The Nanhai No. 1 shipwreck, 30m long and 10m wide, discovered 25m under the sea in 1987, is believed to have been built between 1127 and 1279 AD during the reign of the Southern Song Dynasty.

The Java Sea Wreck was first found by fishermen and looted by local divers before being salvaged, along with its cargo. Salvage work continued in 1996, and archaeological examinations were undertaken. The ship wreck dates from the mid to late 13^th century and was found in the open sea, west of the coast of Sumatra. The area is now a direct shipping lane between the Bangka Strait and Jakarta.

In 2003, local fishermen caught Chinese ceramics in their fishing nets in the Northern Java Sea, Indonesia. These objects belonged to a shipwreck known as the Cirebon wreck which sank in the Java Sea at the turn of the first millennium. The merchant ship was exporting a large amount of Yue yao (Yue ware), a Chinese porcelain produced in the ancient region of Yue, in particular Yue ewers with bulging bellies, bowls, platters and incense burners, and figurines of birds, deer and unicorns.

This shipwreck was discovered 12 kilometers from Hon Bay Chan, a small island belonging to the Con Dao group south of Vietnam, at a depth of 35 meters. In 1991, archeologists examined the wreck and salvaged the cargo. The ship was approximately 25 meters long and 7.7 meters wide.  Since half of the hull remained in very good condition, scientists were able to determine that the vessel was a lorcha, a special type of Chinese vessel influenced by Portuguese design.

The Belitung Shipwreck, also called the Tang shipwreck or Batu Hitam shipwreck, was found by local fishermen off the Belitung Island, Indonesia, in 1998. The Arabian ship sailed possibly between Oman and China during the 9^th Century AD and evidence suggests it travelled on the so-called Maritime Silk Route even when it mainly transported ceramic.

The Bakau wreck is one of the oldest ships of Chinese production found in the Southeast Asian sea. It dates back to the 15^th century. The wreck is located close to the coast of Bakau, a small island west of Indonesia. At the time of scientific examinations, most of the smaller cargo had already been looted. However, several huge storage jars and parts of the hull still remained. The remaining hull is 22.7 meters long and 6.5 meters wide. All together, the wrecks provide evidence of typical Chinese constructions, containing flat bottoms and bulkheads.

In 1999, enormous quantities of porcelain were salvaged from one of the last Chinese Junks, the Tek Sing. The ship, measuring 60 metres in length and over 10 metres in width, was found by a private treasure-salvaging company operating in the South China Sea. Over 350,000 pieces of porcelain were recovered and auctioned in Stuttgart, Germany. The invaluable cargo, a source of reference for early 19^th century Dehua blue and white wares, was dispersed and the wreck destroyed.

The Stone Town of Zanzibar is a great example of the Swahili coastal trading towns of East Africa and is one of the most significant port cities of the Swahili culture. During several centuries a tremendous commercial maritime activity has bound Asia to Africa, while the diverse influences underlying the Swahili culture mixing Arab, Persian, Indian and European elements made Stone Town also unique. It has flourished as a spice trading center in the 19^th century when the city was the capital of the Zanzibar Sultanate.

The SS Ava was a 1,613 GRT British steamship, constructed in 1855 by the Tod & McGregor shipyard in Glasgow. She was operated by the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company on the China mail service. She ran aground and was wrecked off the coast of Ceylon in February 1858, on her voyage from Calcutta to Suez, including a cargo of 500 boxes containing £275,000 in gold.

The Singtai shipwreck lies at a depth of 53 meters, 12 nautical miles from the island of Pulau Redang off the north-eastern coast of peninsular Malaysia.  It appears to be a heavily loaded vessel approximately 22 meters in length.  The construction of the ship which includes transverse bulkheads made from soft wood (joined by square iron nails) suggests that it may have been built in China.