Page 21 - Inventions - A Visual Encyclopedia (DK - Smithsonian)

Round ship Treasure ship

■ ■ What? Cog Sails were ■ ■ What? Chinese treasure ship
■ ■ Who? Unknown made of strips ■ ■ Who? Unknown
■ ■ Where and when? Northern Europe, of bamboo. ■ ■ Where and when? China, 15th century ce
c. 10th century ce
From 1405 to 1433, the Chinese admiral
One of the most common sea vessels Zheng He led seven “treasure voyages”
in medieval Europe was the “round ship.” across Asia and East Africa. His fleet
A common round ship was the cog. was made up of dozens of “treasure
This vessel had a design described as ships.” They had many sails and
“clinker-built,” meaning that the planks may have been around twice the
that made up the hull overlapped one size of European ships in use at
another. Cogs were mostly used for the same time. These huge vessels
trading because they were sturdy, Model of Chinese explorer carried treasures that displayed China’s
easy to build, and had lots of Zheng He’s treasure boat wealth and clever technology. EARLY BREAKTHROUGHS
space for cargo.

Completely armored ship

■ ■ What? Korean turtle ship
■ ■ Who? Unknown
■ ■ Where and when? Korea, 15th century ce
Model The Koreans were the first to cover
of a cog
a ship’s deck with armor plates Upper deck,
covered in
to protect it from enemy missiles. spiky iron plates
Their so-called turtle ships were
armed with many cannons. Some
were mounted with a dragon’s
head at the prow that belched
out a foggy gas to hide the
ship’s movements.

Dragon’s head
may have hidden
a cannon.
Model of a Korean turtle ship

Long-distance European ship

■ ■ What? Carrack
Some cogs were ■ ■ Who? Unknown
converted into ■ ■ Where and when? Europe, 15th century ce
warships and By the 15th century, the most common
had platforms
added to their type of ship in Europe was the carrack.
fore where It was a large vessel that could sail on
sailors stood rough seas and carry enough provisions
to fire arrows
and cannons for a long journey. The Italian explorer
at enemies. Christopher Columbus used a carrack
in 1492 for his voyage to America.
Replica of a medieval carrack
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