No. 237 Maritime Archaeology in the People's Republic of China ...
No. 237 Maritime Archaeology in the People's Republic of China ...
No. 237 Maritime Archaeology in the People's Republic of China ...
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
separated by more than a plank width. The outer layer does<br />
function as a cont<strong>in</strong>uous sheath<strong>in</strong>g layer.<br />
Nail<strong>in</strong>g<br />
The planks <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ma<strong>in</strong> plank<strong>in</strong>g are skew nailed toge<strong>the</strong>r<br />
through <strong>the</strong> seams. The skew nails have been driven down<br />
from <strong>the</strong> upper plank to <strong>the</strong> lower from <strong>the</strong> outside <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
hull; dur<strong>in</strong>g this process <strong>the</strong> rabbeted seams would help hold<br />
<strong>the</strong> planks <strong>in</strong> alignment. There are only three places where<br />
<strong>the</strong> external face <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>ner plank<strong>in</strong>g is exposed allow<strong>in</strong>g<br />
measurement <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> distance between <strong>the</strong> skew nails, <strong>the</strong><br />
longest <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se exposed portions is two metres. It was found<br />
that <strong>the</strong> skew nails were very regularly spaced at exactly 200<br />
mm! The nail heads are set <strong>in</strong>to small chiselled recesses <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
plank<strong>in</strong>g about 90 mm above <strong>the</strong> plank seam. The nails used<br />
were approximately 200 mm <strong>in</strong> length (pers. comm. Pr<strong>of</strong> Li<br />
Guo Q<strong>in</strong>g). The garboards were skew nailed to <strong>the</strong> keel with<br />
nails about 160 mm apart, <strong>the</strong> strong fasten<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> garboards<br />
to <strong>the</strong> keel seem<strong>in</strong>gly reflects <strong>the</strong> importance <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> garboards<br />
<strong>in</strong> re<strong>in</strong>forc<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> relatively weak scarfs <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> keel structure<br />
<strong>in</strong> this tradition <strong>of</strong> construction.<br />
Alignment <strong>of</strong> butts<br />
All plank butts (see fig) <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> ma<strong>in</strong> plank<strong>in</strong>g are positioned<br />
under bulkheads. This makes it impossible to detect any butts<br />
except by close <strong>in</strong>spection, and even <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong> majority rema<strong>in</strong><br />
hidden. Assum<strong>in</strong>g that <strong>the</strong> construction was plank-first <strong>the</strong>n<br />
<strong>the</strong> positions <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> bulkheads must have been predeterm<strong>in</strong>ed.<br />
The butts <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> ma<strong>in</strong> plank<strong>in</strong>g are short half lap jo<strong>in</strong>s (fig) or<br />
possibly tongue and groove jo<strong>in</strong>s. The lap jo<strong>in</strong>s forward <strong>of</strong><br />
midships ‘look’ forward, while those aft <strong>of</strong> midships look aft.<br />
This suggests that <strong>the</strong> long midships planks were fitted first <strong>in</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> assembly <strong>of</strong> each strake, <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong> strakes were extended<br />
towards <strong>the</strong> bow and stern. <strong>No</strong> strake consists <strong>of</strong> more than three<br />
planks as far as we could tell. The Wen Wu article translated by<br />
Merw<strong>in</strong> (1977) gives <strong>the</strong> length <strong>of</strong> planks as rang<strong>in</strong>g between<br />
a m<strong>in</strong>imum <strong>of</strong> 9.21 m (presumably <strong>the</strong> is <strong>the</strong> m<strong>in</strong>imum length<br />
<strong>of</strong> planks that rema<strong>in</strong> complete) and maximum 13.5 m which<br />
confirms that all extant strakes are composed <strong>of</strong> ei<strong>the</strong>r two<br />
or three planks. The uppermost rema<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g strake, strake 16<br />
on <strong>the</strong> starboard side, has only one butt, which is positioned<br />
at bulkhead 6; however, no o<strong>the</strong>r butts were identified at <strong>the</strong><br />
midships bulkheads 6,7 & 8.<br />
The plank pattern <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ma<strong>in</strong> plank<strong>in</strong>g is completely<br />
symmetrical port and starboard—if strake seven has a butt at<br />
bulkhead ten on <strong>the</strong> port side, <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong>re is also one <strong>the</strong>re <strong>in</strong><br />
strake seven on <strong>the</strong> starboard side. The one exception to this is<br />
a long tapered scarf runn<strong>in</strong>g almost <strong>the</strong> full distance between<br />
bulkheads ten and eleven <strong>in</strong> strake n<strong>in</strong>e: on <strong>the</strong> starboard side<br />
this a genu<strong>in</strong>e scarf between <strong>the</strong> long midbody plank and a<br />
very broad plank that extends aft from it. But on <strong>the</strong> port<br />
side, <strong>the</strong>re is a butt under bulkhead ten and aft <strong>of</strong> it a short<br />
triangular piece extends <strong>the</strong> midships plank to form <strong>the</strong> (false)<br />
scarf with <strong>the</strong> broad after plank—this appears to be a device<br />
to accommodate, or disguise, a mistake made when a butt was<br />
cut at <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> port side midships plank.<br />
The positions <strong>of</strong> all <strong>the</strong> plank butts that could be detected<br />
are shown if figure X. In <strong>the</strong> five strakes where both ends <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> midbody planks could be seen (strakes 7, 8, 9, 10 & 13) <strong>the</strong> Figure 91. Plan <strong>of</strong> plank<strong>in</strong>g arrangement show<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> butt-jo<strong>in</strong>t<br />
arrangement.<br />
41