[407] These boats are usually known by the name of sampans, and are generally used for the transport of commodities from the interior to Hankow, and sometimes to the coast. But they do not serve for commercial purposes only; they are used as dwellings for whole families or populations, who are born, marry, and die in them. In those employed for the conveyance of salt on the Yang-tse, the chief type of the Chinese art of shipbuilding may be seen in all its singularity. Their sides are mostly painted black. The upper portions of these craft are strengthened by broad but thin beams, which are painted in various colours, but most frequently in red, and, between these, the port-holes are represented in the middle of a square of a similar colour. Towards the bows the sides are raised, and form continuous cheeks, painted green, with an eye, or some other fantastic emblem, in the centre. The bow is quite flat; its width at the water-line, is usually from 9 to 12 feet; and, there being no stem or cutwater, the bow can only repulse the pressure of the water, without dividing it. The poop is raised, and open at the fore part, with a white scutcheon covered with paintings, representing flowers, dragons, or other allegorical figures.
[408] The tea boats on the Canton river and the Yang-tse are very numerous. They are clumsily built, and of various forms. Some have a high stern, ornamented with paintings of the brightest colour. The stern has usually a considerable rake, and the sides terminate with planks distinct from the hull, resting on a cross-beam. They are covered with varnish, and, as the heads of the nails by which they are fastened are pointed with mastic, the line of the ribs is not apparent. Most of them are covered in with a round water-tight roof, over which an awning is sometimes spread. On both sides of the roofs are uprights with rails resting on a deck, sufficiently wide and long to pass to the stern. They have seldom more than one mast and one large sail.
Their mode of rowing.
In the best class of these vessels, the cabin projects from the ship about 2 feet on each side, and there are folding windows round it, which may be opened or shut as pleasure or occasion may require. In the furthermost part are the rooms for passengers, separated from each other by folding-screens or doors, with the floors covered with fine mats. The outer cabin is always considered the best, and is accordingly assigned to the most distinguished passengers. The roof, or upper deck, is flattish, and constructed of neat boards, curiously joined together. In rainy weather, the mast is let down upon the upper deck, and the sail extended over it for the sailors and the people employed in the ship’s service to take shelter under it, and to sleep at night. Sometimes, the better to defend the upper deck, it is covered with straw mats, which, for this purpose, are kept at hand. There is but one sail, made of canvas, and very large; and one mast, standing up about midships, but somewhat towards the stern. This mast, which is of the same length as the ship, is wound up by pulleys, and again lowered upon deck when the ship comes to anchor. The anchors are of iron. Ships of this burden have commonly thirty to forty hands to row them, if the wind fails. The rowers’ benches are towards the stern. They row in unison with the air of a song, or tune with words, which serves at the same time to direct and regulate their work, and to encourage each other to exertion. They do not row after the European mode, extending their oars straight forwards, with the blades just below the surface, but they let them fall down into the water almost perpendicularly, and then lift them up again. This way of rowing not only answers the same purpose as our own, but is performed with less labour, and seems to be more adapted to circumstances, considering the narrowness of the passage through which ships sometimes pass, or when vessels pass each other, or when the benches of the rowers are raised considerably above the surface of the water. The oars are made in a peculiar manner, suitable for this mode of rowing, being not all straight, like the Europeans’ oars, but somewhat bent.
[410] In January 1861, I sold to the Prince of Satsuma one of my auxiliary steam-ships, the England, which had been employed in trade between India and China, and had made one or two voyages to Japan, soon after the ports of that country were opened to the vessels of foreign nations. Captain A. D. Dundas, R.N., who commanded her, and was a part owner with me of this ship and of a sister-ship, the Scotland, which afterwards became the property of the same prince, informs me he is under the impression, that the England was “the first foreign vessel purchased in Japan, except by the Government proper.” If so, her sale may be considered the introduction of the thin edge of the wedge which has rapidly led to a very general introduction of foreign bottoms. As an instance of the remarkable skill and ingenuity of the Japanese, they made new boilers of copper for this ship, within twelve months of the time when she came into their possession (I believe they had never before seen a boiler), but I am uncertain whether these boilers were ever fitted into the ship. If they were, I fear the small pieces of copper of which they were made (Japanese mechanical knowledge not having as yet learnt the art of constructing plates of the necessary size) would render them useless. The England was seized and scuttled by the British fleet in August 1863, at the time of the bombardment of Kagosima, and, having been sunk in very deep water, was never raised. The Scotland was still in the service of the Japanese in 1870.
[411] Though the above drawing represents one of the largest of the Japanese junks, she, like all the others, had only one mast, its place being opposite the vacant space shown at the gangway. The apparent bulwark of trellis-work before this gangway is meant to break the sea and allow the water to wash through. Besides, as nearly all the junks carry deck cargoes (covered with water-tight mats where perishable) the gratings serve the purpose of protection to the goods thus stowed, and afford facilities for lashing and securing them in their places on deck.
CHAPTER XIII.
Eastern Steam Navigation Company—Detailed proposals of the directors—Capital subscribed to build the Great Eastern—Relative size and speed of sailing-ships—Mr. Brunel proposes to build a ship five or six times as big as any existing vessel, and is supported in his views by Mr. Scott Russell—Plan of construction, size, &c.—Mr. Atherton considers the views of the directors are not supported by their data—The Great Eastern commenced May 1, 1854—Details of her dimensions and mode of construction—Practically, one ship within another—Compartments and bulkheads—Floor—Construction of the iron plates for hull—The deck and its strength—Enormous steam-power from combination of paddle and screw—Paddle-wheel, auxiliary, and screw-engines—Donkey-engines—Proposed accommodation for passengers, &c.—View of deck, &c.—Saloon—Intended to carry twenty large boats and two steamers—Compasses—Size of sails—Magnetic apparatus of Mr. J. Gray—Apparatus for steering—Rudder and anchors, and note—The ship itself a marvel though, commercially, a failure—Preparations for, and details of, the launching of the Great Eastern.
Eastern Steam Navigation Company.