A team of army engineers is now assisting the Department of Archaeology (DoA) in Kuakata to shift the ancient sail ship to a site near the zero-point where it will be preserved in a museum.

The 72 feet long and 23 feet wide wooden sail ship, believed to be a schooner of the 17th century, surfaced on the Kuakata beach in low tide on June 29 last year. The DoA along with experts lifted the heavy boat from beneath the surface in February. The work had to be postponed due to high tide. Later, cyclone Mohasen buried the ship under about eight feet of sand.

The army team, led by Maj Md Abdul Bari, is now removing the sand from the

hull of the ship before taking up a strategy to move the 60-tonne wooden schooner three kilometres away in Kuakata.

During the first salvage attempt, archaeologists found out that the hull of the sail ship was protected by a bright copper sheet. They also recovered various artefacts from the ship. A 200 feet long heavy marine anchor chain was unearthed during the first attempt.

The government has selected a site near the Buddhist temple to set up the country's first ever marine museum in Kuakata. At its current site near the Gangamati river three kilometres away, hundreds of tourists are flocking to have a look at the wooden ship.

Experts said once the ship was moved to the museum site, they would conduct a research to ascertain its history.