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Author: Mark ‘Crowley’ Russell
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The Chinese salvage vessel Chuan Hong 68, seized in Malaysia in May 2023 for allegedly looting and desecrating two British Second World War shipwrecks has been detained yet again by Malaysian Authorities.
The Fuzhou-registered dredger was boarded off Tanjung Hatu, approximately 300 nautical miles northwest of Singapore, and detained for paperwork violations, including failure to provide original vessel documents and proper port clearance certificates. Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) and Royal Malaysian Navy personnel subsequently discovered 60 unregistered LPG tanks on board – a potential fuel for underwater cutting tools.
Chuan Hong 68 and its crew were detained on 25 May 2023 while anchored over the wrecks of the King George V-class battleship HMS Prince of Wales and Renown-class battlecruiser HMS Repulse. The two British Royal Navy warships, both of which had previously fought in the First World War, were sunk during the Japanese invasion of Malaysia and Singapore in December 1941. They are protected war graves, with a combined total of 840 men lost during the sinking.
Chuan Hong 68 had previously been detained in 2017 on suspicion of looting three Japanese shipwrecks from the Second World War, and is wanted by Indonesian authorities for looting the wrecks of three Dutch warships.
Old shipwrecks are often targeted as a source of ‘pre-war-steel’, which was smelted before the testing and use of atomic bombs, meaning it is untainted by radiation and a valuable metal for use in medical instruments and scientific measuring equipment.
Artillery shells matching the size of ammunition used by British warships of the time were found on board Chuang Hong 68 during the May 2023 seizure, which was instigated after a video posted on TikTok appeared to show the vessel offloading a cannon matching those with which Prince of Wales was armed. A second haul of unexploded ordnance was found at the same scrapyard in January 2024.
While no salvage was found on board the carrier during the latest detention, questions are being raised as to how and why the vessel continues to operate in the area. According to the Maritime Executive, the vessel has ‘repeatedly returned to the same operating area northeast of the Singapore Strait, often disappearing from AIS (Automatic Identification System) for weeks at a time’ – the area where the wrecks of HMS Prince of Wales HMS Repulse are located.
In an interview with the Eurasian Times, Maritime Security expert, Pooja Bhatt, said, ‘The Chinese Salvage vessel Chuan Hong 68 is an interesting incident but not unique where the vessel owners use the grey areas of international maritime laws to undertake illegal activities. While the vessel was a salvage ship carrying suspicious tools, such as LPG cylinders, that might be used for gas cutting of metal underseas, the ship, per se, wasn’t found doing any salvaging act.
‘At the same time, it was strategically located just outside 12nm Territorial Seas, so the coastal state cannot have absolute jurisdictional rights against the vessels,’ added Bhatt. ‘However, the Malaysian authorities imposed the vessel with other charges such as not carrying adequate documents and clearances, and arrested it for the right reasons.’
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The post Wreck-desecrating vessel Chuan Hong 68 detained – again appeared first on DIVE Magazine.
