The 300 Ton Bell the River Swallowed

King Dhammazedi’s legendary 300-ton bronze bell was lost in 1608 when a Portuguese mercenary's raft sank at the confluence of the Bago and Yangon rivers near Monkey Point. While modern expeditions like Josh Gates’ have faced extreme conditions searching for the relic, other highly publicised recovery attempts have been criticised by historians and politicians as fraudulent "national shenanigans". Beyond the hunt for treasure, technical reports emphasize that continuous dredging and the repair of anchor vessels are critical to maintaining these same unstable channels for modern international commerce.