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Ship from failed Mongol invasion found off Japan
The wreck of a ship thought to have taken part in a failed Mongol invasion of Japan has been found off the Japanese coast
Japanese samurai attacking a Mongol ship. Circa 1293, 13th century.
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The vessel is the first of its kind to have been discovered relatively intact and dates from a series of attempts by Kublai Khan, emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, to subjugate Japan between 1274 and 1281.
The 13th Century attacks on Japan were a rare setback for the Mongols at the height of their powers.
Historical records suggest that some 4,400 ships carrying 140,000 Mongol soldiers landed in Japan in 1281 and skirmished with samurai in northern Kyushu. But after returning to their boats, the fleet was struck by a devastating typhoon that put an end to the invasion plans - a storm known to all Japanese as "kamizake," meaning divine wind
A team of researchers uncovered a 12-metre (36ft) section of keel buried in deep sand off Nagasaki prefecture. They said it was the first time such a large piece of hull had been recovered from the Mongol invasion fleets.
The warship was located with ultrasonic equipment about 3 feet beneath the seabed at a depth of 75 feet. The archeological team, from Okinawa's University of the Ryukus, had been carrying out a search of the waters around Takashima Island, in Nagasaki Prefecture, because the area had yielded other items from Mongol ships.
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