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

Figure 65.
Plan of the Ko Si Chang 3 site.
Ko Si Chang Three
This site which was completely excavated in 1986 was carefully
documented, although the hull structure was not dismantled
(FIGS). The planks, 80 mm thick, were edge-joined with
dowels at intervals of 75 to 85 mm. There was a second,
outer layer of planking 30 mm thick. The planks were joined
with scarfs that were distributed with almost no discernible
pattern. In most cases the scarfs lay under the bulkheads. It
was suggested that the vessel may have been old as there
was evidence that some of the strakes had been repaired. The
vessel had at least 10, possibly a total of 16 bulkheads which
were arranged in a rather unusual manner. Assuming that the
mast step was set on the side of the bulkhead facing the fore
part of the vessel, with the frame on the aft side. Then the
bulkheads aft of this all had the frames on the forward side
of the bulkhead. At the bulkhead foreward the mast step this
situation was the same. Foreward of this the frames were on
the aft side of the bulkhead. There is evidence for some form
of longitudinal bracing between the bulkhead frames both
fore and aft of the mast step. This is arrangement and may
be related to some form of complex bracing of the mast step
and the fact that the side of the bulkhead that the frames are
set are not symmetrical about the mast step. In order to brace
the mast step and the frame on the other side of the mast step
bulkhead, the frames fore and aft must face the mast step
bulkhead. Hence the arrangement described above.
The keel had three blocks (similar to the block on the Pattaya
ship) the two larger are thought to be clamps covering scarfs
on the keel. Interestingly, the evidence of an iron cargo in
one compartment with storage jars placed on top of this
cargo, suggests that this vessel, unlike Pattaya, did not have
a clear access to the keel area. The site is dated 1440±60 and
1540—120.
Figure 66.
Ko Si Chang 3 cross-section.
The Ko Khram Ship
The Ko Khram site was found near the island of Ko Khram
near Sattahib, on the SE coast of the Gulf of Thailand; it was
inspected and a limited excavation then took place between
1975 and 1977 (Brown 1975, Howitz 1977, Green 1981;
Green & Harper, 1983a). Despite attracting considerable
interest because of the quantities of Thai ceramics on board,
very little has been published on the hull structure. The little
evidence extant on this site indicates a V-shaped lower hull,
edge-joined with dowels. The ship is variously dated 1520±140,
1680±270 and 1380±50.
29