16th century replica junk sinks off Taiwan

A replica 16th century junk sank off Taiwan Sunday after a collision involving a Liberian freighter, a coastguard official said, a day short of completing a record trip across the Pacific and back.

Taiwan police helicopters and a coastguard ship rescued the Princess TaiPing's 11 crew members, who were drifting on the partially submerged vessel around 30 miles (48 kilometres) off the island's northeastern Suao port.

"My feeling at the moment is more than regret as the voyage was almost completed," Taiwanese captain Nelson Liu told reporters after he was picked up by the coastguard.

A coastguard official told AFP the junk and a Liberia-registered freighter called "Champion Express" collided.

The coastguard said no further action would be taken as the incident had happened in water where Taiwan has no jurisdiction and the junk is registered in Hong Kong.

No one from the Liberian vessel was immediately available for comment and there were no further details on the incident. Neither was it clear if anyone was at fault.

Liu's crew included six Americans, two Japanese, one Taiwanese and one Chinese.

The Princess TaiPing, a 35-tonne replica of a Ming dynasty warship, began its voyage from Taiwan's northern Pisha port in June, sailing along a northern route to Japan and reaching San Francisco five months later after surviving several storms.

The voyage was part of Liu's attempt with his supporters to verify a theory that 600 years ago China's greatest admiral and explorer, Zheng He, had sailed to North America.