Ancient Treasures

by Brian Haughton

  Despite Menzies’s fantasies, Chinese maritime trade and commercial activity, as well as their nautical knowledge and technology, were at their height at the time of Zheng He’s fifth and sixth voyages (1416–1422). These achievements were decades before most of the famous European voyages of discovery: Christopher Columbus (America, 1492,); Vasco da Gama (the first European to reach India, in 1498); and Ferdinand Magellan (the first documented circumnavigation of the globe, 1519–1522). So, why did Ming China’s success not lead to significant commercial maritime expansion into the Middle East and beyond Africa into Europe? The fact that China did not expand on these voyages meant that it would remain relatively isolated, leaving European explorers to extend their influence into Africa and Asia without competition.

  There are a number of theories as to why the Chinese did not grasp this seemingly golden opportunity. The first was the massive cost involved in financing such huge maritime ventures. The lavish nature of Zheng He’s voyages had become the subject of heated debate among rival factions at the Ming Court, and in May 1421, toward the end of the reign of the Yongle emperor, it was ordered that they be suspended due to their expense. But the order seems to have come too late to affect Zheng He’s sixth voyage, which set sail in March 1421. Nevertheless, when the successor of the Yongle emperor, Zhu Gaochi (reigned AD 1424–1425 under the title Hongxi) came to power, he immediately brought an end to Zheng He’s maritime expeditions. But cost was probably not the only reason for this decision. The reopening of the Grand Canal in 1411 also played its part. Starting at Beijing and running for 1,104 miles to the city of Hangzhou in Eastern China, the Grand Canal is the longest canal in the world. After the Canal was completely renovated between 1411 and 1415, it provided a quicker and safer route for transporting grain than seagoing vessels traveling along the coast.

  In June 1431, Zheng He managed to undertake one final voyage under the rule of Hongxi’s son, the Xuande emperor (reigned AD 1426–1435). The last expedition sailed to Africa’s Swahili coast and reached as far as the Cape of Good Hope, but in 1433 on the way back to China, Zheng He, then in his 60s, died and was buried at sea. With the death of the “Admiral of the Western Seas” came the end of China’s golden age of exploration. Now the conservative Confucian faction had the upper hand at court; there would be no more maritime voyages, Zheng He’s Treasure Ships were said to have been burned or left to rot away in their harbors, and official records of the voyages were destroyed.

  Throughout the last few decades there has been heated discussion among scholars and laymen alike as to the dimensions of Zheng He’s treasure ships (called baoshan in the ancient texts). Are the ancient Chinese records accurate in their descriptions of these seemingly colossal vessels? The largest ships in the fleet are recorded as being nine masted, with four decks, and measuring between 440 and 538 feet long by 210 feet wide—much larger than any wooden ship ever built. Some scholars regard these dimensions as inaccurate, as such huge vessels would be impractical and structurally unsound. This is evidenced, for example, by the huge wooden warships of the British Victorian age, such as the HMS Orlando and HMS Mersey (both 336 feet in length), which due to their size suffered from structural problems that required internal iron strapping to support the hull. Because there is no mention of such special construction techniques in the Chinese records, how were such huge vessels constructed? Were the ancient texts describing real seagoing vessels or some kind of mythological craft?

  One explanation is that the oceangoing treasure ships that the Ming Dynasty constructed were much smaller in size than described in the texts. Massive vessels of the size mentioned in the ancient Chinese annals may also have been built, but as river craft to be used by the emperor and imperial bureaucrats to travel along the Yangtze, which could have been navigable for such large ships. Such flat-bottomed estuarine vessels were known as shachuan, and perhaps journeys down the river by the emperor and his revenue on these huge elaborate vessels were intended as lavish displays of imperial power.

