Some time back I posted a story of some guys arrested in Indonesia, I followed it for a while but then eventually nothing more came out. Today I find this article.
Treasure hunter seeks more shipwreck riches in Asia
By Charlie Zhu | August 9, 2006
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - In Tilman Walterfang's eyes, the seabed of Southeast Asian waters is a bonanza.
After discovering three treasure-laden shipwrecks in Indonesian waters between 1997 and 1998, including the famous Tang Treasure that was sold to Singapore in 2004 for $32 million, the German treasure hunter is returning to the region for more.
He believes there are more shipwrecks resting on seabeds across Southeast Asia, especially in the Strait of Malacca, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes and dubbed by some as a graveyard of ships for its treacherous reefs.
"The Malacca Strait is full of rocks, reefs and small islands. Nobody knows exactly how many shipwrecks are there, but we would find out," the 49-year-old former engineer told Reuters in a recent interview.
He is working with investors on a $50 million plan to salvage wrecks in Indonesia and Vietnam under national licenses akin to production-sharing contacts for oil.
The plan also calls for the construction of museums and archeological conservation centers in Vietnam and Bali.
The potential of more discoveries in the Strait of Malacca has lured many treasure hunters. Walterfang is one of them, and perhaps the most successful, so far.
His latest find, in 1998, was a blockbuster. It was the wreck of an Arab ship laden with more than 60,000 ceramic pieces and gold and silver artifacts from China's Tang dynasty (618-907), possibly bound for a grand wedding in Arabia.
SHIP GRAVEYARD
Besides Walterfang's finds, other notable discoveries include a Dutch warship that sank off Malaysia over 400 years ago and salvaged in 1995. Experts recovered a bronze cannon from the Nassau, which sank after a battle with Portuguese warships.
The British merchant ship Diana, which sank off Malacca in 1817, was discovered in 1993, yielding Chinese plates, bowls, candlesticks and other artifacts that fetched 2.2 million pounds ($4.1 million) at an Amsterdam auction two years later.
John Miksic, Southeast Asian history expert at the National University of Singapore, said there could be more breathtaking finds ahead after the Tang Treasure.
A ship of Admiral Zheng He's "Treasure" fleet in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) would make a sensational find. Zheng led seven armadas through Southeast Asia and beyond to spread Chinese influence from 1405 to 1433.
Red-and-white porcelains from the period would be extremely precious, Miksic said. A red-and-white jar from the early Ming era was recently sold at auction for $10 million, Miksic added.
Walterfang said Indonesian fishermen had been a key source of information and would continue to be. He says he keeps good relations with them through an Indonesian in-law.
He was bitten by the treasure bug after fishermen showed him samples from shipwrecks on one of his diving trips in the 1990s, spurring him to quit his job at a German cement company.
Fishermen in parts of Indonesia, such as East Sulawesi, dive in shallow waters without oxygen tanks in search of seafood and occasionally stumble on the odd treasure, he said.
Their ceramic samples led to his finds in 1997 of a 10th-century vessel, known as the Intan Wreck, in the Java Sea and a 15th-century ship, the Maranei/Bakau Wreck, near Belitung island, off southeastern Sumatra, the next year. Soon after, he found the Tang treasure near Buton island off southeast Sulawesi.
Intan yielded thousands of Chinese ceramics, Indonesian gold jewelry, bronze artifacts and Arabian glassware, while Maranei/Bakau held a mixed cargo from the Ming dynasty.
"All the ships found in Indonesian waters were representing actually the time capsules of those periods," said Walterfang, who is married with five children in New Zealand.
'TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE'
Walterfang's slides of the Tang Treasure showed glittering gold cups and plates, a Chinese-inscripted bronze mirror, white glazed stoneware and a tall green vase with a dragon lid.
Some initially questioned the value of the finds as many were corroded and covered by limestone or coral, he said. "The scientific and academic community just didn't know how to handle it because it was just too good to be true that there was such a cargo from the Tang dynasty."
Walterfang shrugged off advice that the artifacts be auctioned immediately, choosing to ship all the cargo to New Zealand for conservation, in a costly, six-year process. "I decided to go to New Zealand, far away from the media, far away from the world and tourists, to conserve it first."
Specialists restored artifacts with chemicals injected millimeter-by-millimeter under microscopes, he said. They spent four years and $350,000 to conserve one silver flask alone.
The Maranei/Bakau Wreck is still under conservation in New Zealand and will end up in a future Bali maritime museum, he said. The Intan Wreck has been handed back to Indonesia as part of compensation for the Tang Treasure, which will be exhibited soon at the Hua Song Museum in Singapore.
Walterfang said he also gave Jakarta $2.5 million plus a deal to help conserve some of the existing finds and cover the costs of sending four Indonesians for conservation training abroad.
