The Desaru was found and excavated by Sten Sjöstrand in 2001, on the east coast of Malaysia. The Desaru sank 2-3 decades later than the Diana (1817, near Malacca). Some of their blue-and-white ceramics are identical but while the Diana cargo was made mainly to order for the European community in India, the Desaru ceramics were traditional trade wares for the Southeast Asian markets.
During cleaning of the Desaru cannon, the number 1840 was seen engraved in one of its trunnions, possibly indicating its manufacturing date. The revised, tentative date for the loss of the Desaru ship is therefore now about 1845. [ Interesting under water pictures here ]
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