  Dr. Richard Gould, professor of archeology at Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island (United States), believes that the unrealistic sizes of the treasure ships may be due to the known extravagances of the Yongle emperor Zhu Di. This extravagance is well illustrated by the emperor’s plan to erect a 240-feet-high stone tablet in his father’s tomb (known as the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum). The vast monument proved so unwieldy that the project was abandoned and the various parts of the stele were left lying in Yangshan Quarry, where they remain today. Zhu Di was forced to order the construction of a much smaller tablet to be installed in the tomb. Are there perhaps echoes of the grandiose ideas behind the huge treasure ships and their marathon expeditions in the Yongle emperor’s elaborate plans for his father’s tomb? But whether built as seagoing treasure ships or as river craft primarily for display purposes, is there any convincing archaeological evidence for the existence of these huge vessels?

  In 1962 a timber rudder post more than 36 feet long and 1.25 feet in diameter was unearthed amongst the remains of the Ming boatyards in Nanjing. Researchers calculated that a rudder of such a size must have come from a ship of at least 450 feet in length, indicating that huge vessels were indeed constructed there. Unfortunately, apart from this tantalizing glimpse of what may have been part of a treasure ship, any more substantial archeological traces of China’s golden age of exploration remain elusive; only three of Nanjing’s seven ship docks where the Ming ships were constructed remain today, and only one of these has been excavated.

  Nevertheless, there is archaeological evidence from shipwrecks of other periods that Zheng He’s voyages would have been possible. In 1973, during canal dredging work at Houzhou, six miles from the ancient trading port of Quanzhou, in southern Fujian province, the remains of a large ship were found buried in the mud. Known as the Quanzhou Wreck, the ship probably sank in the 1270s (the earlier Song period) and was a substantial double-masted seagoing vessel, about 114 feet long by 32 feet wide. Excavations led by Zhuang Weij, professor of history at Xiamen University, took place in 1974, and revealed compartments inside the ship containing 504 copper coins, an exotic cargo of spices (including frankincense possibly from Arabia and black pepper from Java), cowrie shells, tortoiseshell, ambergris (from Somalia), betel nuts from Indonesia, and about 5,000 pounds of fragrant woods. Archaeological examination of the Quanzhou Wreck and its cargo suggested that the ship was an oceangoing merchant vessel returning to Quanzhou from Southeast Asia, evidence that the Chinese were already involved in long-distance trading voyages across the Indian Ocean a century before the Ming Dynasty. The remains of the Quanzhou ship are now preserved in Quanzhou Overseas Relations Museum.

  A wreck that dates from a little later than the Quanzhou Wreck was excavated between 1976 and 1982 near Shinan, South Korea. Unfortunately divers had looted the site before government authorities put it under protection, though a substantial amount of important information could still be gleaned from the wreck. The ship, which dated from around 1323, was carrying cargo that included at least 16,000 ceramic items, including bluish white porcelain from the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty (AD 1271–1368), pieces of red sandalwood, and more than seven million brass-bronze coins. Further study showed that the vessel was constructed of Chinese red fir and Chinese red pine, and was similar in size and construction to the Quanzhou wreck. Archaeologists concluded that it was a Chinese merchant ship en route from China to Japan when it sank in a storm.

  A more recent find was that of the wreck known as the Nan’ao No. 1, off the coast of Shantou, in Guangdong Province in southern China. Discovered in 2007 by a group of fishermen, this merchant ship, which measured 84 feet in length and 23 feet in width, has been dated to the reign of Emperor Wanli (AD 1573–1620), late in the Ming Dynasty. Nan’ao No. 1 is considered the best preserved ancient shipwreck in China, and excavations have revealed that most of the cargo was Ming porcelain for export, indicating the importance of the port of Shantou on what has become known as the Maritime
Silk Road. The Maritime Silk Road was a sea route dating back to the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25–220), which connected China to India, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Mediterranean. Between 2004 and 2009 a research project named “908,” sponsored by the State Oceanic Administration’s Department of Science and Technology, scoured the coast of China for ancient shipwrecks associated with the route. Although the project was a success and revealed 30 shipwreck sites scattered along the shores of China, none of these were connected with Zheng He’s expeditions. In fact, as can be seen from the shipwrecks discussed previously, Chinese wrecks tend to date from either significantly earlier or later than the voyages of Zheng He’s treasure ships.

