14. Up from the Watery Deep The Discovery of an Armenian Gravestone in the South China Sea

In 1997, the excavation of the recently-discovered wreck site of a European sailing vessel on the southern edge of Thitu Reef in the South China Sea yielded no cargo of precious commodities, but rather a variety of items related primarily to the vessel’s defense and to daily life at sea: musket shot, cannon balls, guns (cannon), anchors, iron ingots, ship’s fittings, several dozen loose and badly corroded coins, several shoe buckles, eating utensils, spigots and glass decanter stoppers. The s...