NO.19

Flecker: Early Voyaging in the South China Sea NSC Working Paper No. 19Chart 1. Documented shipwrecks in China and Southeast Asia by type 32Credit: Author.When studying Chart 1, the first thing that springs to mind is the dearth ofdocumented sea-going shipwrecks in China and Southeast Asia. For the entire firstmillennium there are only six wrecks. In the 11 th century, during the Southern Song whenmaritime trade began to surge, there are none. During the 12 th century there is a singleChinese junk. Even at the peak, during the 15 th century, there are only nine wrecks, anaverage of less than one per decade.From the earliest times there must have been at least an annual voyage fromvarious polities to Oc Eo in the kingdom of Funan. From the rise of Srivijaya in the 8 thcentury it is likely that there were several voyages per year to and from China alone.Liebner (2012:46) calculates at least two voyages between China and eastern Java per yeararound the mid-10 th century based on the Cirebon Wreck ceramics cargo and the likelyconsumer population. The Cirebon cargo was remarkably large, so his results may beunderestimated. Recorded tribute missions can provide a base number for voyages to andfrom China. For example, between 960 and 999 there were 71 missions, or approximatelytwo voyages per year (Heng 2012:39). Tribute missions tend to ease off after this, but aremade up for by a rapid increase in private trade. There were five major trading ports inChina by the end of the 10 th century. If there were only two major voyages per year fromeach of these ports there would be ten trading ships fanning out across the South ChinaSea annually. From the 11 th century, Chinese shipping added to the Southeast Asian fleet.32 Note that wrecks with dates that mark the transition between centuries have been allocated to theearlier century, i.e., a 13 th to 14 th century wreck appears in the 13 th century column.40