In 1975, a fishing boat working in the southwestern sea of Korean peninsula, near the Shinan Islands, caught six pieces of Chinese ceramic wares in the net. This seemingly trivial incident led to the discovery of a 14th century shipwreck with a precious cargo of ceramic wares and other objects. Much of the ship's cargo was found to be intact that led researchers to describe the Shinan shipwreck as possibly “the richest ancient shipwreck yet discovered”.

Ceramic artifacts discovered from the Shinan shipwreck. Photo: Korean Culture and Information Service/Wikimedia Commons