One of the warships, part of the two massive Mongolian Armadas, which set sail between 1274 to 1281, has been decaying underwater for the most part of last 700 years. The Mongolian Armada was commissioned by Kublai Khan who was the grandson of the legendary Mongol King Genghis Khan. The fleet consisted of some 4,000 big and small ships with more than 140,000 skilled Mongol soldiers on board. The aim was to invade Japan consequently expanding the legendary Yuan Dynasty.
Mongol ships were equipped with sophisticated weaponry and war hardened soldiers, however nothing could have prepared them for the enemy they had to face in the sea. Japanese knew about the invasion and there was nothing much they could do to evade this impending doom, however in a strange turn of events the tables turned in Japan’s favor. A massive sea storm hit the Mongolian Armadas and the whole fleet was obliterated in a very short interval. Japanese named the storm ‘Kamikaze’ meaning the divine wind, since the storm saved Japan from certain destruction and total annihilation.
This discovery by the Archeologists from the University of the Ryukyus is the third installment by the team in last four years regarding the Mongol’s invasion of Japan. The first of the discovery was made in 2011 when the team of archeologists and divers stumbled upon an old shipwreck. After analyzing the findings and matching with the historic record of Mongol warships, experts came to the conclusion that the ship belonged to the Mongol fleet that invaded Japan between 1274 and 1281.
In the fall of 2014, another shipwreck was discovered some 200m from Takashima Island. The experts have now discovered another Mongol ship which is 12m long and 3m wide, though not as massive as the previously discovered ship which was more than 20m from bow to stern and was seven meters wide. Recently found shipwreck was decaying underwater near the city of Matsuura on the western coast of Kyushu Island. Archeologists believe that soldiers on board this particular ship were trying to take shelter from the storm and were hoping to reach the land but sank in the process. (Mail Online)
According to a professor of archeology at the University of Ryukyus the team of archeologists have identified a number of other potential sites for shipwrecks belonging to the Mongols and are trying to gather more data in this regard. He added that further research is currently being carried out for other possible routes of the Mongolian Armadas in order to locate other sunken ships.