[updated 09 Sept. 2015]

British cargo vessel Viscount Melbourne sank in 1840, some 150 years ago, on the Luconia shoals, off Miri coast (Sarawak). It was discovered by amateur archaeologist  Hans Berekoven in 2011.

In a recent Borneo Post article, Mr. Berekoven advocated for an application to UNESCO to have the site listed as World Heritage.

“Shoals ‘fit to be Unesco World Heritage site”  Borneo Post, 23 June 2015

“Marine archaeologist stamps Malaysia’s mark on Luconia Shoals” Borneo Post, 08 Sept. 2015

For more, check the blog page : “The loss of the Viscount Melbourne”, an English cargo ship shipwrecked on the South China Sea in 1842″, 13 Jan. 2014. The discoverers of the wreck write that they found it “by reading the dairies of the White Raj –  Rajah Brook’s  followed by a Google search”

May we add that a listing could also be considered under Sarawak Cultural Heritage Ordinance 1993 or the Malaysia National Heritage Act 2005 (see our page on the regulatory framework).