The case of the 'Royal Nanhai'* - and another wreck, the 'Nanyang', which was discovered as part of the same project - is an intriguing story of a search conducted in partnership with acclaimed fellow researcher/salvor Sten Sjostrand. In fact, Sjostrand had painstakingly prepared all the groundwork for what would prove to be a most frustrating, but ultimately successful, project. He was convinced of the existence of shipwrecks in a particular area in the South China Sea, but they could just not be found! It is thus also owing to Hallstrom's intervention and expertise that two wrecks were eventually located; with the facts at hand he had returned to the drawing board to re-think the areas in which they might be resting.

*The 'Royal Nanhai' is the project name given to the excavation of an otherwise nameless vessel, estimated to have sunk around 1440 - 1470. The 'Nanyang' is the project name given to a shipwreck (containing in its cargo Celadon stoneware and clayware) found in Malaysian territorial waters.

The western and eastern 'Nanhai' trade routes were established in 1340 by the Chinese, and followed for centuries thereafter. Both of these routes started in China: one ended in Java, the other in Malacca. The 'Royal Nanhai' was, according to researchers who could identify her typical features, a 'Royal Siam Junk' participating in the coastal junk trade. Travelling the western sailing route and heading south for the port of Tuban in Eastern Java, it appears she came into trouble off the coast of Malaysia.

While there is no direct proof, it is likely that the unusually long vessel broke in heavy sea, common for the Northeast monsoon in the South China Sea. Heavily loaded with iron ore, iron ingots and pottery, it is possible that she might have sprung a leak when pushed too hard by her crew. The ill-fated vessel and her cargo thus came to rest on the seabed, only to be discovered about six centuries later.

The search for a particular wreck is often undertaken based on the finds of fishermen who have stumbled upon "evidence" whilst trawling the ocean's depths with their nets. In this instance, some fishermen had encountered snagging points in certain areas in the South China Sea and had even pulled up with their catches pieces of old porcelain. With the intensive information he gained from the fishermen, Sten Sjostrand proceeded with further research. This entailed investigating different historical sources and studying in great detail the traditional sailing routes and the maritime trade pattern of the area. His findings highlighted several possible areas in which wrecks were likely to be found.

Sverker Hallstrom entered into a joint venture with Sjostrand in April 1994. The agreement was that Sjostrand would provide his boat, 'Cadenza', and several divers, while Hallstrom would provide his boat, 'Talvas', a "Sea Owl" ROV (with at least one ROV pilot/technician/surveyor), a side-scan sonar system, a track plotter and other necessary equipment. Based on the information gathered by Sjostrand, Hallstrom was to do his best to locate these snagging points and any other interesting obstacles in the identified areas by using his side-scan system. If anything significant was picked up by the sonar, the Sea Owl ROV would be deployed to identify the targets.

In May 1994, the first search party set off into the South China Sea. By the end of June, the search and identification process had revealed nothing but the remnants of what might have been a steel ship, or coral formations where freshwater springs were present.

Hallstrom demobilized his boat and crew to Singapore at the end of June. Sjostrand stayed behind, borrowing a "Hyball" ROV and a Mesotech 971 side-scan system from Hallstrom, and focusing particularly on the two areas where pottery had been found (the positions of these two areas had at that time not been revealed to Hallstrom).

After a consistantly hard search during July and August, yielding no sign of the wrecks, Sjostrand was ready to give up. Still certain of their existence, though, and convinced that the porcelain cargo both carried would be well worth the effort, he persuaded Hallstrom to return in order to carry out a closer search. Hallstrom now put his plans to mobilize to Lebanon on the shelf.

Sjostrand seemed particularly certain of one of the areas, on which Hallstrom was urged to focus. However, a very careful combing of the area had again revealed nothing. He had a strong feeling, though, that the shipwreck did in fact exist, but in an adjacent area. He requested all the information Sjostrand possessed regarding the former area, and set to work re-drawing his own idea of the wreck's position. The search, this time, had some success. Within a week a wreck was located, at a depth of 54 meters. This was to be known as the 'Nanyang.'

It should be noted that without Sjostrand's carefully noted observations it would not have been possible for Hallstrom to find this shipwreck. According to the preliminary investigations carried out by Sjostrand, it seemed that the vessel could have been about 18 meters long with a deckbeam of five meters. In a preliminary judgement, it was estimated that the ship's cargo contained some 15 - 20 000 pieces of stoneware and a smaller quantity of clayware. The ship has not yet been salvaged.

The search for the other wreck was continued. Hallstrom had another strong feeling - that it might lie in an adjacent area to that which was first searched. After again obtaining all the information he could from Sjostrand, he drew up a new estimated position and the search was re-located there. Again, within a week of extremely careful searching, Hallstrom was able to find the shipwreck. The day after the find, Hallstrom dived on the wreck and picked up a box of porcelain, an exciting event that was videotaped from the ROV. He was thus the first person to have touched this wreck - the 'Royal Nanhai' - since she went down in the 15th Century, a moment that made all the frustrations of the search worthwhile! Once again, Hallstrom acknowledges that the find was owed to the prior research of Sjostrand, who completed the wreck's excavation.