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'seemedtomeasbigasanythird-rateManofWarsMastinEngland',thirdbeinga
highratingintheBritishsystem.Itwas'notpiecedasours,butmadeofonegrown
Tree', he writes, adding that 'in all my Travels I never saw single Tree-masts so
big in the Body, and so long, and yet so well tapered, as I have seen in the Chinese
Jonks.'
At the end of his visit Dampier stuck his nose in the cabin at the stern of the
ship,'whereinwasanAltarandaLampburning,Ididbutjustlookin,andsawnot
the Idol'. Dampier knew to expect a shrine on board, for all Chinese ships carried
an altar to Mazu, the Empress of Heaven, to whom sailors prayed for protection at
sea. What he did not know was that this was where the pilot kept his compasses.
AndthuswehaveanexplanationforwhythepilotwascalledtheFireChief.Itwas
his duty to keep the vessel on course, but it was also his duty to keep the lamp on
thealtarlit,lesttheattentionofMazuandanyoftheothergodsreceivingofferings
wander from the vessel and leave the sailors defenceless against the malevolent
forces that were always on the verge of imperilling sea travellers.
Zhang Xie was just as impressed with the vessels that the sailors of Moon Har-
bour launched onto the waves. 'The larger ships are over ten metres in the beam
and over thirty metres long. Even the smaller ships are six metres in the beam and
twenty metres long.' These vessels represented a huge investment. 'The cost of
building a ship can run to over a thousand ounces of silver. Then when they re-
turn every year, they have to be completely overhauled and refitted, which cannot
run to less than five or six hundred ounces.' What made them commercially viable
was the skill of the pilot. Zhang testifies that his decisions overrode the captain's:
'Though the deeps across which he traces his watery course are vast, he is listened
to in all things affecting the command of the ship.' His authority as navigator was
entirelyknowledge-based.'Heknowsthereareregularitiesincloudformationsand
themovementofwinds,andwiththisknowledgeheploughsthroughthewavesfor
tenthousand
li
andisneveroncefooledintotakingthewrongcourse.'Andthekey
technology in all this was the compass. 'Relying on it,' Zhang writes, mariners
may grope their way forward in the gloom and yet have complete knowledge of
whatever part of the ocean they are in and what dangers they have to look out for.
Indifferent to the storms buffeting them, they remain at ease in their places. Despite
sharpwindsandcrashingwaves,theyvoyageonasthougheverythingwerenormal.
With their long experience at doing this, they sail as though they are walking on
level ground. At a glance they can figure out whatever it is they need to know.
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