Maritime

Tek Sing Shipwreck Treasure [Recovered by Mike Hatcher] – Shipwreck in the Gaspar Straits 1822

Qing Dynasty decorated footed dish recovered by Mike Hatcher from the Tek Sing shipwreck. A very good clean example.

Niceley decorated and with peony and magnolia flowers and double lines at rim, simple decoration under rim. Strong colouring and no damage which is rare. 10.5 cm in diameter 2.5 cm high. Retains the auction reference sticker from the famous Nagel auction in Germany underneath.

A fine example of a Tek Sing shipwreck bowl

________________________

The Tek Sing Shipwreck – Background

The Tek Sing (Chinese for “Bright Star”’) was a large Chinese Junk which sank in 1822 in the South China Sea at the Belvidere Shoals. She was 50 meters long, 10 metres wide and weighed a thousand tons. Manned by a crew of 200. The great loss of life has led to the Tek Sing being referred to as the “Titanic of the East”.

Sailing from the port of Amoy (now Xiamen), the Tek Sing was bound for Jakarta, with a cargo of porcelain goods and 1,600 Chinese immigrants. After a month of sailing, Captain Lo Tauko took a shortcut through the Gaspar Straits and ran aground on a reef and sank in 100 feet of water.

The next morning and English East Indiaman captained by James Pearl sailing from Indonesia to Borneo passed through the Gaspar Straits. He found debris from the sunken Chinese vessel and survivors. They managed to rescue 190 people.

In 1999, marine salvor Mike Hatcher discovered the wreck. His crew raised what has been described as the largest cache of Chinese porcelain ever recovered. It was auctioned by Nagel in Stuttgart, Germany the following year

$140.00

Updating cart…

Shipwreck and Discovery of the Pelew Islands – First Edition 1788

An Account of the Pelew Islands situated in the Western Part of the Pacific Ocean, composed from the Journals and Communications of Captain Henry Wilson, and some of his Officers who, in August 1783, were there Shipwrecked in the Antelope … George Keate – 1788

Published by G Nicol, Booksellers to His Majesty the King, Pall Mall, LonDon in 1788. Quarto, xxvii, 378 pages. Bound in half leather over marbled papered boards, spine in compartments with gilt titles, author, date [1788] and fouled anchors to compartments. Binding a little rubbed to edges but still strong and impressive, internally a little age and occasional foxing and the odd stain, overall a good to better copy complete and worthy in any collection.

Frontispiece and sixteen magnificent engravings 8 of which are folding. Frontispiece of Wilson and an important folding map of the islands and their relationship with The Philippines, also a three-fold plan or view of the islands.

Composed from the journals and communications of Captain Wilson and his Officers who in 1783 were shipwrecked in the Antelope a packet belonging to the Honourable East India Company. They hit a reef near one of the Palau (Pelew) Island, a previously unexplored group. The entire crew managed to get ashore safely, where they were well treated by the natives and eventually managed to build a small vessel from the wreck in which they reached Macao. They took Prince Lee Boo, one of King Adda Thulle’s sons, with them to England, where he made a very good impression. Unhappily despite of precautions he died of smallpox. Keate was the author of numerous books of poetry, history, and letter, and counted Captain Wilson as well as Voltaire amongst his friends.

First Edition 1788 – An important Account with an interesting, readable narrative and impressive plates and maps.

$790.00

Updating cart…

Rabaul 1942 – the Story of the 2/22nd Australian Army Infantry and others – Douglas Aplin

This is the second printing of Douglas Aplin’s definitive book on the, as he calls it, “tragic story of the 2/22^nd …. The men and women of the Lark Force, including units of the RAN, RAAF, New Guinea Volunteer Rifles, 1^st Independent Company etc and New Guinea residents who were caught up in the calamity following the January 1942 invasion of the New Guinea Islands by the Japanese”

Softcover, perfect bound, published by the Battalion, effectively self-published by the author, 1980. 294 pages, illustrated – very good condition.

And, what a calamity it was … many lost their lives amid the confusion sparked by the ineptitude of military and political hierarchy in Canberra … for weeks invasion had been inevitable and opportunities to move anyone at risk were lost … those left must have been terrified and bewildered. Without dragging too much up, as is the mood of current times, … things were not good. The Japanese brought 3,000 of their own prostitutes to Rabaul to “service” their troops, gives you some idea …

Nevertheless, there are some good stories here among the debris of war … those that made every personal effort to escape … often by risky means … but with success. This is an important book to reflect on how humans behave in the worst of circumstances … but the “escapes”… they provide some happiness and relief.

Important thorough work by Douglas Aplin based on numerous journals, diaries, records etc.

$70.00

Updating cart…

Whalers of the Midnight Sun – Alan Villiers [Based on His Experiences] – 1964

Maritime hero Alan Villiers brings his undoubted experience to this adventure book aimed at young boys.

A new edition and first of its type, Angus and Robertson 1964. Octavo, 248 pages with ten full pages illustration from woodcuts by Charles Pont. A little aging to page edges and gift inscription back of half title, nice bright jacket, all up a pretty good copy.

End paper maps of the voyage from Hobart, Tasmania down to Macquarie Island; the Balleny Islands; the Ross Sea; Grahams Island before heading north to Montevideo.

A Norwegian expedition picks up some extra crew at Hobart, a motly band of youths and a stow away, little Alfie, who appears at Macquarie Island. Adventure ensues.

Alan Villiers, a yarn about Whaling, from personal experience.

$30.00

Updating cart…

The Bay Whalers – Tasmania’s Shore-Based Whaling Industry – Michael Nash.

It is estimated that over a thousand southern right whales were taken in Tasmania in 1839. The practice had started just more than ten years before and steadily rose and then declined in a similar fashion after the peak.

Another super book by all things marine Michael Nash. Great research nicely presented.

Published by Navarine in 2003. Large octavo, 170 pages, smashing relevant illustrations throughout.

Shore-based whaling what was it where was it and what was the impact – Tasmanian history and legacy.

$40.00

Updating cart…

Resources of the Sea – Record of a Symposium arranged by the Royal Society of Tasmania

Published by the Society relating to a symposium held at Bicheno on the east Coat of Tasmania in 1974.

Perfect bound 199 pages, decorated card covers. High standard and intensity narrative, numerous, charts, images, diagrams etc.

Divided into non-biological [Physical setting; Scenic Margin; Minerals of the Ocean and Oil] – biological [Fisheries; Farming the Sea; Ecosystems]

Whilst this is the 1970′s and the offshore oil industry is now well established, it is the sections on Minerals and Farming the Sea that we find particularly intriguing given that the former had gone into hibernation until Trump II came along and the latter is such a contested issue in Tasmania these days.

In the minerals paper we have much on manganese and the various methods of harvesting at various depths of ocean … go for it we think … or maybe not?

Resources of the Sea – a set of paper to look back on and look forward.

$30.00

Updating cart…

Tek Sing Shipwreck Treasure [Recovered by Mike Hatcher] – Shipwreck in the Gaspar Straits 1822

Shipwreck and Discovery of the Pelew Islands – First Edition 1788

Rabaul 1942 – the Story of the 2/22nd Australian Army Infantry and others – Douglas Aplin

Whalers of the Midnight Sun – Alan Villiers [Based on His Experiences] – 1964

The Bay Whalers – Tasmania’s Shore-Based Whaling Industry – Michael Nash.

Resources of the Sea – Record of a Symposium arranged by the Royal Society of Tasmania

Product Categories