Admiral Zheng He (Cheng Ho) treasure ship design

General naval discussions that don't fit within any specific time period or cover several issues.
steffen19k
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Re: Admiral Zheng He (Cheng Ho) treasure ship design

Post by steffen19k »

VeloTrain wrote:" . . . and that Irish navigator who recreates pre-historical ships , Tim Severin , tried to build a junk the old way and sail it on the northern circle sailing route east to the states across the Pacific . The traditional hull treatment was supposed to be stuff called "Tung Oil" inside and out , but there was something wrong there for they only got about halfway and the shipworms had chomped her full of holes , so they had to be lifted off . Shame ."

Apparently the problem might have been that they used tung oil, but not the rest of the recipe. From the Wiki article on Junks: "For caulking the Chinese used a mix of ground lime with Tung oil together with chopped hemp from old fishing nets which set hard in 18 hours".
So in other words...The Chinese used some kind of concrete casing on their hulls???
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Ulrich Rudofsky
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Re: Admiral Zheng He (Cheng Ho) treasure ship design

Post by Ulrich Rudofsky »

I am happy to see that this thread was taken up once mor. The use of concrete-type materials in Chinese and Roman as well as modern ships is well established. The Romans used hi-tech “carbon fiber” i.e. horsetail hair etc. :D

The recent resurgence of interest in the Chinese explorations of the world in ancient times was prompted by the coin with the square hole, found on the shores of Africa. However, Chinese voyages to Japan, India, Arabia and Africa etc. had been chronicled long before the 1500s and the find of a 1400s coin is not that surprising. Perhaps, Gavin Menzies should be rediscovered. :D http://www.gavinmenzies.net/ Although his books are hard to digest for hard-core academics, they are very stimulating and filled with a pinch or two of welcomed enthusiasm and imagination. Only time will tell.

I still believe that it is possible that in ancient times, Phoenician and Chinese mariners may have set foot on the Americas besides the glorious Vikings and American natives.

Treasure ship model cont’d: https://picasaweb.google.com/1162198613 ... asureShips#

PS: European ship buidling was limited by the size of the trees and lack of shipwright know-how. Even nascent US shipbuilding to advantage of tree size early on.
Ulrich
anw.abr
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Re: Admiral Zheng He (Cheng Ho) treasure ship design

Post by anw.abr »

I would like to add up a bit on a Chinese-based ship history including the Zheng Ho-claimed "treasure ship".

The reality is, the Chinese ancestors learn from the Malay ancestors (a race from South East Asia) on such expertise (to build large ship).

The reference of a word Chinese 'junk' is actually coming from a Malay-Javanese word called 'jong'. Before the Chinese actually create their own version of 'junk' they actually depend on 'Pearl Road' for export or get help from Malay-based ship from South East Asia to travel (for trade).

In 1515, Tome Pires wrote a book called Suma Oriental. It was written in there, Malay and Javanese (to note, Javanese to is a Malay tribe) is not allowed to access Canton port in China. Its is forbidden that thoses ships may only access China through it's sea coast. Such rule was made as there is a concern that 'these large ships' might end up 'hitting' and 'crushing' at least 20 Chinese junks. This is history man!
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