JINAN, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) — An underwater archaeological investigation challenge has not too long ago been launched on the web site of the sunken warship Laiyuan, which fought within the First Sino-Japanese War as an armored cruiser of the Beiyang Fleet of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912), in keeping with the provincial underwater archaeological analysis heart of Shandong.
This investigation, utilizing sand-extraction excavation methods, goals to offer preliminary insights into the preservation situation of the warship, thus providing archaeological supplies for the research of the historical past of the First Sino-Japanese War, generally identified in China because the Jiawu War, in addition to for world naval historical past.
The conflict began on July 25, 1894, when Japanese warships attacked two Chinese vessels off the Korean port of Asan. Its ending was marked by the signing of The Shimonoseki Treaty, which ceded the Liaodong Peninsula in northeast China, Taiwan, and the close by Penghu Islands to Japan in April 1895.
Laiyuan was accomplished in 1887 and joined the Beiyang Fleet in December of the identical yr. In February 1895, the ship was ambushed by Japanese torpedo boats in Weihai Bay, inflicting it to capsize and sink within the waters south of the Liu Gong Island stone pier. All 30 individuals on board perished within the incident.
According to Gao Mingkui, director of the analysis heart, about 300 sq. meters of seabed shall be cleared to substantiate the existence of the warship’s physique and assess its preservation situation inside the sediment. Representative artifacts shall be collected to establish the ship, and the researchers will comprehensively consider its historic significance.
The challenge will final 60 days. It is a collaborative effort involving a number of archaeological analysis facilities, historic museums, underwater archaeologists from Shandong and Guangdong provinces, and personnel from the Guangzhou Salvage Bureau.