The Geldermalsen, the Nanking Cargo

The account

A Dutch East India ship homeward from Canton struck a reef and sank in 1752, and lay forgotten until Michael Hatcher raised her in 1985, over a hundred thousand pieces of blue-and-white porcelain and a hundred and twenty-five gold ingots. Christie's sold the haul as 'the Nanking Cargo' in 1986, a sale that made headlines and forced the world to start writing rules about who owns a wreck.

Leads, where the trail points now

• Pin down the most specific last-known position in the record before going; the search centers on South China Sea, near Bintan, Indonesia.
• What you are chasing is 100,000+ pieces of porcelain and 125 gold ingots. Work the documented record of The Geldermalsen, the Nanking Cargo back to primary sources and separate what is attested from folklore.
• Salvaged before modern heritage protections; sold at auction, much debated since.