- 期刊
鄭和下西洋之寶船考
The Ships Used by Cheng Ho on His Voyages to the West
並列摘要
This article is divided into three sections. The first section discusses the organization of Cheng Ho's ships on his voyages to the ''Western oceans". The main points are as follows: 1. The writer shows that Cheng Ho's ships differed in size and function. Each fleet consisted of ships of different sizes and functions. 2. The writer confirms the Ming Shih that the ships were divided into seven classes according to size, the largest being 44.4 chang (丈) in length and 18 chang in width. This information given in Cheng Ho's biography in the Ming Shih is correct and modern scholars are wrong to doubt it. 3. The writer attempts to find out the number and sizes of Cheng Ho's ships on each voyage. The second section discusses in detail the functions of the different ships used by Cheng Ho. According to their functions, the ships fell into five categories: a. ''Treasure ships" (pao ch'uan 寶船), firstclass ships, which formed the nucleus of the fleet; b. "Horse ships" (ma ch'uan 馬船), for the transportation of horses sent as tributes to China; c. "Food vessels" liang ch'uan 糧船); d. ''Passenger ships" (tso ch'uan 坐船), mainly for passengers but capable of military action; e. "War ships" (chan ch'uan 戰船). The third section discusses the history, organization, and personnel of the Lung Chiang Shipyard which built the ships.