Oman will send out its navy ships tomorrow in search of a famous Chinese vessel that is believed to have capsized and sunk off the Omani coast nearly 600 years ago, the media reported yesterday.
The Omani ships will sail from Saeed bin Sultan naval base on the country's eastern coast of Batina northwest of the capital Muscat in search of the Chinese ship that was commanded by Zheng He, a well-known Muslim sailor in the imperial Chinese Ming Dynasty that ruled during 1368-1644.
"The Sultanate will launch a search operation tomorrow for the Zheng He ship, which is believed to have been lost off the Omani shores between 1405 and 1433," the Omani Al Watan Arabic-language newspaper said.
"This search is within the joint desire by Oman and China to enhance co-operation for their common interests."
According to Chinese and other records, the Ming Armada weighed anchor in Nanjing 600 years ago, on the first of seven epic voyages as far west as the Gulf of Aden and Africa. The anniversary of those trips is being widely celebrated inside and outside China with exhibitions and articles.
Zheng He was a remarkable commander whose voyages of trade, exploration and goodwill led to the exchange of knowledge and goods as far a field as Yemen and the east coast of Africa. As the "Admiral of the Western Sea", Zheng He led China's most ambitious voyages of discovery.
Ordered by the Ming Emperor to sail to "the countries beyond the horizon" and "all the way to the end of the earth", under his command, the royal fleet of the Ming Dynasty set off for South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, heading for Gulf and East Africa.
His armada of giant junks was believed to be several times bigger than any of the fleets Columbus commanded nearly a century later.
With more than 300 ocean-going vessels and a crew of nearly 30,000 men, Zheng He helped transform China into the region's, and perhaps the world's, 15th century superpower, according to those records.
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