The Ningpo Legend – CHSSC December Program

Catalina Island has a nautical celebrity: the wreck of a traditional Chinese merchant ship from the 18^th century, a vessel which survived the Opium Wars, the Taiping Rebellion, the Chinese Revolution, and ended up as a speak-easy anchored off California’s southern coastline. This presentation will look at the origins, history and context of the Ningpo (“Peaceful Wave”), and what we might learn from the site in the future.

Hans Van Tilburg is a historian and maritime archaeologist for NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries in the Pacific Hawaii to Jamaica and elsewhere. Chinese maritime history and nautical technology are some of his specialty interests in the in the field of underwater cultural preservation in the Asia Pacific area.