Archeologists on Thursday began to retrieve and clean relics from a second cabin of the sunken merchant vessel Nan'ao No.1 in south China's Guangdong Province.

Sun Jian, director of the salvage team from the National Underwater Cultural Heritage Protection Center, said more than 2,000 items had already been recovered from another cabin, including porcelain plates, mugs, vases, plates, bowls and other small dishes, as well as metal pots and weapons.

As the ship slowly yields her secrets, on Wednesday some blue porcelain plates bearing people's images were brought to the surface for the first time.

Other new relics that surfaced on Wednesday included some items made of color-glazed porcelain, which is more valuable than blue and white porcelain.

Tin ware, iron shotguns and canons were also retrieved.

"This indicates Chinese people had begun to use iron shotguns and canons since the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)," said Chen Huasha, a senior researcher at the Bejing-based Palace Museum, who has been observing the salvage operation.

And the new relics, many with patterned Chinese characters on them, suggests that the vessel may have been sailing to Japan, South Korea or other Southeast Asian countries, she said.

These countries were deeply influenced by the ancient Chinese Han culture and had established close trade relations with China when the ship sank, she said.

Chen said she believed women were on board the ship after some women's metal finger rings were brought to the surface.

The people on board may have escaped when the boat sank off the cost some 400 years ago, Chen said.

According to archeologists, the ship is believed to have had five to six cabins, carrying more than 10,000 objects.

Nan'ao No.1, which is now 27 meters under water, sank during the Ming dynasty and was first discovered by local fishermen in 2007.

Another sunken merchant vessel was recently discovered off Zhangzhou in east China's Fujian Province.

Ruan Youhao, director of Zhangzhou city research institute of archaeology, said the Song dynasty ship was believed to contain a large number of relics.

The wooden vessel, which is well preserved and remains intact, will eventually be brought to the surface and hoisted from the water, Ruan said.

(China Daily May 21, 2010)