Chapter 128: The 400-Liao Guang-Style Ship

Wen Desi followed Zhang Jiqi to see the ship. Wen Zong had built many Western ship models, and out of interest, he had also dabbled in Chinese sea ships. One point that Wen Desi was rather dissatisfied with was that domestic research in this area was far less extensive and professional than abroad. Even models of ancient Chinese ships were more numerous in foreign collections, and the available materials were very scarce.

The shipyard had no dry dock; the ship was placed directly on a slipway. Wen Desi knew that the history of dry docks could be traced back to the Northern Song Dynasty. The method of repairing dragon boats during the Xining era was this, but later users seemed to be few, and it was basically an isolated case. If it weren’t for Shen Kuo’s records, most people probably wouldn’t have known about this.

“How is this ship launched?” Wen Desi was very interested in how ships were launched in ancient times without slipways or docks.

“Just coat the beach with mud and then pull it with ropes.”

It was that simple. Wen Desi nodded. The saying that the wisdom of the masses is infinite was not an empty phrase.

The progress of this ship was about seventy percent complete. The hull had been formed, but the deck had not yet been installed. With his limited knowledge of ancient ships, Wen Zong could see that this was a so-called “Guang-style ship.” It was a large type of ancient Chinese sea ship, with a hull that was wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, and a false stern. The biggest feature was a drop keel that was deeper than the keel on the centerline. This drop keel played a role in slowing down rolling and drifting, which was a major feature of Guang-style ships. In terms of size, it was about a four-hundred-liao ship, which was the largest ship that the Ming government allowed private citizens to build. Although Chinese shipwrights were undoubtedly capable of building thousand-ton ships, larger ships were very difficult to operate and had little practical significance.

Wen Desi visually estimated the length. The ship was about 27 meters long and over 5 meters wide. He roughly estimated the displacement to be 70 tons. This was almost the same as the other 400-liao ships they had, which showed that the 400-liao ship already had a certain standard. Wen Desi asked Zhang Jiqi if he used a ship manual to build ships. Zhang Jiqi looked embarrassed and said with a red face, “No ship manual.”

Wen Desi knew that he wanted to keep his technical secrets to himself. He thought that if he didn’t impress him, there would be a lot of trouble in the future with him hiding things. He cleared his throat and recited a series of numbers in Cantonese:

“400-liao warship, length 8 zhang 6 chi 9 cun, width 1 zhang 7 chi, labor 2487…”

[Note: The chi here is the Ministry of Works chi, which is 0.311 meters. There is also a market chi, which is 0.283 meters.]

Before he could finish, Zhang Jiqi had already knelt down with a thud, his face full of fear. “Great… great… sir…”

Wen Desi said, “Get up. What are you afraid of?!”

“Sir, you already know everything—”

“When you get to Bopu and see our large and small iron ships, you will know the depth of the world’s ingenious things. What is a ship manual!” Wen Desi thought to himself that this was just something from “Nanchuan Ji,” the most basic reading material for ancient ship enthusiasts.

“Yes, yes.” Zhang Jiqi knew that this master was a great expert. Hearing that there were completely different iron ships to see, his heart was already restless, and he became much more forthright in introducing the ship.

This nearly completed ship was a two-masted vessel. The hull was made of fir, which was different from the information Wen Desi remembered. He recalled that the book said that the characteristic of Guang-style ships was that they were made of “ironwood.” The “Fubo” they had captured was also a Guang-style ship. Although it was not made of ironwood, it used lychee wood, which was also a hardwood.

Faced with Wen Desi’s inquiry, Zhang Jiqi said that this was entirely a matter of cost. The price of ironwood was high, while fir was abundant and cheap, and its strength was acceptable. According to him, this was ordered by a sea merchant from Guangdong. Every time they went to the South Seas for trade, they would buy a new ship, not seeking a good ship, but just one that could arrive safely. Once there, they would sell the ship along with the goods and then take another ship back. So the ship was almost disposable, and the materials were saved as much as possible, as long as it was cheap.

“How much silver does a ship like this cost?”

“The market price is eight hundred taels. If good wood is used, another two hundred taels will be added.”

So the price of a ship was around a thousand taels. It seemed that the navy had always been a money-burning enterprise since ancient times. It was better to introduce private capital into shipbuilding.

From the structure of this ship, the entire vessel was divided into 13 compartments by 12 bulkheads. The bulkhead planks were made of large camphorwood boards with a thickness of more than 10 cm. This was the most advanced structure of ancient Chinese sailing ships in the world: the watertight compartment. The joints between the watertight bulkheads and the outer hull planks were all reinforced with frame ribs and fixed with iron nails. At the bottom of the bulkheads and frame ribs, two drainage holes were opened, which surprised Wen Desi a little—if drainage holes were opened, how could this watertight compartment be waterproof?

Zhang Jiqi explained that these drainage holes were to facilitate the drainage of accumulated water in the compartments. They could be plugged with special wooden plugs during navigation.

The ship’s planks were all made of fir. The thickness of the bottom planks was over 20 cm, and the side planks were 15 cm. The width of the plank strakes was 8-20 cm, widest in the middle of the ship and gradually narrowing towards the bow and stern. The transverse connection of the ship’s planks was a butt joint, and the longitudinal connection was a flush joint. The seams were filled with caulking material, which was a mixture of hemp fiber, tung oil, and oyster shell ash. The main component of tung oil is tung oil acid glyceride, which is prone to oxidation and polymerization, forming a tough and water-resistant film. The calcium carbonate content of oyster shell ash is over 90%, and the lime fired at high temperature is most suitable for mixing with tung oil. Lime itself has strong cohesiveness. When mixed with tung oil, it can promote the polymerization and drying of tung oil, forming calcium tungate, which has excellent water resistance. Iron nails were also used to connect these ship’s planks, and the nail holes were covered with putty.

