In this webinar, a panel of foremost experts on Singapore’s early history and marine archaeology discussed the significance and contexts of two shipwrecks in Singapore’s waters.
TEMASEK HISTORY RESEARCH CENTRE WEBINAR
Wednesday, 6 April 2022 – In June last year, the National Heritage Board announced the conclusion of the excavation of two shipwrecks in Singapore waters. This webinar summarises the excavations and finds conducted by the Archaeology Unit (AU) of ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute over a six-year period and offered ways to situate them in their historical contexts. Temasek History Research Centre was pleased to host Dr Michael Flecker, the lead director for the excavations, Professor Derek Heng and Peter Borschberg, at Northern Arizona University and the National University of Singapore (NUS) respectively. The talk was moderated by Mr Kwa Chong Guan.
Dr Michael Flecker kicked off the seminar by providing a detailed overview of the excavation of the two wrecks. He began first by providing the background to the discovery of the wreck in 2015 and the work done to retrieve the sunken cargo from the sea. Dr Flecker then presented several fascinating ceramic finds from the first ship, the Temasek wreck, some of which were still intact, with a couple of beautiful blue-and-white porcelainwares and decorated longquan (celadon) green plates being particularly eye-catching. Bringing his expertise to bear, Dr Flecker showed how the finds likely identified it as a Chinese junk dating to the mid-14th century and headed for Temasek, especially in light of the parallels between the ship’s wares and those retrieved from Singapore’s terrestrial sites.
Segueing into the second shipwreck excavated, the Shah Muncher (1796), Dr Flecker was able to present more intact finds from the Country ship that was heading from Canton to Bombay, and which contained lots of ceramics, including curios such as figurines of animals and other statuettes. The discovery of objects belonging to Armenian merchants is particularly interesting as was also the variety of goods that were carried on board the ship. Dr Flecker suggests that the goods and people on board this particular wreck would have been similar to those calling at Singapore when it was founded.
This brief but rich report was followed by a presentation by Professor Derek Heng, who offered a more macro-perspective for thinking about the first wreck in the context of 14th-century Singapore. Prof. Heng suggested that the data from the first shipwreck opens new vistas for broadening our knowledge of the Temasek period in Singapore. In particular, the shipwrecks might provide us with information about the external economy and diplomatic connections of early Temasek, which we know little about. Furthermore, Prof Heng also proposed that the wreck can provide an indicative snapshot of the nature of Singapore’s trade with China and its role as a trans-shipment port, especially in comparison with other wrecks in the region. These thoughts were offered with the caveat that we need to be careful about the conclusions we draw until the full scale of the finds can be properly qualified and quantified.
The baton was then passed to Professor Peter Borschberg, who tackled the country trade in the 18th and early 19th centuries, exemplified by the second wreck, the Shah Muncher. Prof. Borschberg deftly defined the people and goods that would have come under the umbrella of “country trade” and the economic principles that undergirded its rise. In particular, he was able to show what advantages this particular type of trade and merchants offered, in contrast to the Company trade that was dominant in the region. The rise of the country trade in the 18th century was demonstrated to have been intimately tied not only to the search for a base in the Straits but also to the retention of Singapore by the British. As Prof. Borschberg puts it, country traders, who formed the crew on ships like the Shah Muncher, and would have plied the familiar highway of the Singapore Straits, were instrumental in changing the debate around Singapore “from a question of legality to one of utility.”
This webinar was attended by 117 attendees from all over the world, with the majority joining from Asia. Questions were asked regarding the lifestyles of sailors and the types of cargo on board as well as the trade that was possibly conducted in 14th-century Singapore. This lively session was concluded by Mr Kwa, who suggested that the shipwrecks show that Singapore’s history is as much tied to the seascape in front as it is to the city that grew up behind its shores.
Read the related Temasek Working Papers here.
This webinar is supported by Temasek Foundation.