  So does the lack of archaeological evidence mean that Zheng He’s treasure fleets never existed as described in ancient Chinese texts? Without further underwater survey and archaeological excavation, it is impossible to be sure. But whether the literal truth or not, stories of the fantastic voyages of the treasure ships of the Ming Empire have captured popular imagination the world over. In 2006 it was announced that a 233.3-foot replica of a treasure ship was to be constructed in Nanjing, with a $10 million budget and a three-year timeline. The ship is being built using 15th-century construction methods and ancient wooden shells made from oak trees, though it will also be equipped three engines, computers, and central air conditioning. In 2010, the press was shown pictures of the replica in the process of construction in Nanjing, and it was announced that vessel would be ready for sailing by 2014.

  The legacy of Zheng He’s treasure fleet is not only present in this reconstruction, but also in the various inscriptions he left behind. In 1431, just before departing on what was to be his final voyage, Zheng He, inscribed a stele in Fujian province, part of which reads:

  We have traversed more than one hundred thousand li [a li is about one-third of a mile] of immense water spaces and have beheld in the ocean huge waves like mountains rising sky-high, and we have set eyes on barbarian regions far away hidden in a blue transparency of light vapors, while our sails loftily unfurled like clouds day and night continued their course (rapid like that) of a star, traversing those savage waves as if we were treading a public thoroughfare. Truly this was due to the majesty and the good fortune of the Court and moreover we owe it to the protecting virtue of the divine Celestial Spouse.2

  CHAPTER 15

  The Spanish Treasure Fleet

  The Spanish Treasure Fleets sailed the ocean from the New World to Spain from the 16th to the 18th centuries carrying a wide variety of goods from the colonies. Their cargo included tobacco, spices, pearls, and gems, as well as gold and silver taken from the Aztecs and Incas. With such rich treasures, the ships soon became targets for English, Dutch, and French warships, and a number of them were looted on their long journey back from the Americas. But the most serious threat to the Spanish Treasure Fleets was the weather, particularly hurricanes. Numerous vessels were lost during severe storms, particularly along the coasts of Vera Cruz (in modern Mexico), Texas, and Florida. One of the best known of these wrecks is that of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha, which sank off the Florida coast in 1622 carrying around 35 tons of silver and more than 160 pieces of gold, as well as copper, tobacco, and jewels. In July 1715, all 11 ships of the Spanish Treasure Fleet were destroyed in a hurricane near present-day Vero Beach, Florida. Beginning in the mid-20th century various treasure divers and salvage companies have attempted to retrieve the treasure hoards from the sea bed, sometimes with remarkable success. But many of these treasure hunters have come under intense criticism from archaeologists both for their crude methods of recovery and their thirst for wealth rather than for knowledge.

  The arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Bahamas in 1492 signaled the beginning of Spain’s Empire in the New World, which would expand over the next 400 years to cover most of modern Central America and Mexico, the Caribbean islands, the western half of South America, and a large part of North America. The basis for Spain’s New World Empire was the exploitation of the wealth of the conquered kingdoms, particularly their gold and silver. These precious metals were of vital importance to Spain, as they could be melted down to make desperately needed currency in the form of gold and silver coins. In 1535, Spain established the first mint in the Americas in Mexico City, which produced coins for domestic use, though Spanish coins from the New World did not start entering world circulation until two decades later. After the conquest of the Inca Empire under Francisco Pizarro in the 1530s, the amount of wealth, particularly gold and silver stolen from the natives, arriving in Spain from the New World increased dramatically. The Spanish king, Charles I, ordered that all of the gold ornaments and jewelry from the Americas be melted down and made into escudos (gold coins), destroying a huge part of Inca culture in the process.

