According to the International Maritime Organization, modern pirates earn nearly 20 billion U.S. dollars every year.☆→,
Of course, pirates are no longer what they used to be. In the past, they robbed large sailing ships loaded with gold aggressively. Now, they no longer have such a good thing, allowing them to steal even a 20-meter-long cable.
On the evening of November 24, 2000, a Cyprus ship with a displacement of 8,871 tons was anchored in the port of Santos, Brazil. Suddenly, a patrol boat quickly approached the ship. What happened next was similar to the pirates in adventure novels.
The description is exactly the same.
The side of the ship was caught by the anchor hook. In the blink of an eye, several burly men with weapons appeared on the ship, shouting: "Bring me the money!"
As a result, the captain and crew were beaten up, and several robbers stole $7,700 and some personal belongings before disappearing into the night.
A common tactic used by modern pirates is to board a ship by surprise, throw the crew into the sea, and then escape in the boat.
Pirates would repaint these ships, give them new names, and forge documents.
In Southeast Asia, it costs between five and six thousand dollars to forge documents for a ship.
But it is definitely a worthwhile investment. A "black boat" can usually be sold for US$300,000.
And in countries such as Liberia, Panama and Honduras, it is easy to give such a ship a legal appearance.
Although all countries are actively combating piracy, modern self-sufficiency and the daring of those with advanced skills still threaten the safety of maritime navigation.
Facing fierce competition among the United States, Spain and Britain for the treasure ship "Sussex", the pirates apparently tried to bypass the international dispute and hunt for the treasure themselves.
This group of pirates was obviously the first to succeed. They had advanced equipment, not only submarines, but also a large number of underwater robots. And they were not greedy. They just got a few of the most precious treasures and left.
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Back at the lair, these guys were obviously very relaxed, so after drinking enough, they went to bed separately. Not even a person standing guard was left behind.
After searching carefully and finding no monitoring equipment, Han Peacock carefully dived ashore.
These guys were well prepared, and the rooms inside were all renovated. Walking inside, Han Peacock discovered that the space here was actually much larger than he had imagined.
Beyond the several rooms at the entrance, there are several large caves behind, and these caves actually gradually extend upwards.
"No wonder these people can live here. It turns out there is a breath of air up there." Just now, Han Peacock was wondering, since the entrance of the cave outside was submerged by sea water, where did the air in the cave come from.
Now it seems that this place is very suitable for building a submarine base. I thought the cave was too small at first, but now it seems that there is a whole other world inside.
"Huh? There is actually a wooden boat?" Looking at the dhow, Han Peacock felt very surprised.
"Did these people salvage it from the bottom of the sea?" Looking at the obviously treated wooden boat, Han Peacock could only make this judgment.
This boat is thirty meters long. It is impossible for such a large wooden boat to enter this cave, so the only possibility is that it was brought here by someone.
Looking at this wooden boat now, it is obvious that it was assembled later. As for whether it is a modern handicraft, Han Peacock has never thought about it.
"It looks like a very old wooden sailing ship." After just a brief observation, Han Kongque concluded that this type of ship was very old.
Through a rope ladder, Han Peacock slowly climbed onto the boat. When he got on the boat, Han Peacock discovered that the boat had been repaired perfectly.
The sails, deck, and cabins were all intact. Han Peacock walked into the cabin. His steps were a little heavier, and the lights actually turned on in the cabin.
"There is no power generation facility. It seems that batteries are used. These guys are so idle that they repaired a sunken ship in this cave on the seabed and even installed electric lights." Han Peacock did not notice the ship at all.
There were people on board, so even if the lights came on, he was not surprised.
"What is this?" Han Peacock looked at the dining table in a cabin in surprise. There were ceramic wine pots, tea bowls, and embossed gold and silver tableware.
Those ceramic wine pots and tea bowls are not eye-catching, but the gold and silver tableware are too dazzling under the light.
Han Peacock had seen gold and silver tableware of this style before. It had a very obvious Tang Dynasty style, especially the pictures of ladies on the plate. It looked like the style of the Tang Dynasty at first glance, because except for the Tang Dynasty, there was an era where plumpness was regarded as beauty.
Not much.
"Is this ship a sunken ship from the Tang Dynasty? By the way, no wonder it looks familiar. This sailboat should belong to an Arabian sailboat." At this time, Han Kongque had already recognized what kind of ship it was.
If it is a sailing ship from the Tang Dynasty, it was more than 1,200 years ago. At that time, the Maritime Silk Road had been opened, and most of the merchant ships sailing from the Tang Dynasty were bound for Arab countries.
After the Mid-Tang Dynasty, the Northwest Silk Road was blocked, the economy in North China weakened, the economy in South China developed day by day, and maritime transportation began to flourish.
The countries that did business with China during that period were: Fulin, Dashi, Persia, Tianzhu, Lion Kingdom, Dandan, Panpan, and Srivijaya.
