An elusive wooden shipwreck off Tân Thành beach in central Việt Nam vanished beneath fresh sand in early January 2024, just days after heavy seas first revealed its contours. The hull lay “hard to see due to large waves,” according to Vietnam Plus. Fearing further erosion, the Quảng Nam Provincial People’s Committee approved an emergency excavation permit after coastal engineers warned that any delay could destroy key timbers if the vessel remained in situ.
A joint team from the Hội An Cultural Heritage Management and Conservation Center and the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University–HCM City, surveyed the site during the recent field season. Their initial report described a craft roughly 17.4 meters long with a beam of more than five meters; sonar probes suggested the original vessel stretched at least 17.8 meters and held about 12 compartments. Framing combined Southeast Asian and Chinese construction methods, and many joints were reinforced with iron, indicating an oceangoing trader or naval ship.
Wood samples included bang lang (Lagerstroemia speciosa), kien kien (Dipterocarpus), and Chinese pine, while a tar-like sealant still coated several seams. Such details resemble more than 20 “hybrid ships” found across the East Sea and dated to the mid-14th through 16th centuries. Carbon-14 tests are under way.
“Thanks to the fortune of history, the wooden ship still retains a relatively intact structure,” stated the investigation report cited by CaféF. Photographs taken on 26 December 2023, after Typhoon Kalmaegi scoured away a protective dune, showed deck planking, sail-rope holes, and outer ribs jutting above the sand before the tide reclaimed them within hours.
Residents of Thịnh Mỹ hamlet recalled an earlier exposure on 9 November 2023. “People were very surprised to see the wooden ship reappear after a long time being lost,” said 35-year-old Nguyễn Thị Hương in Dân Trí. Local elders believe the wreck once lay beneath an old dune bordering a red-dirt road built during the French era; maps from 1905 placed that location some 700–800 meters inland, but shoreline retreat has since moved the surf line to the wreck’s position.
Deputy Center Director Master Phạm Phú Ngọc has led the emergency response. “Processing and conservation options will be carefully considered; it is highly likely that we will invite archaeological and conservation experts from both within and outside the country, including Japan, to participate in consulting to ensure scientific accuracy and safety for the artifacts,” he said, according to VietnamNet. He added in Nhan Dân that the ship offered crucial evidence of historic trade along the coast and needed controlled conservation, warning the timbers could “quickly deteriorate and lose their research value.”
The center fenced the area, posted warning signs, and coordinated daily monitoring with residents and police. Conservators are debating whether to raise the hull intact or dismantle it in sections. “Salvaging is not the most difficult part; the important challenge lies in preserving the artifacts after they are brought ashore,” Ngọc told Nhan Dân. The provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism directed Hội An City to complete carbon dating, finalize excavation plans, and secure storage tanks filled with polyethylene glycol or similar stabilizers.
Scholars hope the wreck will illuminate Hội An’s role as a bustling port between the 14th and 16th centuries, when merchants from Đại Việt, China, Japan, and the Malay world crowded the Thu Bồn estuary with ceramics, silk, and spices bound for regional markets. For now, orange buoys mark the spot where the deck last pierced the surf, awaiting calmer seas and the start of the formal dig.
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