Treasure hunter seeks more shipwreck riches in Asia
By Charlie Zhu | August 9, 2006
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - In Tilman Walterfang's eyes, the seabed of Southeast Asian waters is a bonanza.
After discovering three treasure-laden shipwrecks in Indonesian waters between 1997 and 1998, including the famous Tang Treasure that was sold to Singapore in 2004 for $32 million, the German treasure hunter is returning to the region for more.
He believes there are more shipwrecks resting on seabeds across Southeast Asia, especially in the Strait of Malacca, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes and dubbed by some as a graveyard of ships for its treacherous reefs.
"The Malacca Strait is full of rocks, reefs and small islands. Nobody knows exactly how many shipwrecks are there, but we would find out," the 49-year-old former engineer told Reuters in a recent interview.
He is working with investors on a $50 million plan to salvage wrecks in Indonesia and Vietnam under national licenses akin to production-sharing contacts for oil.
The plan also calls for the construction of museums and archeological conservation centers in Vietnam and Bali.
The potential of more discoveries in the Strait of Malacca has lured many treasure hunters. Walterfang is one of them, and perhaps the most successful, so far.
His latest find, in 1998, was a blockbuster. It was the wreck of an Arab ship laden with more than 60,000 ceramic pieces and gold and silver artifacts from China's Tang dynasty (618-907), possibly bound for a grand wedding in Arabia.
SHIP GRAVEYARD
Besides Walterfang's finds, other notable discoveries include a Dutch warship that sank off Malaysia over 400 years ago and salvaged in 1995. Experts recovered a bronze cannon from the Nassau, which sank after a battle with Portuguese warships.
The British merchant ship Diana, which sank off Malacca in 1817, was discovered in 1993, yielding Chinese plates, bowls, candlesticks and other artifacts that fetched 2.2 million pounds ($4.1 million) at an Amsterdam auction two years later.
John Miksic, Southeast Asian history expert at the National University of Singapore, said there could be more breathtaking finds ahead after the Tang Treasure.
A ship of Admiral Zheng He's "Treasure" fleet in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) would make a sensational find. Zheng led seven armadas through Southeast Asia and beyond to spread Chinese influence from 1405 to 1433.
Red-and-white porcelains from the period would be extremely precious, Miksic said. A red-and-white jar from the early Ming era was recently sold at auction for $10 million, Miksic added.
Walterfang said Indonesian fishermen had been a key source of information and would continue to be. He says he keeps good relations with them through an Indonesian in-law.
He was bitten by the treasure bug after fishermen showed him samples from shipwrecks on one of his diving trips in the 1990s, spurring him to quit his job at a German cement company.
Fishermen in parts of Indonesia, such as East Sulawesi, dive in shallow waters without oxygen tanks in search of seafood and occasionally stumble on the odd treasure, he said.
Their ceramic samples led to his finds in 1997 of a 10th-century vessel, known as the Intan Wreck, in the Java Sea and a 15th-century ship, the Maranei/Bakau Wreck, near Belitung island, off southeastern Sumatra, the next year. Soon after, he found the Tang treasure near Buton island off southeast Sulawesi.
Intan yielded thousands of Chinese ceramics, Indonesian gold jewelry, bronze artifacts and Arabian glassware, while Maranei/Bakau held a mixed cargo from the Ming dynasty.
"All the ships found in Indonesian waters were representing actually the time capsules of those periods," said Walterfang, who is married with five children in New Zealand.
'TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE'
Walterfang's slides of the Tang Treasure showed glittering gold cups and plates, a Chinese-inscripted bronze mirror, white glazed stoneware and a tall green vase with a dragon lid.
Some initially questioned the value of the finds as many were corroded and covered by limestone or coral, he said. "The scientific and academic community just didn't know how to handle it because it was just too good to be true that there was such a cargo from the Tang dynasty."
Walterfang shrugged off advice that the artifacts be auctioned immediately, choosing to ship all the cargo to New Zealand for conservation, in a costly, six-year process. "I decided to go to New Zealand, far away from the media, far away from the world and tourists, to conserve it first."
Specialists restored artifacts with chemicals injected millimeter-by-millimeter under microscopes, he said. They spent four years and $350,000 to conserve one silver flask alone.
The Maranei/Bakau Wreck is still under conservation in New Zealand and will end up in a future Bali maritime museum, he said. The Intan Wreck has been handed back to Indonesia as part of compensation for the Tang Treasure, which will be exhibited soon at the Hua Song Museum in Singapore.
Walterfang said he also gave Jakarta $2.5 million plus a deal to help conserve some of the existing finds and cover the costs of sending four Indonesians for conservation training abroad.
