Re: Zheng He's giant ships

On Sep 16, 10:38 pm, PaPaPeng <PaPaP...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Sun, 16 Sep 2007 22:27:48 +0100, Alan Lothian <alanloth...@xxxxxxx>
wrote:

(NB I do not buy any of Gavin Menzie's stuff, for reasons that have
nothing to do with size of ships but more to do with the conflation of
'evidence' and wishful thinking; and I do not buy the 1760s 'copy' of a
1418 map.)

I don't buy Menzies thesis either but he makes enough interesting
suggestions for me to keep an open mind on other sources of evidence
should any turn up.

There's a book you would benefit reading,http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-09/16/content_6735298.htm
Why Geography Matters: Three Challenges Facing America: Climate
Change, the Rise of China, and Global Terrorism (Hardcover) by Harm
de Blij (Author)

with the chapter on China. de Blij's corellation of the mini Ice Age
during that era of history with the collapse of agriculture in Europe
and in China as the cause of China's sudden withdrawl from global
maritime exploration is very interesting. Chinese records of major
weather changes and countrywide bad news would be sparse as this
implied the loss of Heaven's Mandate and therefore Dynastic decline.

A gigantic rudder was discovered near Nanjing China in 1962 and is
used to estimate the size of of the Chinese ship of Zheng He's time.
All Chinese ships are built of the same plan and can be used to scale
up the ship. I don't know enough about naval construction to say
much. But Chinese ships had watertight bulkheads and these would have
been strong enough to hold the giant junks (5 times the size sailed by
Columbus) together.

You will have to read up Joseph's Needham's opus on Chinese inventions
to get a good description on Chinese junks, their construction and
sail management, navigation, etc. I read only the abridged version
and haven't got around to the original volume.

WIKI: Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (December 9, 1900-March 24,
1995) was a British biochemist best known for his works on the history
of Chinese science. He was elected a fellow of both the Royal Society
and the British Academy. In China, he is known mainly by his Chinese
name Li Yuese (???; Pinyin: Li Yuesè: Wade-Giles: Li Yüeh-Sê).

The OP spoke of cross bracing but if he compared the
compartmentalising instructed in the design of Noah's Ark he will see
that a much stronger technology might have been used.

I believe some anchors were found off Japan that have been dated to
the time of a tempest there in the time of and possible during the
invasion by the Admiral. You might find out more on the subject in the
online archives of the BBC if it was them that showed the programme.

.

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