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so-called ‘stellar diagrams’, which indicate how to position a
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ship in line with the constellations in order to sail across the
two long expanses of open water along Zheng He’s route
where coastal sailing is impossible. These expanses are firstly
across the Bay of Bengal from Southeast Asia to India and
back, and secondly from Calicut to Hormuz and back. The
ships depicted in these stellar diagrams are sketchy, but they
present an image of small ships with only three masts rather
than gigantic ships. They even show a particular type of
rudder that is consistent with the 11.07m long rudderpost
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found at the shipyard in 1957 (Pl. 22.8).
The second source of images is the illustration included in
a religious text telling how the goddess Tianfei 天妃
(Celestial Spouse) protects sailors. The important thing
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about this text is its date – 1420 – exactly contemporaneous
with the voyages, compared to the illustrations in the Mao
Kun map, which cannot be pinpointed before the 1620s. In
this picture Zheng He’s ships are of a modest size with three
main masts and two subsidiary ones (Pl. 22.9).
The third source of illustrations is the Longjiang Shipyard
Treatise (Longjiang chuanchang zhi 龍江船廠志) of 1553 by Li Plate 22.9 Ship from ‘Sutra spoken from on high of the miraculous
efficacy of Tianfei in salvation from distress’ (Taishang shuo
Zhaoxiang 李昭祥 (fl. 1537–53). The Longjiang Shipyard Tianfei jiuku lingying jing 太上說天妃救苦靈應經), dated 1420.
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was located in Nanjing near the Treasure Shipyard where Woodblock printed, ink on paper. National Library of China
the ocean-going ships were built. It produced much smaller
ships than the Treasure Shipyard, mostly military ships for found in approximately the same location during the
policing the inland waterways, but there was some overlap excavation of the shipyard in 2003–4. While the 1962 study
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between the two shipyards in construction and supplies. of the first find claims to prove that Zheng He’s ships could
The Treatise provides illustrations of the 24 models of ship have been the size stated in the Ming shi, it considers these
built at the shipyard, and these are accompanied in most ships to be shachuan 沙船, or ‘sand-ships’, shallow ships used
cases by their dimensions. They are all of different sizes, primarily for inland transport, which I believe to be a
and some are fortunately named according to their size,
expressed in liao. There are 400-, 300-, 200-liao ships and Plate 22.10 Longjiang Shipyard Treatise (Longjiang chuanchang
smaller ones as well. Some scholars have tried to zhi 龍江船廠志) by Li Zhaoxiang 李昭祥 (fl. 1537–53), 1553. Page
extrapolate the information given for the 400-liao ship to showing ocean-going ship (haichuan 海船). The Bodleian
determine the dimensions of the 2,000-liao type. André Libraries, The University of Oxford, Chin.e.455/117-119
Wegener Sleeswyk devised a formula for calculating the liao
of a ship by multiplying its length, beam and depth
(measured in chi) together, and raising it to the power of
two-thirds. 32
One of the illustrations of the 24 ships in the Treatise is of
the ‘ocean-going ship’ (haichuan 海船). Enticing though it is
to see this illustration, and to think it might represent Zheng
He’s ships, a disappointing inscription appears in the space
where the dimensions are usually given saying: ‘There is no
information about the dimensions of this ship’ (chidu wukao
尺度無考). Thus by 1553, only 120 years after the end of the
voyages when the Treatise was written, the specifications for
the long-distance sailing ships had already been forgotten,
even in the precise place where they had been constructed.
Despite this lack of information, the illustration itself at
least provides a vague image that someone at the shipyard
had of the ship at the time. Although it looks large, it has
only four main masts, not nine (Pl. 22.10). While not
scientific, the illustrations described above give the general
impression that Zheng He’s ships were not the gargantuan
constructions depicted in the Atkins illustration (see Pl.
22.1).
There have been several archaeological discoveries of
note. In addition to the rudderpost discovered in the
Treasure Shipyard in 1957, two others of similar sizes were
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Investigating Zheng He’s Ships: What is Known and Knowable? | 203