Philippine Seas Are a Trove of Sunken Treasures

September 16, 1999 - 0:0
MANILA -- Artifacts discovered off the Philippine coast dating to before the birth of Christ could herald the discovery of a treasure trove on the archipelago's uncharted seabeds, experts say. French and Filipino divers from the private firm Underwater Archaeology Inc. and the National Museum turned up the trove of earthen jars and other antiques 46 meters (152 feet) under the ocean southeast of the western Island of Palawan in 1998. Carbon-dating tests released last month by the center Francais de Datation based in Lyon, France, date them back to 372 B.C., which would make the artifacts the oldest underwater find in the country.

Gilbert Fournier, a veteran French archaeological diver who found the wreck of an unidentified vessel off Palawan, said an expedition was being organized next year to dig up and further explore the new discovery. The National Museum, Underwater Archaeology Inc. and Supply Oilfield Services Inc., a Filipino-French firm specializing in petroleum underwater logistics, are to fund and lead the expedition. The list of undersea archaeological finds in the Philippines is impressive, but experts believe the ocean floor could be littered with more sunken treasures: the country was a major passageway to Asia in ancient times.

"In Philippine waters, there are a lot of incredible treasures to be discovered," Fournier, 61, said. "Philippine waters are like a giant underwater museum." Filipino fishermen, diving deeper to find their catch because coral reefs have been damaged by dynamite fishing, "discover new things every day", Fournier said. But exploration of each site could cost one million dollars, experts say. Philippine law provides that at least half of the treasure found be given to the government with the finders keeping the balance.

One of the most spectacular discoveries made in 1997 was the wreck of what is believed to be the British ship Earl Temple, which sank in June 1763 off Thitu Island in the disputed Spratlys Chain in the South China Sea. The shipwreck, lying northwest of the island now garrisoned by Philippine troops, yielded a priceless catch of iron ingots, stone slabs and coins.

Chronicles of the sinking showed three Englishmen survived to begin an incredible four-year journey back home. The three spent several months on the deserted Thitu before assembling a raft with bird feathers as sails and using it to sail to Vietnam, where, pretending to be Dutchmen, they were held prisoner for two years. They were later allowed to leave Vietnam for Canton (Guangzhou), China, and from there they returned to Britain. In 1995, a Filipino pearl diver accidentally discovered treasures from a Chinese junk off Pandanan Island, south of Palawan, when he dove deeper to retrieve a netful of pearls which had slipped from his grasp.

Excavation by French and Filipino underwater archaeologists, with the support of the National Museum, showed the vessel was a 14th century Chinese vessel loaded with barter goods of which some 5,000 artifacts were recovered intact. The wreckage of another Chinese junk discovered in September 1998 off Palawan and dating from the 16th century still has to be fully explored next year after an initial expedition revealed several priceless vases.