 |
| Drawing of a Po Chuan Fa, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'. |
Po Chuan Fa (破船筏, lit. 'Ship-breaking raft'), also known as
Po Chuan Ge (破船舸, lit. 'Ship-breaking barge') is a simple yet effective anti-ship weapon designed for coastal and riverine warfare. It is essentially a heavy log raft assembled from five full-sized, three
zhang long tree trunks, waterproofed with tung oil, caulked with putty and hemp, and installed with four to six paddle wheels. For armaments, three
Po Zhou Chong (破舟銃, lit. 'Ship-breaking gun') which are essentially oversized
Shen Qiang (神鎗) that shoot spear-sized steel darts, are mounted at the bow of the raft. A fully enclosed crew compartment is also built on the raft so that the crews can operate the guns and paddle wheels in relative safety.
Despite its crude appearance, Po Chuan Fa is surprisingly fast and nimble thanks to its paddle wheel propulsion. This allows the raft to quickly close the distance to an enemy warship, preferably directly ramming into it, at which point the crews on the raft will fire its cannons, blasting holes into the hull at or below the waterline to quickly sink the ship.
Question: Do you know any other blog or other places that has good information on the military of Qing dynasty? Preferably in English, since I can't read the Chinese.
ReplyDeletePeter Dekker from Mandarin Mansion knows a great deal about Qing Dynasty weapons, although he is an antique dealer and doesn't specifically write about military history. Still he's probably the best one around that can speak English.
DeleteAnything on the organizational structure, deployments, and socioeconomic status/effects?
DeleteArtillery too.
DeleteI am uncertain but Peter probably knows something about those too. My knowledge about Qing period is limited, so I don't know who else to recommend.
DeleteScott Rodell sometimes discuss about Qing dynasty military but mainly focus on martial arts since he's a martial artist, he also collects and sells Chinese weapons though. He has website and YT channel, you can ask him question there, he'll answer sometime.
DeleteYou mention the Shen Qiang and show a picture of a Yongle reign bronze handgun.
ReplyDeleteAm I correct in understanding that the pole mounted guns will a bulb at the breech were for firing sabots and that the straight ones (like the Kuai Qiang) were for firing lead? Also; I noted the pan cover tends to be rather long and covers a grooved pan, was this to achieve a sort of fuse effect? Did the two have differing calibers and barrel lengths?
I am having some trouble trying to imagine which type of handgun appeared when and in what number.
The Wu Pai Qiang and San Yan Chong appear similar enough in design but don't seem to be contemporary. Then there's Tonio Andrade who alerted me to the fact that 'hand cannons' already appeared in the early 13th century.
Do you know where I might find some info on pole mounted guns in use by the Ming by time, place and numbers manufactured.
In fact I would also be interested in reading up on how manufacture of handguns, armour and other personal weaponry was coordinated. I read that during the Qing Dynasty a lot of it would simple be bought by the soldiers themselves off the market.
For your first question, no. I don't think the shape of the barrel has anything to do with sabot or type of projectile used. Sabot itself is not a projectile.
DeleteAs for your second and third question, I'm afraid I can't help you since it probably involve a lot of archaeological studies across a very large country and long span of time. I know that Ming Dynasty had two Bureaus (Bingzhang Ju and Junqi Ju) that were responsible for weapon manufacturing, but I have yet to study them in details.
Sorry I meant arrow rather than sabot*
DeleteCan you say anything with regards to the loading of multiple lead bullets in a single barrel? I know some firearms had multiple bullets per barrel while others only had a single shot.
Is there a difference in terms of material or breech design) between these two or a difference in bore and length?
It's a shame English translations are so sparse.
Loading single or multiple bullets/cannonballs into a barrel also seems to be a matter of practice, rather than gun design.
DeleteAh thanks that makes sense.
DeleteDo you think you could write a blog post about the manufacture of powder in Ming arsenals? I am curious to see if they had many different formulas and mixing methods.
I do have a blog page dedicated to various gunpowder recipes, currently that's about all I know.
Delete