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

Figure 81.
2.750 m
Photograph of the main mast step after reconstruction.
Figure 82. Side elevation of the mast arrangement showing the
projected arrangement for lowering the mast.
overlaps the lower strake on its outer surface, the jointing
surface is between the outer and inner faces of the strakes.
This type of joint produces a discontinuity or step in both the
inside and outside surfaces of the hull.
Rabbeted clinker seam: (unconventional definition) in this
case a rabbet is cut into the inside of the lower edge of the
upper strake; the upper (unrabbeted) edge of the lower strake
is set in this rabbet, giving an external appearance of a clinker
overlap, but the thickness of the step between the strakes at
the surface is reduced by the depth of the rabbet (Fig. 4). This
type of seam has been found on both the Quanzhou and Shinan
ships (Green, 1983).
The inner planking of the Quanzhou ship is 80 mm thick.
The garboard strakes are fairly massive planks and rise near
vertically from the keel through the midbody of the hull, so that,
together with the keel they form a narrow, channel-sectioned
structure, on to which the plank shell of the hull is built. It is
possible to see this structure as a development from a vestigial
dugout canoe/keel. The keel is rabbeted so that the lower
edge of the garboard strake lies against the horizontal surface
of the keel rabbet and a short part of the vertical face of the
keel. The second and third strakes are joined with a rabbeted
clinker seam. A system of two rabbeted carvel seams and one
rabbeted clinker seam continues up to the 12th strake, above
this there appear to be no more clinker seams. Each rabbeted
clinker seam on the inner surface of the hull has a strip or
lath of wood set over the top of the joint to fair it and prevent
water and grot from accumulating in the step.
The outer planking is 50 mm thick and is carvel joined, the
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