Phuket Post :: Article :: Ancient mariner, modern dragon

Zheng He, a legend throughout Southeast Asia's ancient world, embarked on 7 historic voyages between AD 1405 and 1433 and, unlike most of his European counterparts, he fostered goodwill and peace wherever he made port.

Stocked with precious gifts and tributes, Zheng He initiated extensive trade with the countries he visited while spreading Chinese culture and technology, the most advanced of its time.

His fleet was colossal, comprising almost 300 boats. To put this into perspective, in 1492, when Christopher Columbus sailed on his first voyage of discovery, his flagship, the Santa Maria, was a mere 22m long, and his fleet consisted of just 3 boats manned by 90 crew. Vasco Da Gama (1498) had a fleet of 4 boats and 160 crew, and Magellan (1521) had a fleet of 5 boats and 265 crew.

Zheng He's fleet was made up of 67.9m passenger ships, 104.7m carriage and horse vessels, 42m water carriers, 50.9m battleships, 79.2m food and logistical vessels, and 42m and 34m scullers. The fleet was totally self-sufficient and could stay out at sea for months on end without the need to pull into port and provision. The people who sailed aboard these boats included navigators, officials in diplomacy and protocol, accountants, interpreters, doctors, seamen, shipwrights, astrologers, scientists, botanists, statesmen, foreign dignitaries, cavalrymen and other military personnel.

Zheng He's fleet was not only the biggest and most sophisticated of the age, it also employed the world's most advanced navigational technology. By then, the Chinese had invented the compass and were using nautical star and navigational charts. In comparison, the European sailors didn't use the compass until 100 years later.

You have to visit Nanjing and tour the Long Jiang Treasure Ship Site Park to fully appreciate the immensity of the 71m Dragon Group (DG) junk.

Already on show at the park is a 61m sister vessel. It's huge--as you enter the main cabin you might feel you're in the great hall of some medieval castle. The DG Treasure Ship will be bigger. (In fact, when completed, the DG junk will be the largest wooden sailing boat afloat.) Eventually some 200 Chinese workers will be employed to see the project through, and for the most part only traditional building practices will be observed.

The original bao chuans were built some 600 years ago during the Ming Dynasty at the Long Jiang Shipyard in Nanjing on the very site of the DG project. These ancient wooden junks were to carry the great Chinese Muslim navigator Zheng He and a vast crew of 27,800 on 7 voyages of exploration and trade in search of all things new. Aboard his 146.52m flagship, The Raft of the Stars, Zheng He led his fleet from Nanjing, visiting thirty countries throughout Southeast Asia and voyaging as far west as the Red Sea port of Zufar, Oman. (In his controversial book 1421, named for the year the Chinese set out to discover the world, Gavin Menzies claims to have proof that Zheng He sailed to Australia, New Zealand, the Americas and Antarctica.)

What led Dragon Group to embark on such an ambitious project? "Originally," says Malaysian-born DG Chairman Dato' Michael Loh, "we took on the project at the request of the Chinese government, which wanted it built in time for the 2008 Olympic Games. The aim was to celebrate the greatness of China's nautical past. Unfortunately, it won't be ready in time for the games, but it will still represent a glorious era of Asia's maritime history, and it will be considered a Chinese national treasure. As we have been involved in China for many years now, we took on this project in order to further cement our good relations with them."

Loh says he knew it was going to be a challenge, since the original plans and official records of the voyages were destroyed centuries ago. Naval architects had to design the vessel from scratch. Yet Loh remains committed. In talking with him, it was obvious this project is close to his heart. Importantly, the Treasure Ship also has the full endorsement of the Chinese government.

"Zheng He also stopped piracy in the Malacca Strait," says Loh. "And although it is highly unlikely we will be challenging pirates when we eventually sail there, we will be on a trade mission of sorts and be re-enacting his many historical voyages. We won't merely be following the ancient routes taken by this famous Chinese navigator; in a sense we'll also be following in his footsteps as an ambassador for good relations between China and the places he visited."

The modern version of Zheng He's vessel will include facilities such as air-conditioning, en-suite bathrooms and luxurious accommodation. Unlike in ancient times (when sailors had only the wind to rely on to move them from place to place), the boat will be equipped with powerful inboard engines.

Loh is quick to point out that, although some historians believed that Zheng He sailed as far as the Americas, Australia and even to Antarctic waters, this belief is not widespread among the Chinese. Instead, they believe that Zheng He sailed in the South China Seas, throughout Southeast Asia and only as far as the east coast of Africa.

"Once the boat is built," Loh says, "we plan to set sail and follow the very same routes that Zheng He sailed."

Zheng He visited thirty different countries, Malaysia foremost among these. To this day, one can see evidence of his visits. In Malacca, for example, at the foot of San Boa Hill, there's a structure known as San Po Temple dedicated to the great explorer. (Zheng He was also known as San Boa.) This is also the site of an ancient Chinese cemetery known as Bukit Cina. In Penang, which was an important provisioning stop for the fleet, a temple in the fishing village of Batu Maung is also dedicated to him. It is even said that a large footprint nearby is his.

Courtesy of Sea Yachting magazine.