Monday, August 27, 2007
Early 17th century Chinese woodblock print, thought to represent Zheng He's ships.
Zheng He's treasure ship (four hundred feet, bigger) in comparison to Columbus's St. Maria (eighty-five feet,smaller) (Illustration by Jan Adkins, 1993.)
(Ships of the world in 1460, according to the Fra Mauro map. Chinese junks are described as very large, three or four-masted ships.)
Treasure ships
Treasure ship is the name of a type of vessel that Admiral Zheng He sailed in. His fleet included 62 treasure ships, with some said to have reached 600 feet (146 meters) long. The fleet was manned by over 27,000 crew members, including navigators, explorers, sailors, doctors, workers, and soldiers. As the size estimates are those given in later works of fiction, it's likely that actual ships may have been smaller, since in later historical periods ships approaching this size(such as HMS Orlando) were unwieldy and visibly undulated with the waves, even with steel braces. The problem of "hogging", the tendency of the largest wooden ships to sag (like a pig's body) because of buoyancy in the middle, would have been impossible to solve.
According to ancient Chinese sources, Zheng He commanded seven expeditions. The 1405 expedition consisted of 27,800 men and a fleet of 62 treasure ships supported by approximately 190 smaller ships. The fleet included:
• "Treasure ships", used by Zheng He and his deputies (nine-masted, about 127 metres (416 feet) long and 52 metres (170 feet) wide, according to later writers. But no proof of the supposed great size of these ships exists, and as stated above, they are improbably large. The treasure ships purportedly weighed as much as 1,500 tons;127m by 52 m (416 feet by 170 feet)
By way of comparison, a modern ship of about 1,200 tons is 60 meter (200 feet) long, and the ships Christopher Columbus sailed to the New World in 1492 were about 70 to 100 tons and 17 meter (55 feet) long.
• "Horse ships", carry tribute goods and repair material for the fleet (eight-masted, about 103 m (339 feet) long and 42 m (138 feet) wide.
• "Supply ships", contains staple for the crew (seven-masted, about 78 m (257 feet) long and 35 m (115 feet) wide.
• "Troop transports"; six-masted, about 67 m (220 feet) long and 25 m (83 feet) wide.
• "Fuchuan warships"; five-masted, about 50 m (165 feet) long.
• "Patrol boats"; eight-oared, about 37 m (120 feet) long.
• "Water tankers", contains 1 month supply of fresh water. (127m long by 52m wide – 416 feet by 170 feet )
These are the dimensions of the Zheng He's ships according to ancient Chinese chronicles and disputed by modern scholars.
Six more expeditions took place, from 1407 to 1433, with fleets of comparable size.
MODELS OF ZHENG HE'S "TREASURE SHIP":
Built by Wei Wenxi, 71, a great navigator, a resident in Changshu, east China's Jiangsu Province and an expert on ancient ship, spent his savings on constructing a model of "Zheng He's treasure ship" in the proportion of 1:40.
Wei Wenxi (Left 1) made final decorations and adjustments to the model of Zheng He's treasure ship.
Workers adjusted the model.
Wei Wenxi made adjustments to porthole on the ship.
Wei Wenxi (Right) and a worker placed sampan model on the treasure ship.
Photos from: english.people.com.cn/200506/21/eng20050621_1...
VARIOUS KINDS OF ZHENG HE'S "TREASURE FLEET":
(The 400 feet long ‘treasure ship’)
Shuichuan (Water Tanker)
Machuan (Horse Ship)
Zhanchuan (Warship)
Zuochuan (Troop Transport)
Luchuan (Patrol Boat)
Baochuan (Treasure Ship)
Liangchuan (Supply Ship)
These reliable photos/pictures of Zheng He’s treasure fleet(models) are taken from: www.china.org.cn/.../features/zhenhe/131948.htm
as told by us;
12:31 AM