Belitung shipwreck
Marker: recorded wreck position (Date not recorded).
Key facts
| Name | Belitung shipwreck | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Ship type | dhow | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Sea / ocean | Java Sea | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | Indonesia | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 4 km from land |
| Position | -2.7608, 107.5952 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
The Belitung shipwreck (also called the Tang shipwreck or Batu Hitam shipwreck) is the wreck of an Arabian dhow that sank around 830 AD. The ship completed its outward journey from Arabia to China but sank on the return voyage from China, approximately 1.6 kilometres (1 mi) off the coast of Belitung Island, Indonesia. The reason the ship was south of the typical trade route when it sank remains unknown. Belitung lies southeast of the Singapore Strait, approximately 610 kilometres (380 mi) away, a secondary route that was more common for ships traveling between China and the Java Sea, which is south of Belitung Island.
The wreck has provided archaeologists with two major discoveries: the largest single collection of Tang dynasty artefacts found outside China, known as the "Tang Treasure", and the Arabian dhow itself, which offers new insights into the trade routes between China and the Middle East during that period. The treasure has been preserved as one collection, and efforts during excavation to maintain the integrity of the site and its cargo have produced detailed archaeological evidence.
Diving & visiting
The wreck was discovered by local fishermen in 1998 in the Gelasa Strait, at a depth of 17 metres (56 ft). The rights to the site were purchased from local fishermen, and a license for excavation was awarded to a local Indonesian company. Tilman Walterfang and his team at Seabed Explorations subsequently financed and conducted the excavation under a cooperative agreement with the original salvage company, at the request of the Indonesian government, which provided security for the site through the Indonesian Navy. The excavation took place over two expeditions, beginning in August 1998 and continuing with a second phase in 1999.
Location
- Recorded position: -2.7608, 107.5952 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: Java Sea
- Nearest coast: Indonesia
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Belitung shipwreck (revision 1380854327), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Discovery”; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- HNLMS Van Ghent 1942 · 45 km
- Tek Sing 1822 · 70 km
Browse more: Asia wrecks · wrecks off Indonesia · Java Sea