Tek Sing

History
China
Name: Tek Sing
Route: China — Indonesia
Homeport: Amoy
Fate: Sunk February 6, 1822
Status: Wreck
General characteristics
Class and type: Junk
Tonnage: 1000
Length: 50.0m
Beam: 10.0m
Height: 27.43m
Propulsion: Wind-powered
Sail plan: Junk Rig
Crew: 200

The Tek Sing (Chinese, "True Star")[1] was a large three-masted Chinese ocean-going junk which sank on February 6, 1822[2] in an area of the South China Sea known as the Belvidere Shoals. The vessel was 50 meters in length, 10 meters wide and weighed about a thousand tons. Its tallest mast was estimated to be 90 feet in height. The ship was manned by a crew of 200 and had approx. 1600 passengers. The great loss of life associated with the sinking has led to the Tek Sing being referred to in modern times as the "Titanic of the East".[3]

Sinking

Sailing from the port of Amoy (now Xiamen in Fujian, People's Republic of China), the Tek Sing was bound for Batavia, Dutch East Indies (now Jakarta, Indonesia) laden with a large cargo of porcelain goods and 1600 Chinese immigrants. After a month of sailing, the Tek Sing's captain, Io Tauko, decided to attempt a shortcut through the Gaspar Strait between the Bangka-Belitung Islands, and ran aground on a reef. The junk sank in about 30m (100 feet) of water.

The next morning, February 7, an English East Indiaman captained by James Pearl sailing from Indonesia to Borneo passed through the Gaspar Strait. The ship encountered debris from the sunk Chinese vessel and an enormous number of survivors. The English ship managed to rescue about 190 of the survivors. Another 18 persons were saved by a wangkang, a small Chinese junk captained by Jalang Lima. This Chinese vessel may have been sailing in tandem with the Tek Sing, but had avoided the reefs.

Discovery

On May 12, 1999, British marine salvor Michael Hatcher discovered the wreck of the Tek Sing in an area of the South China Sea north of Java, east of Sumatra and south of Singapore. His crew raised about 350,000 pieces of the ship's cargo in what is described as the largest sunken cache of Chinese porcelain ever recovered.[4] Human remains were also found, but they were not disturbed as most of Hatcher's crew, being Indonesian and Chinese, believed that bad luck would befall any who disturbed the dead.

The Tek Sing's recovered cargo was auctioned in Stuttgart, Germany in November 2000.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Legacy of the Tek Sing". Retrieved 2008-05-31.
  2. ↑ "Treasures of the Tek Sing". Retrieved 2008-05-31.
  3. ↑ Kam, Nadine (2002-11-21). "Own a Piece of China". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Retrieved 2008-05-31.
  4. ↑ "Tek Sing Treasure". Retrieved 2008-05-31.

Coordinates: 2°24′54.27″S 107°04′10.17″E / 2.4150750°S 107.0694917°E / -2.4150750; 107.0694917

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