The sea floor off Nagasaki Prefecture should be designated as a national historical site because of the wreck of a ship thought to have been used by 13th-century Mongol invaders, the Cultural Affairs Council has recommended.
The 384,000-sq.-meter area, about 200 meters off the island of Takashima, is expected to soon become the first underwater site to be awarded the designation. There are nearly 1,700 national historical sites in Japan.
The ship is believed to have sunk in a storm in 1281, during an ill-fated Mongol attempt to invade Kyushu. (Japan Times)
↧