Shwedagon Pagoda
Kevin Phillips
I understand it was meant to have been taken by the Portugese and lost at
sea.
Jim Blunt Deep Sea Diver
> Does anyone know anything about the missing golden bell from this temple?
>
> I understand it was meant to have been taken by the Portugese and lost at
> sea.
Dear Mr. Phillips,
The Lengendary Sunken Bell of King Dhammazedi is still Sunken, still a
legend. Stolen from the Shwedagon Pagoda in 1608 AD by De Brito, It
fell off his barge while floating it to Syriam. Cast on location in
the Shwedagon Pagoda sometime around 1458 AD The Great Bell's
estimated wieght is 278 tons and consists of Gold, Silver, and Bronze.
The Top of the Great Bell is 30 feet below the bottom of the River in
an area called the Dowbon, just off of Pegu Point ( sometimes on
charts as Bago Point). There is a Miniture Golf course there with
bungalows, quite nice, perfect for honeymooners. Looking towards
Syriam you can see a large drum bouy, I think it was an old boiler at
one time, the Great Bell is about 180 feet away and straight down. The
Dhammazedi Bell sinks at a rate of about one quarter of an inch per
year and is at an 18 degree angle. It does not have any diamonds or
rubies embedded on it. I hammered on it from the bottom of excavation
pit number 3, June 12, 1997. The Bell was ID'ed by Atomic Photo
Spectrometry soil samples taken, some samples directly off of the
Great Bell. The Great Bells exact location was obtained by several
well established marine archeological methods including GPS and laser
light transits.
Sincerely,
Jim Blunt
Master Deep Sea Diver
Boat Captain USNR
Steven HTUT
Are you still reachable through soc.culture.burma?
Steven H