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

Chapter 2. Archaeological evidence East Asian vessels
Jeremy Green
Over the last 25 years a number of excavations have been
carried out in the Asian and Southeast Asian region on vessels
that have relevance to the discussion of the Quanzhou Ship.
The vessels are: (Chinese) Dongmenkou, Fa Shi, Shandong,
Shinan, Ko Si Chang Two; (Southeast Asian) Pattaya, Ko Si
Chang One and Three, Ko Khram, Rang Kwien, Phu Quoc,
Con Dao and Bukit Jakas.
The Fa Shi Ship
The Fa Shi ship which was discovered in 1982 near Quanzhou
is not well documented. This vessel was partially excavated, the
remains were located partially under a building. It is generally
described as Song Dynasty. The excavation is briefly reported
in Xu Yingfan (1985) and shows bulkheads and wooden pegs
similar to the Shinan Ship (FIG).
The Ningbo Ship, Dongmenkou
Figure 36. Fa Shi excavation showing the bulkhead with the diagonal
stiffeners.
Figure 37.
Fa Shi site showing the bulkhead and the watyerway.
The archaeological excavation of the Song ship at Dongmenkou,
Ningbo has been described by Shimin et al. (1991). The site
consisted of the fore part of the vessel, including seven
bulkheads (the stern-part was missing) (FIGS). The keel
was made up of of at least three parts and attached to it was a
stem (?) angled at about 35° to the horizontal (the term stem
will be used here but it could be described as a foreward keel
extension or a strongly raked stem).
When it was uncovered the ship was approximately
horizontal in position, the timbers were greyish yellow in
colour and its shape and components could be clearly seen.
Unfortunately after being exposed to the sun, the timbers shrank
and the components of the ship were distorted out of shape
and broke making it impossible to preserve them.
The remaining part of the ship was 9.30 m long and 1.14 m
high. Taking the keel as the central line, half of ship’s breadth is
2.16 m, the upper structure having rotted away. The remaining
stem, bilge, planking, garboard and keel was well preserved.
The marks of the bulkhead and an inlaid repair consisting of
a round wooden plug on a plank were very clear. The steps
of the fore and main masts were carefully made. A supporting
timber was installed behind the bulkhead under the main mast
step to strengthen the planking and the mast. The remains of
part of the rudder was found at the stern of the ship. This ship
was probably a three masted sea-going vessel with a sharp
bow, ‘V’-shaped bottom and a square stern.
The remaining part of the pine wood keel was 7.34 m
long, 0.26 m wide and 0.18 m thick, the aft part being broken.
Judging from the joints the keel, it is made up of three parts
Figure 38. Ningbo site showing the shipwreck site in relation to
the dockyard.
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