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Open Legend · Unsolved

The Awa Maru

Sunk 1945, Taiwan Strait, off Fujian
COLD TRAIL
Evidence status: Historical tradition. no documented source (historical tradition); legal status unknown (manual verification recommended). This account is presented as historical tradition, not verified fact. Manual verification recommended. Repository evidence: 0 sources · 0 timeline events · 0 media items · legal unknown · view on the Map Evidence on file: historical tradition

The Awa Maru: still unexplained.

Rumored $5B in gold & platinum, and the Peking Man fossils

The subject
developing the photograph…
The manifest
Rumored $5B in gold & platinum, and the Peking Man fossils
Last known, where the trail went cold
Torpedoed under safe-conduct on April 1, 1945; China's massive 1977 to 80 salvage raised tin and rubber, and no treasure.
The account

A green-lit relief ship sunk by mistake in a single salvo, two thousand lives in twelve minutes, and then the rumors: bullion in her holds, the missing Peking Man bones among the cargo. China spent years opening her. What the divers found has never silenced what the rumors promise.

Leads, where the trail points now
  • Where the trail goes cold: Torpedoed under safe-conduct on April 1, 1945; China's massive 1977 to 80 salvage raised tin and rubber, and no treasure. That is where any serious search begins.
  • What you are chasing is Rumored $5B in gold & platinum, and the Peking Man fossils. Work the documented record of The Awa Maru back to primary sources and separate what is attested from folklore before you commit time or money.
  • Confirm who owns and governs Taiwan Strait, off Fujian and get written permission before any search; treat protected or archaeological ground as off limits.
What the record holds

What remains open

  • No period map of the site has surfaced.
  • No contemporary press coverage has been found.
What we know, and what we don't
Established

No documentary claim is yet established. The account rests on tradition.

Still open
  • No period map of the site has surfaced.
  • No contemporary press coverage has been found.
The evidence room

No documentary or visual exhibits have been located yet. The trail below and the open leads are where this dossier grows next — every exhibit that enters here carries a source.

Where the trail points now
  • Where the trail goes cold: Torpedoed under safe-conduct on April 1, 1945; China's massive 1977 to 80 salvage raised tin and rubber, and no treasure. That is where any serious search begins.
  • What you are chasing is Rumored $5B in gold & platinum, and the Peking Man fossils. Work the documented record of The Awa Maru back to primary sources and separate what is attested from folklore before you commit time or money.
  • Confirm who owns and governs Taiwan Strait, off Fujian and get written permission before any search; treat protected or archaeological ground as off limits.
  • Search Library of Congress + DPLA (IIIF) for period cartography of the site.
  • Run Chronicling America for dated newspaper mentions.
  • Query NARA for archival records tied to the site.

Have a source, a map, or a clipping? Add a lead and it enters the record with its citation.

Start the hunt here
The first leads, so no one walks in cold.
Sources and the record
Related case files

The full hunt kit

Starting brief, what's known and disputed, evidence timeline, source list, map card, coordinate-confidence and legal-access summaries, and a field checklist, free with a Fellowship account.

Latest Word From the Newswire

Context, not proof. The dossier's own sources remain the evidence record.

Checking the wire…

Chart position 24.660°, 119.750° (approx.) View on the Map