>ywn explore the world in the 15th century in your 9-mast, 440' treasure ship, giving and receiving extravagant gifts at all corners of the earth
>ywn be Zheng He or any of his 28,000-man crew
for what purpose
>>398815
holy shit that chink tub must have rolled in heavy seas, and the structure must have come under some strain. also: slow as fuck. i'd be interested to see if it could replicate the journey to north america against the gulf stream.
>>398841
they demolished everything in sight and travelled from Nanjing to Mogadishu and Mecca. The only reason the technology didn't spread is that they were only built for 30 years or so, until confucian ministers decided the money was better spent on agriculture. Not sure how the Indian Ocean compares to the Atlantic tho
Other gigantor ships incoming:
Thalamegos, 377' long and 66' high, an early catamaran (twin hull) commissioned by Ptolemy for him and his wife alone.
Wyoming, 419' schooner, longest schooner ever built to this day.
>>398856
I think the key difference is that the Indian Ocean was well traveled, it's winds and currents well understood. The Atlantic was an ocean into the unknown.
>>398815
I might never be Zheng He, but at least I have a penis. I think it's a fair trade.
Tessarakonteres, apparently the largest ship in antiquity, also built by Ptolemy IV, reportedly 420' and powered by 4000 oarsmen.
Lastly, "Caligula's Giant Ship," an unnamed obelisk-transporting ship unearthed by accident, estimated at 341'
>>398909
fair enough
>>398841
It wasn't that big. That ship replica came from a fantastic depiction of the Voyage by later Ming printed books.
>>398856
>until confucian ministers decided the money was better spent on agriculture
The Ministers decided that money was better spent on war with the Mongol Empire 2.0 called the Four Oirats
And yes, the Voyages were fuck expensive. Its like gathering a fleet of luxury liners and sailing down that route repeatedly to impress everyone. Of course it had to stop.
>>398936
>it wasn't that big
it's disputed, but there's no concrete evidence that the ships were any smaller. The records say up to 450'. They could have been falsified to be more impressive, but the ships were entirely wooden, so it's likely nothing remains and it'll never be known for sure.
>it had to stop
I wouldn't say otherwise. Although, war was impending but the funds used for the voyages were directly transferred to agricultural avenues
>>398972
But were they caravels? I've read that there is a limit to how big you can build a boat if it doesn't have a caravel hull.
>>398983
not sure what you mean by that, IIRC caravel just means "small, maneuverable ship." The treasure ships were renowned for being extremely wide more than anything, so not much like a caravel at all. There are some limits to the size of a wooden ship as we know them, but the treasure ships could have had an entirely different design. No one knows because the technology has been lost pretty much since they stopped building the,
>>398901
>six masted ship
I mean, it was probably an excellent rig and I don't know shit about sailing, but goddamn it looks silly as fuck.
>>399045
The caravel hull design had wooden planks perfectly aligned with one another side by side instead of simply laying the planks one over the top of the other. Look up caravel ship designs.
>>399109
What you're talking is the carvel built hull (as opposed to clinker built hull). I don't know if the name originates from the same word as the caravel ship, but they are two different things, not to be confused.
>>399126
Good to know.
>>398815
Whenever I hear of the great Chinese naval exploration tradition and technology, I say one thing.
The Aleutian Islands.
They had a trail of breadcrumbs leading them to America, even the Bering Straight is only 100 miles across.
>>398936
why would they cut off the bow?
are they asking poseidon to batter the structure akin to a hammer hitting a nail?
>>399730
Zheng He's fleet wasn't exploring, at least not really. It was setting out along known trade routes in a direction people knew were civilized lands and ports and wealth. What was beyond Japan? Just more unwashed savages that will shoot arrows at your slow moving, giant target of a ship and not a single port in sight to restock at, and beyond them what might as well have been an endless ocean as far as they knew.
>>399817
>cut off the bow
Son they never built a bow
>>399730
The trip northward would have been cold and miserable.
>>399730
You forgot about currents.
Urdaneta discovered the way to turn back from Philippines to America in the XVI Century.
![dnpgj2jhcolbwxjaoupe[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/wJdl1RH.jpg "dnpgj2jhcolbwxjaoupe[1].jpg")
>>398896
>>398901
>1100 feet
>for what purpose?
Wrecking Sri Lankans obv
>>398815
>for what purpose
China had a huge boner for prestige. They had wealth, they had power, and they had influence. Prestige is more fleeting and things like the treasure fleets were a good way to obtain it.
>>398901
And then it started hogging or sagging and got dragged to the cold deep dark by Poseidon.
It seems 60-70 meters is a good length for a wooden sailing ship, not to big or small.
>>398983
I've heard some clincker built ships were in the 60 meter region. But these were gigantic and exceptional.
Key problem is that you can't really cut gun ports in clinker built ships.
Those gigantic Chinese ships are pure fantasy.
>>400636
To be fair though, the Treasure Fleet wrong some pretty nice trade concessions out of the countries in the Persian Gulf they sailed past.