Route: Set sail from Quanzhou or Yangcheng, pass through the sea - Nandao, Huan Kingdom (in today's Vietnam), Mendu Kingdom, Guda Kingdom, Dragon Yamen, Luoyue Kingdom, Sri Lanka, Heling Kingdom, Gu
Luo Kingdom, Goguluo Kingdom, Shengdeng Kingdom, Bolu Kingdom, Lion Kingdom, Nantianzhu, Brahman Kingdom, Xindu River, Tiroluhe Kingdom, Ula Kingdom, Dashi Kingdom, Moluo Kingdom, and Sanlan Kingdom.
In other words, before 1,200 years ago, China had already begun to develop maritime trade.
These are the information that Han Kongque searched for when he discovered the sunken ship. Unexpectedly, they were also used here.
"Did there be more than one Arab sailboat from the Tang Dynasty that came out of the water? That's right. The navigation technology of that era was underdeveloped, and these maritime merchants wanted money rather than their lives. Naturally, many sank into the sea. It is strange that one was found. Maybe
More sailboats have been found and salvaged, but these people are just like this group of shipwreck pirates, just making a fortune in silence." Han Peacock looked at the things on the boat and laughed.
"It seems that being a pirate is more cost-effective and easier." Thinking of the gold and silver coins he worked so hard to get from the bottom of the sea, there is no greater reward than robbing this group of shipwrecked pirates.
Thinking of this, Han Peacock quickly walked to the bilge of the sailboat. In ancient times, those on the sea had the habit of buying a large amount of porcelain to ballast the bilge. I just don't know if there is a large amount of porcelain in this sunken ship.
The reason why Han Kongque is so familiar with this kind of ship is that he naturally knows that there is such a ship out on the water, that is the Arabian dhow "Batu Hitam".
At that time, merchants in the Tang Dynasty loaded porcelain on the Arab dhow "Batu Hitam" and then exported it to Malaysia and other places.
Research shows that the ship may have hit an underwater reef and sank after being hit by a storm in the waters of Southeast Asia.
The 60,000 items include ceramic wine pots, tea bowls, and relief-engraved gold and silver tableware. These precious items are all Chinese ceramics produced in the 8th century.
Finding the wreck is something of a legend, starting in a noisy factory in Germany pouring concrete pillars for construction companies and ending with cities around the world bidding for the world's largest collection of ninth-century Chinese treasures.
The owner of this journey was the 47-year-old German Tillmann Walter Fahn, who instantly became a super rich man after salvaging a batch of priceless Chinese treasures from the waters of Southeast Asia.
Back then, Tillman Walter Fahn heard an Indonesian employee tell the story of the shipwreck, saying that there might be treasures in the ship.
The speaker was unintentional, but the listener was interested. After learning the news, Walter Fahn became very interested in this sunken ship.
Later, he took on an underwater breathing apparatus and went to Indonesia with the Indonesian employee. This trip not only changed Walter Fine's life, but also brought to the surface the largest batch of ancient cultural relics in the history of world archaeology.
Walter Fahn later told a German magazine: "I dived into what looked like a coral reef. In fact, it was an underwater mound, the size of a hill, but this 'hill' was made up of almost tens of thousands of perfectly preserved objects.
It is made up of piles of ceramic products.”
Walter Faun is talking about the second of the three sunken ships he discovered. The third shipwreck was from the Tang Dynasty in China. This ship is simply an undersea treasure, and the items inside have far-reaching significance.
Historical Value.
Walter Fahn called the sunken ship the "Batuxitam" wreck. He salvaged a total of 60,000 cultural relics, including ceramic wine pots, tea bowls, gold and silver tableware with reliefs, all of which had a value of 1,200
years of history.
These precious cultural relics are Chinese ceramics from the 9th century. At that time, Chinese merchants from the Tang Dynasty loaded Chinese porcelain on Arab merchant ships and then exported them to Malaysia, India and now Saudi Arabia.
Research shows that the ship may have encountered a storm while traveling through Java, struck an underwater reef in the Karimata Strait in Indonesia, and sank.
Archaeologists say that the wreck of the Batuxitam (which is the name Walter Fain gave to his undersea discovery) shows people the indisputable fact that China had begun to develop maritime trade 1,200 years ago.
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Looking at the piles of three-color ceramics on the bottom of the ship, Han Peacock smiled bitterly. It seemed that he had really guessed that this ship was really just like the sunken "Batu Hitam", even the cargo
Pretty much the same.
Among the items recovered from the seabed by Walter Fine, there were ceramics in three colors: blue, yellow and white, 22 silver plates and cups, and 7 gold plates and cups.
There are obviously many more ceramics on this ship than on the "Batu Hitam" sunken ship. In fact, judging from the completeness of this sunken ship, we can guess that the goods on this ship should be well preserved.
whole.
After all, the sunken ship was so complete that the cargo on it was naturally not in great danger. (To be continued.)