A 400-year-old quest for sunken treasure continues this week in the Myanmar River as divers and a team of workers try to rescue an enormous bell.
Deep water divers have begun the search again this week, hoping to find an object that has been missing for centuries. The bell in question is a massive 270-ton bell cast of solid bronze, which experts believe may be one of the largest bells ever made. For reference, the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia only weighed about one ton when it was cast - that's about 2,000 pounds. The lost Myanmar bell weighs a whopping 540,000 pounds.
The bell was cast in 1476, created for King Dhammazedi, and was later donated to the Shwedagon pagoda. It was stolen by Philip de Brito in the 1600s, but his boat sank while it was carrying the bell, depositing it somewhere at the intersection of the Yangon and Bago rivers and the Pazundaung creek.
Win Myint, the Minister for Commerce of Myanmar, organized the new search party, consisting of around 70 people. He enlisted the help of 10 divers from Myanmar known as "sea gypsies," who have the extraordinary ability to dive deeply without the air of equipment.
People believe that the ancient bell has been buried deeply under silt from the river. Heavy river currents make the search difficult. However, Myint is hopeful that his team can rescue the bell. He said that he has dreamed of reclaiming the bell from the sea and returning it to the Shwedagon pagoda from which it was stolen.
The divers have made several attempts to locate the bell over this past week, and are attempting again today on Thursday August 14. A team of Buddhist monks prayed for the divers' safety and the success of the mission as they made the leap into the deep, dangerous currents of the Myanmar River, attached to the boat by only rope.
Myint said that he expected this expedition to go on for up to 45 days. He pinned the costs at around $200,000, most of which was donated.
The Shwedagon pagoda is a very holy spot in Myanmar, over 2,500 years old. It contains many holy relics from the Buddhist faith. The fabled Dhammazedi bell was replaced with a smaller bell in 1779, according to the temple's website. That bell was also stolen from the temple, by the British in the 1820s. That bell, too, fell into the river as the British attempted to sail away with it. However, it was successfully recovered from the river and now sits in its rightful place in the pagoda.
