The Old Junks of China

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 6, 6 July 1940, Page 20

The Old Junks of China

f-IXGEPT ; for one ' man's personal JTj interest and expensive hobby, many of the centuries-old secrets of Chinese junk building might be lost to posterity, writes Hallett Abend from- Shanghai to the "New York Times." Japanese aeroplanes and navy craft have mercilessly destroyed tens of

along the rail, each with a few fathoms of the line in a coil in his hand. "Heave!" came the order from the •poop, and over went the heavy lead with a splash. j "Watch there, watch!" called the holder of the first coil as his last bight! paid but. "Watch there, watch!" called the second and the third and the j fourth,' as in turn the lead claimed their line on its way to the bottom. On the poop, the captain" watched the last fathoms of the line as it ran down into the depths. We ran the line in again through a bl^ck. Back came the lead with the soap the same as it had left us. "One hundred fathoms and no bottom!" So we were still in the dark as to our position. "And this instrument," said my friend, "has the depth back to you in less time than it took the lead to hit the water from the fo'c'sle head!" 1 came ashore and felt indeed that I had seen things of which my old captains had never dreamt. And I thought of Conrad's words: "Whatever craft he handles with skill,'the seaman of the future shall be, not our descendant, but our successor." Of this we ■ are sure: the seaman of today has indeed proved a worthy successor.

thousands of China's sea-going junks. The British Crown colony of Hong Kong alone reports that more than 6000 licensed junks have vanished from the sea's. Economic conditions and the invasion of Chinese coastal waters by faster gasoline-engined junks and small cargo vessels make it almost a certainty that the sea-going fleet of Chinese junks will never be rebuilt. But, thanks to the hobby of Sir Frederick Maze, Inspector General of the Chinese Maritime Customs, the Science Museum of I South Kensington, London, today owns a magnificent series of beautiful scale models of Chinese junks and sampans. These models, ranging in length from six feet to more than ten feet, will preserve for the future the types of sailing craft peculiar to the waters of China. A duplicate of one of these models is in the United States. Sir Frederick had it built at the request of T. V. Soong, then Chinese Minister of Finance, and Mr. Soong presented it to President Roosevelt after his trip to the United States in 1933. Presumably this model will eventually find a permanent place in the Roosevelt archives building at Hyde Park. All of Sir Frederick's models were built in China, by Chinese craftsmen, and since they are on large scale it has been possible to reproduce in accurate detail minutiae of hull, rigging, equipment, and decoration. Most people who have never been to China imagine that Chinese junks are clumsy, slow cralt, of no very

great size, and incapable of any real speed. The contrary is true. Chinese junks have real beauty and grace, are excellently seaworthy, and attain splendid speed. When Marco Polo came to China from Venice, sea-going junks made regular trips around what is now Signapore, skirted India, and even reached the ports of Arabia. The Chinese were far in advance of the peoples of Europe and America in shipbuilding innovations like the subdivision into compartments by watertight bulkheads; self-reefing battened sails; multiple sheets which trim the upper as well as the lower part of a sail, and the use of lee boards, most frequently in the form of a long rudder lowered or raised by means of a winch. Coastal topography has played a large part in the evolution of Chinese sea-going junks. Those used along the northern coasts usually have a. bluff bow and a flat bottom, because most northern ports are situated up muddy tidal rivers where groundings are frequent. The South China junks, however, are used where fine deep-water harbours are the rule, and rivers few. Consequently the southern junks have a sharper bow, finer lines, and a much deeper draught. • Most of the sea-going Jungs, regardless of their ports of origin, carry oldfashioned cannon, essential as protection against pirates. All the junks have "eyes" painted on either side of the bow. The eyes of cargo junks are focused ahead, while the eyes of fishing junks slant downwards and seem to peer into the sea. The great Shantung junks still carry cargo from Chefoo and Tsingtao to Shanghai, bringing from 400 to 600 tons of cargo each trip. While modern steamers make the trip from Shanghai to Tsingtao in twenty-four hours, the junks require from six to twenty days, according to the prevailing winds.