Chapter 2 Chapter 2. The Emergence of the Plank and the Sail

Our ancestors continued to innovate rafts and canoes, resulting in the emergence of new types of wooden boats, which were developed from rafts and canoes to wooden boats. This is a leap in the history of shipbuilding, and it opened up a new era in the history of navigation. The emergence of wooden boats is about the establishment of the Xia Dynasty in the 21st century BC.According to legend, Huangdi's ministers Gonggu and Huodi invented the boat, Zhuanxu [zhuanxu Zhuanxu] invented oars and poles, Emperor Ku [kuku] invented the rudder and scull, Yao invented the rope and so on.From this, we can know that these navigation tools are the crystallization of people's collective wisdom in long-term social practice, and have been improved and perfected in the process of use. In 1980, in Erlitou, Yanshi County, Henan Province, archaeologists found the site of the Xia Dynasty.In the ruins, archaeologists discovered Xia Dynasty copper casting and smelting workshops, as well as bronze adzes, chisels and other tools, indicating that due to the appearance of metal tools, Xia Dynasty productivity entered a stage of rapid development.At this time, there were also woodworking production tools such as gauges, moments, and yardsticks.The conditions for building wooden boats in the Xia Dynasty were ripe.

"The Analects of Confucius Xianwen" has a record that "Yi [yiyi] is good at shooting, and 奡 [aoao] is rowing".This sentence means that Yi is a person who is good at archery, and Yi is a person who is good at steering boats.He is a strong man in ancient legends, the son of Xia Hancuo, who can sail on land.Yan Shigu's commentary said: "奡, the so-called pourer in the Songs of Chu is also the one who pours out." Therefore, you are poured out, and it is a person. "Watering down and looking for it, fighting in Wei, destroying it." ("Bamboo Book Chronicle") "Overturning the boat and looking for it, what is the way to get it." ("Chu Songs Tianwen") These records show that: I was ordered to destroy the water. Xun, using the technique of attacking and rowing on water.It can be seen that in the Xia Dynasty, there were people who were skilled in manipulating boats and were famous all over the world.

During the Xia Dynasty, some Binhai Yi people had established a vassal relationship with the Central Plains Dynasty.Ancient books say: "There are nine tribes of Yi", such as "Jiuyi" and "Dongyi", who originally lived in the Northeast of my country. big fish.It shows that the Xia Dynasty had the ability to organize coastal residents to go fishing in the deep sea, and it also shows that the navigation tools at this time have broken away from the stage of rafts and canoes.Otherwise, it is impossible to catch big fish in the deep sea. The development of shipbuilding industry is the inevitable result of the development of productive forces.In the Shang Dynasty, people were able to manufacture the Simushu Dafang Ding with a weight of 875 kilograms and fine patterns.Judging from the ruins of the Shang Dynasty, palaces, buildings, and city walls could be built at that time, and there were sharp bronze cutting and sawing tools, as well as production tools such as axes, knives, saws, and chisels made of bronze.The widespread use of these production tools made it possible to manufacture a large number of wooden boats.

With the development of production, there is a relative surplus of products, and then there will be commodity exchange and currency.Twelve imitated bone shells and stone shells were found in Erlitou Xia Culture Site in Yanshi County, Henan Province.And "Bei" played the role of currency in ancient times, which shows that there was commodity exchange in Xia Dynasty. In the Shang Dynasty, people were able to use boats for commercial activities.According to the inscription "(upper soup and lower dish)" on a big bronze tripod with Taotie (taotie Taotie) pattern in the Shang Dynasty in the Shanghai Museum, we can know the relationship between commodity exchange and water transportation at that time.This glyph tells people that two people are riding on a wooden boat, one of whom is holding a paddle in his hand to puncture the boat, and the other is carrying shellfish or goods, which shows that the development of production and exchange at that time required the frequent use of wooden boats.Many seashells, ivory, and whale bones have been unearthed in the Shang Dynasty ruins and tombs in Anyang, Henan. These are all products in the sea or products exchanged overseas. Without navigation, this would be impossible.Then analyze the glyphs of several "zhou" characters in oracle bone inscriptions:

There are two or three horizontal lines on the character "舟", indicating the arrangement of vertical and horizontal materials on wooden boats at that time.The transverse strength of the hull is strengthened with beams (transverse plates) and 3-4 segmented compartments are formed. It also enables the joints of the longitudinal side plates of the hull to be nailed to the cross frames, and the short plates can be connected to long board ships.It can be seen that the ships of the Shang Dynasty have left the canoe stage and entered the plank boat stage.

