Ltd. Shanghai Tunnel Team successfully applied the "curve top tube bottom curtain method equipment and technology" to "integrated migration technology of arc beam non-contact cultural relics", realizing the first exploration of underground engineering technology in the field of underwater cultural protection.
It is reported that the "Yangtze River Estuary 2" wooden shipwreck in the Qing Dynasty is an important physical evidence for Shanghai as the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road. Its overall salvage has strong cultural, strategic and social value, and has received high attention from the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government. In order to ensure the safety of underwater cultural heritage, the project participants have tailored many archaeological "black technologies" for it and integrated many world-leading technologies and equipment. Among them, under the leadership of the Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism and the Shanghai Salvation Bureau of the Ministry of Transport, the "Curvey Top Tube Bottom Curve Method Equipment and Technology" independently developed and pioneered by Tunnel Co., Ltd. Shanghai Tunnel.
Tunnel Co., Ltd. Shanghai Tunnel Equipment R&D Team broke through the routine and innovatively opened up new application fields of underground engineering machinery equipment. The "curve top tube bottom curtain method equipment and technology" evolved from the combination of mature underground engineering and mechanical engineering technology to the field of marine engineering, perfectly integrated with the "integrated migration technology of arc beam non-contact cultural relics", and escorted the underwater archaeology of the No. 2 ancient ship in the Yangtze River Estuary through hard core technology.
Tunnel Co., Ltd. Shanghai Tunnel Urban Construction Equipment Deputy General Engineer and project manager Zhuang Kuangwei said: "Our scientific research team challenges unprecedentedly and 'cross-border' unprecedented. This is a brand new field, we can only continue to experiment and constantly find answers."
In 2020, Tunnel Co., Ltd. Shanghai Tunnel formed a special scientific research team composed of more than 30 electromechanical engineers and senior technical personnel to carry out technical research on unprecedented challenges in this unfamiliar field. The scientific research team continued to ponder and explore from using the on-site sampled soil of the shipwreck to conduct a 1:10 model test, and then to the 1:1 equal-scale test in the waters near the shipwreck. After more than a year of research and development exploration and technical optimization, we have assisted the Shanghai Salvage Bureau in scientific research and development and successfully implemented this innovative technology achievement, which also provides a safer, more economical and more efficient technical solution for the overall salvage plan in the future.
Text: Wang Xinyu
Editor: Xi Yuxuan
Correspondent: Gao Jie
