Chapter 16: Marine Salvage

Chapter 16: Marine Salvage

Wang Meng sent an e-mail saying that he received the 2003 antique auction yearbook. This kind of stupid thing was sent to us every year, and I never knew who sent it. Anyways, common peasants like us couldnt afford any of the items in it.

I saw on the news that the Americans had sent a skateboard to Mars last month, [Note: It was written exactly like that in the headlines] and the old guys at NASA celebrated with each other. I comforted myself, they even made it to Mars, so it shouldnt be too difficult for me to try and find a person under the sea.

I didnt fully understand what A Ning told me, and I didnt know their company very well, either. I searched a bit and found that their company did exist. The logo showed a soft triangular coral (Insert A Nings illustration of the logo). This kind of AI-designed enterprise company wouldnt be too small-scale, so I should be able to trust their professionalism at least.

Such large-scale salvage companies werent common overseas. Generally, marine salvage projects were often carried out by teams that were sent by the government since there were lots of secrets and wealth involved. The governments of various countries werent willing to let private companies conduct these legendary business activities.

The most typical case was the domestic marine salvage plan of the Japanese shipwreck Awa Maru. Because it was rumored that the ship carried Peking Man (1) fossil skulls, countless foreign salvage companies offered free assistance at that time, but the Chinese refused.

There was still an international controversy over why the Americans sank this ship back then. The sighting report at the time indicated that this huge ship was sailing at top speed in the heavy fog and seemed to be eager to reach its destination. Many conspiracy theories believed that there were other things on board besides the Peking Man skulls, which forced the Americans to break the agreement and sink the Japanese civilian ship.Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

History is full of mystery, so no one knows what secrets are in the ruins under the sea. Naturally, it was better to keep those secrets under their control than to expose them to the treasure hunters who sought nothing but profits.

Because of the huge cargo capacity of ships, there was a saying that a ship was worth ten ancient tombs. The number of porcelain items carried on some large merchant ships was almost astronomical. Throughout history, the number of giant ships that had sunk in the Maritime Silk Road was far beyond peoples imagination, and these huge treasures were far from being discovered.

But I could only find a simple webpage for A Nings company on the internet, which didnt reveal much information. This company didnt seem to carry out high-profile projects. I wasnt familiar with foreigners antique business, so I could only tell myself to be careful.

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TN Notes:

(1) Peking Man is a group of fossil specimens of Homo erectus, dated from roughly 750,000 years ago. Whether there were skulls of Peking Man in the shipwreck of Awa Maru is not confirmed as of now.

(2) Li Ka-shing is a Hong Kong business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. As of June 2019, he is the 30th richest person in the world. Wiki link

(3) Geldermalsen actually belonged to Dutch East India Company (VOC), but I have no idea why the author said that it was a Chinese merchant ship.