How did the wooden boat come about?Due to the limited capacity of the canoe, people began to add planks around the canoe to increase the capacity.The original canoe gradually became the bottom of the boat.In the long-term evolution process, the round-bottomed canoe has gradually become the main longitudinal material connecting the bow and tail at the center line of the bottom, that is, the "keel".That is to say, it has evolved into a wooden boat with a pointed bottom or a round bottom.The flat-bottomed canoe gradually evolved into a plank on the centerline of the bottom of the flat-bottomed plank boat.At this time, things changed qualitatively, and a new boat that was completely different from the canoe—the wooden boat appeared.

The raft was also modified, and people also installed planks around the raft.Rafts also evolved into plank boats.The original name of the wooden boat is "sampan" and "three boards". The simplest wooden boat is "three boards".The whole ship consists of three boards, namely two side boards and a bottom board.The two ends of the bottom plate are bent upwards after being baked by fire, which is the ancestor of the modern "sampan" boat. Due to the development of the shipbuilding industry, during the Yin and Shang Dynasties, the emperors could use a large number of ships to hunt down escaped slaves.There is such a record in oracle bone inscriptions: Guiyou performed divination on this day, and asked: Can the fugitive slave be recovered?The king of Yin looked at the divination and said that he could be caught.It might be caught on Jiashu Day or Yihai Day (that is, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow), but Jiashu Day found that the slaves had crossed the river, so they sent out boats to hunt them down, but because the boats were trapped and ran aground, no success was reported. 15 days later, Ding Hairi, the fugitive slave was caught.

The ancient port that began to develop in the Shang Dynasty was Panyu (now Guangzhou). According to "Historical Records·Huozhi Biography", Panyu was a coastal port founded by the Yangyue people, a branch of the ancient Yue nationality.People from the Yin and Shang dynasties could sail long distances to obtain pearls, jade, rhinoceros, tortoiseshell and other things. After the wooden boat was produced, the ensuing problem was its poor wind resistance. Only when wooden sailboats with strong wind and wave resistance and the ability to use natural wind for long-distance continuous navigation appeared, can human navigation activities be improved. for the initiative.

Regarding the invention of sails, it is said that Xia Yi made sails ("Huainanzi·Wuyuan").It is said that Yu was inspired by a fish called Limulus (houhou).The horseshoe crab has a strange shape. It is a shelled fish with a flat and wide body, like a crab, with 12 legs, a slender tail, like a sword, eyes on the back, and a mouth under the belly. And there are fins [Qi Qi] seven or eight feet high on the back.Whenever the wind blows, the horseshoe crab's fins are raised high, and it can move forward with the help of the wind. When there is no wind, its fins are retracted.Under the inspiration of the horseshoe crab fin, people invented the sail.Regardless of whether there is such a horseshoe crab that swims forward with the help of wind in nature, the invention of the sail must be the embodiment of the wisdom and wisdom of the ancient working people and the result of practice.Sails, like wooden boats, are the product of the development of productive forces to a certain level, and are also the needs of social production and life.

At least in the oracle bone inscriptions unearthed from the Yin Ruins, the characters "⊽" and "♊" resemble the sails of a ship.The word "fan" in oracle bone inscriptions is written " It can be seen that sailing was invented and used in my country at the latest in the Shang Dynasty.With sails on board, this greatly increases the speed of advancement.This is a leap forward in ship propulsion power, and it is also a creative development of human beings on natural wind resources.With the use of sails on the wooden boats, the wind can travel far, so that the range of navigation is gradually expanded, and it develops to the depths of the sea.

From oracle bone inscriptions, we can also know that people have already known the power of wind, and according to the size of the wind, it is divided into four grades: "small wind", "big wind", "big 掫 [zou] wind" (大突wind), "big wind".The magnitude of the wind is closely related to navigation.Wind direction is also important.In the Shang Dynasty, winds from east, south, west and north were known.During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Eight Winds and the Twelve Winds were known. "What are the eight winds? The northeast is called the Yanfeng, the east is called the torrential wind, the southeast is called the smoked wind, the south is called the giant wind, the southwest is called the desolate wind, the west is called the [liu walking] wind, the northwest is called the severe wind, and the north is called the cold wind." ( "Lu Shi Chunqiu·You Shi". The twelve winds are the twelve days, which are the twelve earthly branches of Zizhihai. The "Zhou Li" compiled during the Warring States period classified the winds into twelve categories, and believed that the twelve days (i.e. Dizhiziyihai) has wind. It not only has twelve wind directions but also is related to twelve months and seasons. Based on this, the twelve-hour wind table can be listed. The twelve-star wind reveals the basic law of change, which is extremely useful and indispensable for maritime navigation and weather forecasting.The 12-star wind classification method can still be used in modern times.It was more than 300 years earlier than Hibalus of the Roman Empire discovered the monsoon in the first century AD, and more than 200 years earlier than the Egyptians discovered the monsoon.

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