  The Spanish had been shipping goods back to Spain in merchant vessels from the Americas since the time of Columbus, but attacks on the ships by French-backed privateers as they arrived in Spanish ports persuaded the government that something had to be done to protect their wealth. Beginning in 1522, the Spanish government organized a fleet of warships that was sent into the Atlantic Ocean to protect the returning merchant ships as they sailed into port with their precious cargo. In response to the increasingly large amounts of gold and silver from the conquered Inca Empire carried by Spanish ships, the French now sent their privateers further out into the Atlantic, a long way from Spanish waters. As a result, in 1537 the French captured nine treasure ships, forcing the Spanish government to send a fleet of royal warships out as far as the Caribbean to escort the remaining vessels back to port in Spain. It is this convoy of merchant vessels and warships that is considered to represent the first real Treasure Fleet.

  In 1545 the Spanish discovered silver ore at the Cerro Rico (“Rich Mountain”) in southwest Bolivia. On April 10, 1545, the mining town of Potosi was founded at the foot of the Cerro Rico, and the mines became the major source of silver for Spain’s empire in the New World. Indeed the mines here were so rich that Potosi expanded rapidly to become one of the largest cities in the Americas with a population of more than 200,000 people. The mines at Cerro Rico were to have a huge effect on world economy, as the vast amounts of silver loaded on board the treasure ships and taken to Spain resulted in Spanish currency flooding the market.

  15.1. Silver peso of Philip V. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

  By 1550 the Treasure Fleet numbered 17 ships, but after the French pirate Jacques de Sores attacked and burned the trading port of Havana in 1555, the new king of Spain, Philip II, decided that something more substantial and organized was necessary. The king consulted admiral and explorer Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (1519–1574), best known today as the founder of the city of St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565. De Avilés had been the commander of vessels that had escorted the Treasure Fleet on previous occasions and so he was well qualified to make recommendations to the king about how the Fleet might be organized in the future. In 1564 the Council of the Indies in Madrid (an organization established to oversee Spain’s colonial empire) drew up a basic formal plan to demonstrate how the shipments of precious metals mined in the New World could be protected from pirates and colonial rivals on their journey back to Spain.

  15.2. Woodcut carving of Pedro Menendez de Avilés, 1923. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

  The Council decided to organize the ships into two huge convoys known as the Tierra Firme (South America) Fleet and the Nueva España (New Spain-Mexican) Fleet, with both convoys including merchant ships, war ships, supply ships, and reconnaissance vessels. The departures of the fleets were scheduled to avoid the hurricane season and take advantage of winds and currents. Each fleet usually traveled separately, in convoys of between 30 and 90 vessels, at different times to minimize losses to the weather or pirates, though occasionally they journeyed as far as the Caribbean together before going their separate ways. The merchant vessels were loaded with supplies of European goods such as wine, olive oil, textiles, tools, and weapons, to sell or tra
de with the colonists. The Tierra Firme Fleet would sail from Seville in the late summer bound for Cartagena de Indias (“Cartegina of the Indies”) on the northern coast of Colombia, a journey that took from four to six weeks. On arrival at Cartagena, the Spanish would wait for about two months for the gold, silver, jewels, and spices collected from its southern colonies to be transported to the port and assembled, and be ready for export. From Cartagena the Tierra Firme Fleet sailed on to Havana, where the Spanish had established a large shipyard where any repairs necessary could be carried out before the voyage home across the Atlantic.

  The Nueva España Fleet departed Spain in the spring on a two-month-long journey to the port of Vera Cruz, in present-day Mexico. After the arrival of the ships there would be a large trade fair, where the Spanish merchants from the fleet would trade their European goods for precious metals, emeralds, animal hides, sugar, and indigo. After the fair was over, the ships were loaded up and the convoy sailed along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, until it reached Havana, where it rendezvoused with the Tierra Firme Fleet. The two convoys then left Havana together for their long journey across the Atlantic, sailing along the east coast of Florida and riding the Gulf Stream to Cape Hatteras, on the coast of North Carolina, where they turned eastward toward Spain. But before they made port in Spain, the Spanish convoys faced numerous hazards. Apart from hurricanes and pirates, the Fleets were faced with the problems of exhausted crew members, tropical diseases, malnutrition, and the extremely unhygienic conditions on board. Nevertheless, by the end of the 16th century, the Treasure Fleets had helped to make Spain the richest country in Europe—though it would soon have major rivals in the New World.