Archaeologists in China have discovered an astonishing haul of historic treasures after salvaging a 150-year-old shipwreck from the bottom of the Yangtze river.

The 125-foot-long wooden vessel, known as the Yangtze Estuary No. 2, is one of the largest ancient wooden shipwrecks discovered in China.

Amazingly, archaeologists found neatly stacked Chinese-made finely decorated pots and bowls and other exquisite cultural relics in four of the ship’s cabins.

A large number of cultural relics such as purple clay wares, Vietnamese hookah tanks, wooden bucket remnants, masts, iron anchors etc. were also found in and around the hull.

Scientists made the discovery back in 2015, and have spent seven years of underwater archaeological investigation and exploration.

Now it has been brought to the surface after a night-time operation on 21st November.

During the exploration, sonar scanning revealed that the largely intact vessel is 33ft wide and originally had 31 cabins.

Researchers were also able to confirm that the wooden sailing ship dates back to the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty (AD 1862-1875).

Scientists believe the vessel was most likely used as a flat-bottomed barge, mainly for transport and trade.

Further research is to be carried out after the ship is transported to a dock at the former site of the Shanghai Shipyard in the Yangpu district.

And the archaeological site is expected to be turned into a shipwreck museum as part of the city’s five-year cultural heritage protection plan.