Michael Hatcher

Michael Hatcher unveiled a bell at the "Nankin Cargo" site in 1986

Michael "Mike" Hatcher (* 1940) is a British treasure hunter and responsible for several sea salvages.

He specializes in the South China Sea . In 1981 he researched the wreck of the Dutch submarine K XVII.

He became famous for salvaging large quantities of Chinese porcelain from the ship "Geldermalsen" of the Dutch East India Company, also known as the Nanking Cargo. The porcelain was auctioned off at Christie's 1986 in Amsterdam . In 1999 he discovered the wreck of the “ Tek Sing ” and was able to recover 360,000 pieces of porcelain, the majority of which were in perfect condition. This was one of the greatest porcelain treasures ever recovered.

The porcelain was stowed in the ship's tower store as it was supposed to serve as additional ballast to stabilize the large ship. Most of the porcelain was blue and white and was made in the Chinese city of Dehua in the 18th and 19th centuries. A large part of the cargo is Chinese porcelain, which is intended for everyday use and was intended for export to other Asian countries and was rarely found in the western hemisphere. Since porcelain had not yet penetrated the European markets at that time, the appearance of the porcelain was not yet adapted to European preferences and was entirely Chinese. Other types of porcelain from other time periods were also found, sometimes even pieces from the 15th century. The Tek Sing's cargo contained an impressive number of porcelain in various shapes and sizes, but the decorations were identical. Buyers in the 21st century had the opportunity to furnish complete dinner sets with Quing porcelain. Other items such as mercury , sextants, pocket watches, cannons and coins were also recovered. The recovery was the greatest recovery of all time.

The Tek Sing was a junk , the history of which the British ship researcher Nigel Pickford was able to reconstruct in detail: It includes a shipwreck with around 1,600 deaths (which is why the Spiegel called the ship the "Titanic of the East"), smuggling opium , economic difficulties and early mass emigration 19th century. The porcelain itself was very robust and withstood the sea for almost 200 years. Never before had experts been able to recover such a large find of Chinese porcelain intended for the Southeast Asian market.

The salvage catalog became an important reference work in the porcelain expert circles.

At the time of the discovery, Hatcher had already made two important finds of Chinese porcelain: The "Hatcher Collection" (from an unnamed Chinese junk) and the Nanking freight from the Dutch "Geldermalsen", which sank in 1752. Both finds were successfully auctioned in Europe in 1980. Hatcher chose “Nagel Auctions”, the market leader for Asian art on the European market at the time, to host the auctions.

The importance of the discovery and auction was further emphasized by the commissioning of a book on the history of the Tek Sing and its cargo. Harper Collins published a book about Michael Hatcher's life, written by Hugh Edward and Nigel Pickford, called Treasuers of the Deep. Another book, "The Legacy of the Tek Sing" dealt exclusively with the history of the "Tek Sing", its last voyage and its recovery.

Controversy

Much controversy revolves around Michael Hatcher's recovery of cargo from historic ships. The salvage of the "Tek Sing" and "Geldermalsen" were heavily criticized by archaeologists , as it would remove valuable artifacts from archaeological sites without any concrete record and the destruction of less valuable parts of the site, such as the ships themselves.

Seven containers of Tek Sing cargo were seized by Australian authorities under the Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act 1986 after the Indonesian region confirmed that they had been illegally exported from its territory.

However, confirmation from the Indonesian government came too late and Hatcher was able to transport the majority of the cargo to Europe and auction it off. On September 12, 2001, the 71,939 confiscated ceramics were extradited from Australia to Indonesia .

Itemized list

1. ^ BBC World Service - Documentaries - What Lies Beneath. Accessed June 19, 2018 . 
2. ↑ George L. Miller: The Second Destruction of the Geldermalsen . In: Historical Archeology . tape 26 , no. 4 , 1992, pp. 124-131 , JSTOR : 25616201 .
3. ^ Report from Australia. Ministry for the Arts, 2015, accessed June 19, 2018 .