The in-situ excavation of the wreck of a 400-year-old merchant ship is causing great excitement among marine archeologists, Lin Shujuan reports

People help a researcher board the work ship after a dive at the area where Nan'ao-1 was discovered. Mu Caiyuan For China Daily

Accidentally discovered by local fishermen off the coast near Nan'ao Island of Shantou in Guangdong province three years ago, Nan'ao-1 is the best preserved ancient merchant vessel ever found on the historic maritime trade route linking southern China with Europe as well as Africa and Southeast Asia. Salvage of the ancient shipwreck and its cargo of over 10,000 pieces of blue-and-white porcelain from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), began on April 9.

Since then each dive has become a breathtaking experience for the salvage team, yielding more and more answers about the ship and its final voyage.

In response to the public's growing curiosity, experts have developed some postulates, based on the nearly 2,000 artifacts that have been retrieved. They believe that the ship was probably bound for Asian countries and was probably flouting bans on foreign trade at that time.

Most of the artifacts that have been recovered are porcelain pieces, including wine cups, plates, jars and vases, and are mainly from Zhangzhou in Fujian province, whose history as a center of porcelain manufacture dates back to more than 500 years.

Experts believe that some big bowls found in the vessel were probably made for foreign trade because they were not commonly used in daily life in China at that time.