Yi Hu Pao (翼虎砲)

Drawing of a Yi Hu Pao, from 'Jun Qi Tu Shuo (《軍器圖說》)'.

Yi Hu Pao (翼虎砲, lit. 'Winged tiger cannon') was a late Ming period large handgonne or light cannon. It was said to be more powerful than other cannons (debatable, given the difference in size and bore), very accurate, and fairly portable. It was mounted on a wooden frame that allows its elevation to be adjusted.

Read more

Interesting comparison between different warships of the Far East in the sixteenth and seventeenth century

I came across this interesting comparison at Baidu Tieba, although the original post has since been deleted. The original comparison is a simple table written entirely in Chinese, so I translated the table to English and added a few commentaries.

Weight of Cannon (lbs)*	<500	500	1000	1500	2000	3000	4000>
Sixteenth Century Portuguese Galley	34+
Ming Dynasty Feng Zhou (early)	30+
Ming Dynasty Feng Zhou (late)	14+
Mark 1 Warship of Qi Ji Guang's fleet (early)	9+	1
Mark 1 Warship of Qi Ji Guang's fleet (late)	14+		2
Tekkōsen	48 – 70	3
Geobukseon**	20 – 30+
Advanced Ming Dynasty War Junk	30+	14 – 22				6 – 8
Koxinga-era Gong Chuan	100 – 200+	20+					1
Dutch Hired Vessel 'Graaf Hendrik'	?	?	8	10	8	8	2
Mông Đồng							1 – 2

* Although weight of shot is a more reliable measure of firepower, Chinese records seldom mention them. Chinese gunners also frequently loaded their guns with multiple smaller shots in addition to the main shot (which made them less powerful), making measurement purely by weight of shot very misleading.

** This assume a late variant of Geobukseon/Turtle ship with significantly improved armaments, due to the fact that very little is known about the early, Imjin War-era Geobukseon.

Feng Zhou (封舟, lit. 'Investiture ship')

A Qing Dynasty Feng Zhou, from 'Ce Feng Liu Qiu Tu (《冊封琉球圖》)'.

Read more