Fu Chuan (福船)

A replica Fu Chuan, claimed to be 1:1 in scale, recently launched in Quanzhou. Its flat V-shaped prow is visible in this photo.

Fu Chuan, also known as Fu Jian Chuan (福建船, lit. 'Fujian ship') and Bai Cao (白艚, lit. 'White junk'), was a type of sailing ship originated from Fujian. It was the most widely used and well-known of the "Four Great Ancient Ships" of China, and formed the backbone and workhorse of Ming navy.

Fu Chuan was an oceangoing sailing ship with a S-shaped hull with both high sheer forward and high sheer aft, a flat prow without a stempost that appeared as a flat V-shape when viewed directly from the front, as well as a flat stern. It was equipped with a retractable unbalanced rudder shaped like a tall parallelogram, and had a deck that widened towards the stern. Fu Chuan's junk sails were typically rectangular in shape. Unique to the ship type, some large, oceangoing Fu Chuan were designed with the capability to quickly swap out primary rudder with a smaller secondary one in order to traverse shallow water, and many Fu Chuan were also fitted with mountings for additional Yuloh sculling oar-cum-auxiliary rudder for more maneuverability.

While not as tough as Guang Chuan (廣船), Fu Chuan was still sturdy enough to overpower most other types of warships it would likely encounter. It was also cheaper and far more suitable for offshore sailing than Guang Chuan (the deep V hull of Guang Chuan was less stable and susceptible to rolling and banking, especially at lower speed), making it a superior choice for a general purpose warship.

Classification of Fu Chuan

During Ming period, military Fu Chuan were divided into six different classes based on their size. Mark 1 and Mark 2, known simply as Fu Chuan or Da Fu Chuan (大福船, lit. 'Great Fu Chuan'), were considered capital ships. Mark 3 Shao Chuan (哨船, lit. 'Sentry ship') or Cao Pie Chuan (草撇船, possible translation may be 'straw cushion ship'), Mark 4 Dong Chuan (冬船, lit. 'Winter ship') or Hai Cang Chuan (海滄船, lit. 'Haicang ship') were medium-sized ships and served as mainline combat vessels. Mark 5 Niao Chuan (鳥船, lit. 'Bird ship') and Mark 6 Kuai Chuan (快船, lit. 'Fast ship'), collectively known as Kai Lang Chuan (開浪船, lit. 'Wave-cutting ship'), were the smallest classes, and served in a scouting role. Nevertheless, this classification fell out of use by the tail end of Ming Dynasty as older designs were supplanted by new generation of Fu Chuan such as Gan Zeng Chuan (趕繒船, lit. 'Trawling net ship') and Tong An Suo Chuan (同安梭船, lit. 'Tong'an shuttle ship').

Da Fu Chuan (大福船)

Drawing of a Da Fu Chuan, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'. Note the prominent three-storey aftercastle, as well as superstructure built on top the hull.

A Mark 1 Fu Chuan was about 9 zhang (28.8 metre) in length, while the slightly smaller Mark 2 Fu Chuan was about 8 zhang (25.6 metre) in length. Though largest of its class, Fu Chuan wasn't a particularly huge ship, although it was formidable nonetheless.

A Fu Chuan had two decks and a superstructure built on its upper deck. The lowest level of the ship was used to store stones, bricks and roof tiles serving as ballast. Next above was the berth deck where the accommodation for ship crew was located. Above the berth deck was the upper deck (topmost deck of a ship), which was almost entirely covered by an enclosed superstructure made of wooden planks and reinforced by bamboo. The superstructure was the primary fighting compartment of Fu Chuan, allowing soldiers to fight from inside it or on its battlemented roof (battlement is not depicted in the illustration above), although it also housed the ship's galley (kitchen) and drinking water storage, and both sails and anchors were operated from here as well. 

At the Fu Chuan's stern, a three-storey tall aftercastle rose above the superstructure. The bridge was most likely located here, as this arrangement conferred many advantages, namely it placed the captain and the helmsman within shouting distance of each other, allowed the captain to have a full view of the entire ship thus making tight turns much easier, and was sheltered from large waves washing over entire ship deck during adverse weather.

