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

Figure 20. Fragments from the Moko Shurai Ekotoba of three vessels.
Figure 21. Two medium sized Japanese vessels advancing on Mongol fleet, from the Moko Shurai Ekotoba .
tabulated in Table 1.
Most invading vessels and some shields on these vessels
carry a device with light circle (Moon?). Vessels C1–4 have
three types of people on board: rowers, dressed in tunics with
shaved heads; warriors with head dress which seems to have
winged effect at side of face, mostly bearded and some dark
skinned; and others, possibly important people, wearing boots
and either being slaughtered by Japanese or sitting in area
furthest away from direction of attack. Soldiers in C 5–7 are
distinctly different from C1–4, with padded dress and beardless
and in some cases dark skinned. Shields are distinctive with
recurving swastika and lotus-form tops. No evidence of other
types of people. This illustration is particularly important
because the vessels are contemporary with the Quanzhou ship
and are clearly illustrated. It is known that there were vessels
from South China and Korea involved in this invasion. This
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work merits a more thorough study to analyse the details and
significance of the vessels and their occupants.
Another important source from the period of the Quanzhou
ship is Marco Polo who resided in China between 1275 and
1292. He wrote on Chinese river shipping and also on sea-going
vessels of Guangdong and Fujian. As with all translations one
needs to approach the works with caution. For example, there
are interesting variations in the translation of The Travels of
Marco Polo. The version translated by Latham (1958) gives
the following account at the beginning of Chapter Six: From
China to India:
To begin with, we shall tell you first of the ships in which merchants
trading with India make their voyages.
This then I would have you know, is how they are made. They
are built of a wood called spruce or fir. They have one deck; and
above this deck, in most ships, are at least sixty cabins, each of