The third and seventh bulkheads were equipped with foremast and mainmast steps. The mast step was a large piece of camphorwood fixed to the bulkhead and the hull, with two square holes on it. The mast clamps were inserted into the square holes, and then the mast could be fixed through the mast clamps. A characteristic of Chinese sailing ships is that the mast can be lowered and disassembled. A pivot was set on the mast step, and a square hole was left in the bulkhead for placing the mast.

The ballast was pebbles that could be seen everywhere on the beach. Zhang Jiqi said that they were mainly placed under the third and fourth compartments. There were keel timbers on both sides for laying the hold deck, on which cargo and crew lived.

The rudder was made of hardwood. Although it was a disposable ship, the key parts were not ambiguous. The rudder was a primitive retractable balanced rudder with many holes drilled in the rudder blade. According to Zhang Jiqi, this made the rudder easier to operate and was also a unique design of Guang-style ships.

What interested Wen Desi the most was the large amount of shipbuilding raw materials piled up in the workshop, especially the iron parts. Chinese ships began to use iron nails to connect ship’s planks since the Warring States period, and it had fully matured by the Tang and Song dynasties. Now seeing these things with his own eyes, how could he not be excited? There were six or seven types of iron nails here alone: spade nails, square nails, date-pit nails, climbing-head nails, and flat-head nails, all with different forms and uses. There was also a strange ruler-shaped iron component, about 50 cm long, 5 cm wide, and 0.6 cm thick, with one end bent into a right angle and four small holes on the ruler. Zhang Jiqi introduced that this was a clamp nail used to connect ship’s planks, and its function was to connect the outer planks to the bulkheads. The method was to first pre-cut a clamp groove on the bulkhead, and open a hole and seam on the outer plank. The clamp nail was driven from the outside to the inside and positioned in the clamp groove of the bulkhead. Then, the clamp nail was fixed to the bulkhead with nails.

Wen Desi walked around the ship, looking at this real Ming ship, and pondered whether he could turn this ship into a sailing cruiser. But after careful consideration, he felt that this ship was still too small. The deadweight tonnage of a 400-liao ship was only 30-40 tons. As a warship, it could carry at most 6-8 cannons. Its transport capacity was also pitifully small for the massive raw materials needed for industrialization. As an exploration ship, its speed was too slow. It seemed that he still had to build the two-masted schooner he was most familiar with and fond of.

“Old Zhang,” Wen Desi said, “what do you think of the red-haired people’s ships?”

“The ships are tall and large, with cannons, and are not afraid of wind, waves, or pirates.”

“And?”

“The sails and rigging are exquisite,” Zhang Jiqi said honestly. “They are fast. I have watched the red-haired ships for a long time. It is probably because the masts are high, the sails are many, and they catch a lot of wind. But I can’t see the real mystery.”

“Well, I know all of this.”

Zhang Jiqi looked at Wen Desi, and a bright light appeared in his eyes. But he knew that craftsmanship was the foundation of one’s livelihood. How could this master easily tell him? He couldn’t help but feel dejected again.

Wen Desi smiled, “Let me tell you, in Australia where we come from, there are special schools that teach shipbuilding. The ship skills you and I know are just the tip of the iceberg. If you are interested, someone will naturally teach you in the future.”

Zhang Jiqi hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed several times, “If I am fortunate enough to be taught the secret arts by the master, Zhang Jiqi will be endlessly grateful and will serve the masters for the rest of his life.”

“Well, you may rise,” Wen Desi found a large stone to sit on, opened the notebook in his hand, and inside was a line drawing of a sailboat.

“Can you build this ship?”

Zhang Jiqi studied the drawing for a long time. This drawing was completely different from the drawings he had seen in ship manuals: the proportions were strict, and the lines were clear and accurate. It was not just a simple outline. The special three-view drawing gave a more intuitive feeling. He secretly marveled—just learning this drafting technique would be enough to make a living for a lifetime. This group of people was indeed not ordinary.

He asked a few questions about the proportions and roughly estimated that the ship was about a thousand liao. Zhang Jiqi had never built such a large ship.

“I have never built one so large,” Zhang Jiqi said cautiously. “I am willing to give it a try.”

The ship Wen Desi had chosen was a two-masted schooner. This fast schooner was flexible to operate, fast, and could be operated by less than 10 people without considering armament. In addition to carrying cargo, it could also carry 30 official passengers, making it very suitable for ocean adventure and sea merchant patrol combat. The famous “America” was a two-masted schooner. It won the sailing race in 1851 with a crew of only 9, including the captain. It was later used as a blockade runner for the Confederacy during the Civil War. It had a displacement of 170 tons, a length of 30 meters, a width of 7 meters, and a draft of 3 meters. It was equipped with two 24-pounder short cannons (broadside guns) and one 12-pounder long cannon (central pivot gun). If equipped with lighter 6-pounder guns, it could carry 6-8.

[Note: The information about Guang-style ships and 400-liao ships is from the “History of Chinese Shipbuilding.” There are currently multiple theories about the concept of “liao.” Here, we take the one from the “History of Chinese Shipbuilding,” where one liao is equal to 60 kg of deadweight.]