Gelasa Strait

{{short description|Strait in Indonesia}} {{EngvarB|date=April 2022}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox body of water | name = Gelasa Strait | native_name = {{native name|id|Selat Gelasa}} | image = MACLEOD(1819) p292 FORT MAXWELL (cropped).jpg | caption = The encampment Fort Maxwell, set up in 1817 on Pulo Leat ([[Pongok Island]]), Gaspar Strait, by survivors of the wreck of {{HMS|Alceste|1806|6}} | image_bathymetry = | caption_bathymetry = | depth = | max-depth = | inflow = | outflow = | catchment = | basin_countries = [[Indonesia]] | length = | width = | min_width = | islands = | etymology = | location = | pushpin_map = Indonesia Sumatra | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_map_alt = | pushpin_map_caption = | coordinates = {{Coord|2|40|S|107|15|E|type:waterbody_region:ID|display=inline,title}} | coor_pinpoint = | part_of = | alt = | type = [[Strait]] | cities = | area = | oceans = | website = | reference = [https://geographic.org/geographic_names/name.php?uni=-3702510&fid=2455&c=indonesia Selat Gaspar: Indonesia] National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Bethesda, MD, USA }}

The '''Gelasa Strait''' ({{langx|id|Selat Gelasa}}) (formerly '''Gaspar Strait''') is a [[strait]] separating the [[Indonesia]]n islands [[Belitung]] (formerly {{langx|en|Billiton|link=no}}) and [[Bangka Island|Bangka]]. It connects the [[Java Sea]] with the [[South China Sea]].

==Etymology== The old name ''Gaspar'' is after a Spanish captain, who passed through it in 1724 ''en route'' from [[Manila]] to Spain.<ref name="horsburgh 1809-1811">{{cite book|last=Horsburgh |first=James |author-link=James Horsburgh |title=Directions for Sailing to and from the East Indies, China, New Holland, Cape of Good Hope, and the Interjacent Ports |series=2 vols |volume=2 |location=London |publisher=Printed for the author and sold by Black, Parry, and Kingsbury |date=1809–1811 |pages=119 and 121 |url={{GBurl|JT3JBAAAQBAJ|page=119}} |isbn=9781108077293}} {{PD-notice}}</ref><ref name="stanford usn map">{{cite web |title=China Sea Gaspar Strait Surveyed by Officers of the United States Navy 1854 |url=https://exhibits.stanford.edu/ruderman/catalog/xm971hz6522 |website=Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection |publisher=[[Stanford University]] |access-date=19 April 2022 |language=en}}</ref> Meanwhile ''Gelasa'' is [[:id:Pulau Gelasa, Bangka Tengah|the name of a small island located at the strait]].

==Geography== The strait lies off the east coast of [[Sumatra]],<ref name="stanford usn map"/> and is formed between the large islands Bangka and Belitung.<ref name="horsburgh 1809-1811"/> [[Pongok Island|Pulau Lait]], or Middle Island, separates the strait into two principal branches.<ref name="horsburgh 1809-1811"/>

The western branch, between ''Pulau Lait'' and the southeastern part of Bangka, is often called the Macclesfield Strait. The eastern branch, between Middle Island, and Long Island, near Belitung, is generally called [[Clements' Strait]], after [[Captain Clements]], who commanded the fleet from China that went through it in July 1781.<ref name="horsburgh 1809-1811"/>

Gaspar Island, or ''Pulau Gelasa'', {{coord|2|24|42|S|107|4|10|E}}, lies approximately 24 miles north of Middle Island {{coord|2|52|0|S|107|4|0|E}} and approximately 18 miles from Tanjung Berikat {{coord|2|34|21|S|106|50|43|E}}.<ref name="horsburgh 1809-1811"/> The largest islands in the strait are [[Lepar Island|Lepar]], [[Pongok Island|Pongok]] and [[Mendanau Island|Mendanau]].

== History == Prior to the Spanish captain's passage through the strait in 1724, [[Captain Hurle]], returning from [[Great Qing|China]] in the British [[East India Company]] ship {{ship||Macclesfield|1699 ship|2}}, had passed through, in March 1701.<ref name="horsburgh 1809-1811"/>

Over time, the strait came to be part of the main shipping route between [[Singapore]] and the [[Sunda Strait]] (which separates Sumatra from [[Java]], and is an entrance to the Indian Ocean). The waters in and around the strait had many navigational hazards, and the strait itself, although frequently used, was considered to be especially perilous.<ref name="stanford usn map"/> According to the Great Britain Hydrographic Department's ''The China Sea Directory'', vol. 1 (1878):

{{Quote|text="Many fine ships have been lost in Gaspar strait; not a few on the Alceste reef, from wrongly estimating their distance from the land; but the majority of instances from causes which might have been guarded against by the exercise of due care and judgment."<ref name="stanford usn map"/>}}

On 6 February 1822, the ''[[Tek Sing]]'', a large three-[[mast (sailing)|mast]]ed [[China|Chinese]] ocean-going [[Junk (ship)|junk]], sank in an area of the South China Sea known as the Belvidere Shoals, near the northern entrance to the strait.<ref>{{cite web | title =Treasures of the Tek Sing | url=http://www.nauticalia.com/treasures-of-the-tek-sing.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080124114936/http://www.nauticalia.com/treasures-of-the-tek-sing.html | archive-date=January 24, 2008 | accessdate = August 3, 2019}}</ref>

In 1854, the [[Admiralty (United Kingdom)|British Admiralty]] first issued an [[Admiralty chart]] of the strait. It was based on surveys conducted by the [[United States Navy]]. The chart was continually updated, most notably following surveys conducted by W. Stanton, a [[Royal Navy]] a sailing master, in 1861, and with the assistance of [[nautical chart|Dutch charts]], prepared by the then [[Dutch Empire#Post-Napoleonic era (1815–1945)|colonial ruler]] of the then [[Dutch East Indies]] (now Indonesia).<ref name="stanford usn map"/>

== Wreck discovery == In 1998, fishermen discovered a block of coral encrusted with pieces of ceramic, at the depth of about 16 metres.

From a large jar they removed several bowls intact. These divers by chance had just made the greatest underwater archeological discovery ever made in Southeast Asia: a 9th-century Arab [[dhow]], loaded with over 60,000 gold and silver objects, and manufactured ceramics under the [[Tang dynasty]]. The boat and its cargo, dubbed ''[[Belitung shipwreck]]'', testified that Tang China was producing mass-produced commercial items that it exported by sea. Arab sailors were clearly travelling along the maritime silk route, trading at a great scale and over long distances.

The port of departure and the destination of the dhow are unknown. Most scholars believe dhow was heading to the Middle East, probably from [[Guangzhou]] (Canton), the largest port on the [[Silk Road]]. Many Arabs and Persians lived in Guangzhou in the 9th century. Among the tens of thousands of bowls found in the wreck, one bore this inscription: ''The sixteenth day of the seventh month of the second year of the reign of Baoli, '' or 826 apr. The mass-produced nature of the cargo and the geographical diversity of its production suggest that it was an export item made to order.

==Notes == {{Reflist}}

[[Category:Straits of Indonesia]] [[Category:Landforms of the Bangka Belitung Islands]] [[Category:Straits of the Java Sea]] [[Category:Straits of the South China Sea]]