Hoi An Hoard, Part One - The Excavation During the 15th century,
off the Hoi An coast of Vietnam in the South China Sea, a
trading vessel filled with porcelain vanished without a trace.
Five hundred years later, in 1999, as a storm swept toward this
very same area, the archaeological excavation barge Tropical 388
was confronted by the possibility of a similar fate. The divers
working out of Tropical 388 were attempting to retrieve
artifacts from the wreckage of the trading vessel, a procedure
that was hazardous under the best of conditions. By no means
were these the best of conditions. The shipwreck was located in
the middle of a typhoon zone known as the Dragon Sea. The storm
was detected 1,500 miles away, but these were men on a mission
-- to rewrite a crucial chapter in the history of Vietnam. They
were accustomed to obstacles, and they forged on, bracing
themselves against the swells that were battering Tropical 388,
until it was obvious that the tempest was heading straight for
the dive site. Down below