Gothenburg 31"

Thousand year old mystery

The Gothenburg was an 18th century Swedish merchant ship. After the completion of its construction, which had started in 1738, it traveled, for the first time, to the port of Canton, China, during the period between January 1739 and June 1740. Since then, it made two more journeys to Canton , from February 1741 to July 1742, and from May 1743 to September 1745. Unfortunately, during the third trip's homecoming, when it was just 900 meters away from the dock of the harbor, the Gothenburg ran into a rock and thus sank, but no one appeared to have lost his life. However, while already in sight of the welcoming crowd on shore, the entire ship's cargo sank into the vast ocean, ending the Gothenburg's mission.

The Gothenburg's Cargo:

The merchant ship Gothenburg is over 40 meters long, over 10 meters wide, approximately 50 meters tall, and has a cargo capacity of 1350 tons. The return cargo from China included 2677 chests of tea weighing a total of 366 tons, 19 chests of silk, 11.4 tons of spices, about 100 tons of porcelain, plus rattan. The total value of the cargo could amount to Sweden 's gross national product at that time.

According to various literature and statistics, from the 15th year to the 20th year of the Qianlong reign (1750-1755), about 11 million pieces of porcelain were shipped to Sweden from Canton , China . Later, from 1766 to 1786, the East India Company also carried to Sweden another 11 million pieces of Chinese porcelain. At that time, Chinese porcelain was a symbol of class and status in the eyes of Europeans, and thus was highly regarded. Just the earnings from auctioning the Gothenburg's salvaged porcelain surpassed the total cost of the ship; this reflects the significant value of Chinese porcelain to the West at the time. From the sunken ship, 30 tons of tea leaves, 80 bolts of silk cloth, and a large amount of porcelain were salvaged. In 1986, along with the advancement of technology for underwater archaeology, the plan to conduct another salvage of the Gothenburg was brought up, and after 10 years of excavating, another 9 tons of porcelain shards and many items in the once-lost cargo, including over 400 pieces of unbroken porcelain, tea, ginger, silk, and spices, were recovered.