Norway recovers porcelain, chandeliers from 18th century shipwreck

OSLO - Archaeologists have recovered a trove of Chinese porcelain and European-made goods from a recently discovered 18th-century shipwreck off the coast of Norway, government and museum officials said on Monday.

Among the goods found in the remains of the unnamed sailing ship were tightly stacked white and blue porcelain bowls as well as goblets, textiles, grain and parts of chandeliers, the Norwegian Maritime Museum said.

The ship, believed to have sunk around the mid-1700s, was found by the owner of a salvage firm in the Skagerrak strait off southern Norway, at a depth of some 600 metres (2,000 feet), the museum said.

"This find is not only extraordinary, it's also of considerable scientific value and demonstrates an important technological advancement in underwater archaeology," Norway's Minister of Climate and Environment, Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, said in a statement.

The vessel's origin and destination are unknown, but work is ongoing to learn more about the wreck and its cargo, the Maritime Museum said.

($1 = 9.2508 Norwegian crowns)

-Reporting by Terje Solsvik; Editing by Kevin Liffey/Reuters