In ancient times, my country's top three export commodities: porcelain, tea and silk were indispensable.
So Taihe is no exception. In addition to silk and tea, there are nearly 1 million pieces of precious porcelain.
Most of these are neon goods ordered by businessmen from various countries in Southeast Asia and Europe, and they are valuable.
Of course, like the Taixing, the Taihe also carried 2,000 passengers in order to make more money.
They were all wealthy businessmen, workers and students at that time.
The businessmen want to make a fortune through trade, and the workers (about 1,600 people) plan to sell their efforts to earn some living expenses to support their families in Hukou.
The students naturally wanted to return home and start a family after completing their studies. Everything looked so beautiful and everyone was full of confidence and hope for this voyage.
It is worth mentioning here that this was the route used to immigrate to Australia back then.
Merchant ships such as the Taixing and Taihe helped immigrants, otherwise they would not have brought more than 2,000 people on board at a time.
In January 1822, the second year of Daoguang's reign, the Taihe set off after completing the loading of personnel and cargo.
The destination of the Taihe's voyage this time was the country of Java, which is now the area around Innijava Island.
At this time, Java was under the rule of the Dutch East India Company, and maritime trade was developed. This was the main reason why the Taihe went there.
The captain of the Taihe is a well-trained veteran captain with rich navigation experience.
In the past few decades, he has made a round trip between China and Java every year, and is very familiar with the sea conditions there. It can be said that he knows everything about it.
The Taihe's tonnage shows that it is generally unsinkable because it is too powerful.
However, everything has exceptions, and this time the Taihe encountered trouble.
Because it changed its course and embarked on unfamiliar waters, it also embarked on a path of no return.
So why don’t you take a well-familiar road, but change the route?
That was because it had to do this, and it was considered a last resort.
Because the ship carried too much gold and silver treasures and nearly 1 million pieces of precious porcelain this time.
All this attracted the attention and great interest of the pirates who had been plundering the sea all year round. With their eagle-like vision and extraordinary sense of smell, they focused on this fat ship.
At this time, preventing pirates from hijacking ships has become a top priority.
Although the stern of the Taihe was equipped with a gun warehouse and equipped with cannons, they were still unable to deal with the pirate ships.
If you can't afford to offend, we can afford to hide.
For the sake of safety and security, the captain temporarily decided to change the sailing route.
They detoured around Xisha and crossed the Gaspan Strait in Indonesia.
Ordinary people in this strait can't find the name and specific location at all. It should be a translation problem.
In this way, they planned to take a shortcut to reach their destination.
Under normal circumstances, the Taihe should have taken the same route to Java that Zheng He took during his voyage to the West.
Lucky people are all the same, but unfortunate people have their own misfortunes. How did the unfortunate Taihe sink?
Through review, Chen Wenzhe discovered that it was not sunk, but hit a reef and became silent.
On the evening of February 5, 1822, when the Taihe, which had been sailing smoothly, sailed into the waters of Belvedere Shoal between Sumatra and Java, misfortune happened.
At this time, a strong wind suddenly blew up on the sea. In a hurry, the angle of the sail was not adjusted properly, and the ship was blown off course by the wind.
The shoals here are covered with reefs, which are difficult to find when the sea is calm, let alone such strong winds and waves. The poor Taihe hit the rocks.
The unfortunate Taihe hit a rock and was hit with a big hole, and sea water quickly poured in.
And because the ship not only carried a large amount of heavy cargo such as porcelain, but also 2,000 people, the overweight ship was coupled with the fierce intrusion of seawater.
The Taihe struggled several times, but to no avail, and sank to the bottom of the sea in less than an hour.
Fortunately, the Taihe was not alone on this trip to Java.
According to the footage Chen Wenzhe saw in his review, there was a small sailboat called Wankang traveling together with them at that time. This was done to take care of each other.
After discovering that the Taihe was in trouble, the captain of the Wankang hurriedly directed the crew to rescue people.
Unfortunately, the Wankang was too small. After rescuing 18 people, it was already overweight and could sink at any time.
In desperation, the Wankang had to stop rescuing people.
How painful must it be to see your compatriots struggling desperately in the water and then disappearing without being able to do anything about it?
Until two days later, on February 7, a British cargo ship selling native cigarettes, on its way from India to Portvia, happened to pass by the sea where the Taihe was wrecked.
The crew on the ship suddenly discovered many stone-like floating objects on the sea, stretching for several kilometers.
The curious crewmen sailed closer to check, only to find that it was not a stone at all, but ship boards, wood, tables, chairs and other items, and they were all covered with people!
There must have been a shipwreck. The captain immediately asked the crew to lower the lifeboat to rescue people, and eventually 180 survivors were rescued.
Including the 18 people rescued by the Wankang, a total of 198 people were rescued by the Taihe, and 1,802 people unfortunately died.
The sinking of the Taihe did not cause any disturbance to the Qing government.
Because not long after, the war to eliminate cigarettes broke out and it was too busy to take care of itself.
Moreover, future generations do not know its exact location, so they can only wonder what it is.
The Taihe just lay quietly on the bottom of the distant Pacific Ocean, with only the fish and shrimps coming and going, telling the story of its past glory and sadness.
More than two hundred years have passed, so how did the Hatcher discover the sunken Taihe?
Although the Taihe disappeared, some caring people have been paying attention.
In 1998, British professional treasure thief Mike Hatcher accidentally found a tattered book in a second-hand bookstore in London - "The Yinsan Voyage Guide".
The above is written by Dutchman James Hasberg, and records the rescue of the Taihe by a British freighter.
It must be said that Mike Hatcher is a very professionally sensitive person.
He was immediately attracted by the things described in the book, and had a premonition that there must be huge treasures in it.
Just as he was told, Mike Hatcher made plans and first found the information and logbook of the British cargo ship. After professional analysis, he roughly determined the approximate location of the Taihe's sinking.
In May, Mike Hatcher led his salvage team and the salvage ship "Equanimity" to conduct salvage exploration in the waters near the Belvedere Reef in the South China Sea according to the records in the logbook.
At this time, it has been 197 years since the Taixing sank.
At this time, it should be said that Hatcher was still very financially capable.
Because the cost of salvaging this sunken ship is huge, it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars a day.
However, the initial salvage operation did not achieve the expected results.