Cao Pie Chuan (草撇船)

Drawing of a Cao Pie Chuan, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'. The aftercastle of Cao Pie Chuan appears to be reduced to just one storey.

Mark 3 Fu Chuan, or Cao Pie Chuan, was a slightly downsized version of larger Fu Chuan. A highly versatile warship that performed equally well in battle, escort mission, and pursuit, Cao Pie Chuan was able to traverse shallower water than its larger cousins and retained mobility even with minimal winds due to its smaller size and lighter weight.

Hai Cang Chuan (海滄船)

Drawing of a Hai Cang Chuan, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'. Hai Cang Chuan appears to only have an open-topped fighting platform in place of the aftercastle of its larger cousins.

Mark 4 Fu Chuan, or Hai Cang Chuan, was simply a Cao Pie Chuan without a protective bamboo fencing.

Kai Lang Chuan (開浪船)

Drawing of a Kai Lang Chuan, from 'San Cai Tu Hui (《三才圖會》)'.

Mark 5 Niao Chuan and Mark 6 Kuai Chuan, collectively known as Kai Lang Chuan, were the smallest of the Fu Chuan class. They were easily distinguishable from larger Fuchuan by their pointed (rather than flat) prows, hybrid sail-and-oar propulsion (although oars were eventually phased out), and use of steering oar. Niao Chuan and Kuai Chuan were too small to mount the protective superstructure of their larger cousins, making them relatively poor frontline combat vessels, although they excelled in harassing and scouting role due to superior speed and maneuverability. They were also used to collect enemy heads from floating dead bodies after the battle.

Transition to gun deck-based warship

For much of China's history, the principal Chinese warship design was the so-called "tower ship"—a warship which primary fighting compartment consisted of a large and enclosed superstructure built on top of its hull. The design offered excellent protection to ship crew and fully capitalised on the superior projectile weapon and shipboard artillery (namely crossbow, trebuchet, and gunpowder bomb) employed by the Chinese, not to mention increased height of the ship also made it less vulnerable to boarding. 

Originally designed for riverine warfare between various Chinese warring states, tower ship was so successful that it saw continuous use even after more seaworthy hull designs were discovered and sails replaced oars as the primary means of propulsion. Ming period Fu Chuan was essentially the 16th century iteration of classical tower ship, and actually wouldn't look very different from contemporary tower ship-equivalents such as Japan's atakebune (安宅船) and Korea's panokseon (板屋船) save for the fact that it was smaller and more compact, lacked the banks of oars of the other two ships, and had a proper aftercastle in place of a mid-ship command tower. In fact, Ming tower ship was the direct inspiration that led to the the creation of panokseon, and likely influenced the development of Japanese warship as well.

Left: A classical oar-driven tower ship. Middle: A Fu Chuan circa 1540s, still retaining the tower ship design albeit switching to sail-only propulsion. Right: A Fu Chuan circa 1640s, now without towering superstructure. Ship images are taken from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)' and 'Jing Guo Xiong Lue (《經國雄略》)', cleaned and merged together by myself.

Nevertheless, as Chinese shipbuilders began to mount more and heavier guns onto their warships, the primary weakness of tower ship, namely instability caused by high centre of gravity, became increasingly intolerable. Echoing similar development in Europe, Chinese war junks also underwent drastic revamps and changed into a gun deck-based design. Gone was the tall superstructure, and the primary fighting compartment of the new warship—its gun deck—was now directly built into the hull. While it is difficult to pin down the exact date when the transition began (it most likely happened during very late 16th century or very early 17th century), the process certainly took off with with resounding speed, as by early Qing period virtually all Chinese war junks had changed into the quintessential form still recognisable today, and tower ships all but disappeared.

Other blog posts in my Four Great Ancient Ships series:

Fu Chuan (福船)

Guang Chuan (廣船)

Sha Chuan (沙船)

Niao Chuan (鳥船)