The world’s largest ancient wooden boat in Halong

A dug-out canoe of the Van Lang culture (over 2,000 years ago) is owned by the former director of the Museum of Quang Ninh Province, Tran Trong Ha. Experts say this is the oldest and biggest intact dug-out canoe in the world.

The Poole Logboat dug-out canoe in England was previously considered the world's oldest, at more than 2,000 years old, but it is not intact.

The Poole Logboat is about 10m long but the one in Vietnam is 10.8m long, and the widest point of the boat is 1.07m.

This ancient boat was fished out from the Duong River by a fisherman, who used it as a box to contain miscellaneous items.

Ha bought this boat in 2012. "I had planned to buy the ancient boat for the Quang Ninh Museum but the museum officials did not agree to purchase it because the boat was not a product of Quang Ninh. So I took it home,” Ha said.

"The first time I saw the boat, I was extremely shocked. I guessed that it was at least made in the Tran Dynasty,” Ha said.

However, until the C14 method was used to assess the boat, Ha knew that this item was nearly 2,000 years old, belonging to the Dong Son culture.

This boat was made from a rare wood of about 800 years old, Ha added.

Here are some pictures of the invaluable boat: