No. 237 Maritime Archaeology in the People's Republic of China ...

Figure 16. The Moko Shurai Ekotoba or Illustrations and Narrative of the Mongol Invasion of Japan, produced in 1292 showing a Mongol
vessel under attack by a small Japanese vessel.
Figure 17. Large Mongol vessel (foreground) retreating two Mongol vessles advancing, from the Moko Shurai Ekotoba .
head of one person shows just above the gunnel at the line
of the stern post and is presumably the helmsman. The stem
post is slightly concave and thicker at the top. There seem to
be eight strakes, the stern top three strakes extend to form a
counter over the sternpost. The sternpost is much narrower
than the stem extending from the counter down two strakes
where it combines into an extended rudder which projects
below the keel. The carving is unclear and some writers have
suggested that it represents a quarter rudder rather than an
axial rudder but this is unconvincing. Possibly the confusion
is the result of the stone mason unfamiliarity with ships below
the waterline.
Large river vessels of the Song Dynasty are illustrated in
the famous scroll by Zhang Zeduan entitled Qing Ming Shang
Ho Tu (Going up the river the capital (Kaifeng) at the Spring
Festival) and painted with meticulous care sometime around
1126 (Figs 10–15). It shows three separate groups of vessels,
the down-stream group has six vessels, the middle group
shows a large vessel, bows-on, negotiating, with difficulty,
the passage under a bridge and the upstream group shows two
vessels tied up to the river bank. The largest vessel is about 15
metres long. The vessels all have no noticeable sternpost and
the axial, semi-balanced rudders appear to be fixed on a hinge
system on the transom with chains so that they can be raised
and lowered. There are three different types of vessels:
1. Vessels with the hull planking sweeping up, in a uniform
manner, to a small, high, vertical transom, reminiscent of
the Dutch fluits of the early 17th century (Fig. 10 left).
2. Vessels with a small counter overhanging a small low
transom and with a noticeable chine indicating a flat bottomed
vessel (Figs 11 & 14).
3. Vessels with a large low transom and a considerable over-
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