2025/04/15 by Elke Papelitzky · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Global Maritime and Colonial Histories #Maritime Security and History
paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/jch.2025.4
openalex publication_date 2025/04/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Abstract In the early modern period, the waters of East and Southeast Asia saw a bustling maritime trade. To conduct this trade, ships needed competent sailors to safely travel between ports. Chinese sources name one person as particularly important: the huozhang 火長. The sources tell us that the huozhang were charged to use the compass and, employing sailing manuals, to guide ships in the correct direction. In this role, they had to work closely with other sailors, such as duogong 舵工 (steersmen). This article reconstructs the role and function of the navigating personnel on Chinese ships, as well as the tools they used to determine course in the period between the fifteenth and eighteenth century.