Michael Hatcher

Michael "Mike" Hatcher (born 1940) is a British explorer and marine salvor.

He has specialised in work in the South China Sea. In 1981 he was involved in investigating the wreck of Dutch submarine K XVII.

He is especially known for his recovery of large quantities of Chinese porcelain from the VOC ship Geldermalsen (known as the "Nanking cargo") which was sold at auction by Christie's in Amsterdam in 1986.^[1]

In 1999 he discovered the Tek Sing shipwreck and retrieved 360,000 pieces of porcelain.

In 2007 a number of associates of his were convicted of a fraud involving a treasure hunting mission which exploited Hatcher's name in an unauthorised investment, the "Hatcher Unit Trust".^[2]

References

1. ^ BBC Radio World Service Broadcast, "What Lies Beneath" First broadcast Friday 22 August 2008
2. ^ http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21906765-28737,00.html The Australian: "Treasure traps band of hunters".

Further reading

• Hugh Edwards. Treasures of the Deep: The Extraordinary Life and crimes of Captain Mike Hatcher (HarperCollins Publishers, 2000) ISBN 9780732258856
• Nigel Pickford and Michael Hatcher. The Legacy Of The Tek Sing, Granta
• Christie's Amsterdam B.V. The Nanking Cargo, Chinese Porcelain and Gold, European Glass and Stoneware, recovered by Captain Michael Hatcher from a European ship wrecked in the South China Seas. Amsterdam, 1986
• Sheaf, Colin (1988). Hatcher Porcelain Cargoes: The Complete Record. Phaidon. ISBN 978-0714880464.

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Name	Hatcher, Michael
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Date of birth	1940
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