A 23-WHEEL PADDLESHIP OF THE SONG
DYNASTY BOMBARDS A JIN DESTROYER
WITH LIME BOMBS HURLED BY TRACTION
TREBUCHETS AT THE BATTLE OF CAISHI, AD 1161
This plate shows a contest between two very different forms
of warship, both of which could be fast and manoeuvrable. In
1161 there occurred the most celebrated naval battle
between the Southern Song and the Jin, when the latter, who
were that day under the personal command of their emperor,
attempted to force a crossing of the Yangtze at Caishi. The
Song paddle-wheel fighting ships moved rapidly round the
island of Jinshan to bombard the Jin with traction trebuchets.
The men inside them paddled fast on the treadmills, and the
ships glided forward as though they were flying. In this
reconstruction one paddle-wheel has been placed at the
stern, and there is a flag flying which reads 'Support the Song.
Destroy the Jin'. The Jin were so badly defeated at Caishi that
the Jin emperor was assassinated on board his flagship by his
own followers.
The ships used by the Jin in this plate are the fast and
light warships that were the 'destroyers' of medieval China.
Unlike tower ships and war junks, the walls of these
two-storey ships were continuous with the hull, so that the
oarsmen occupied the lower deck and were fully protected,
while missile troops went into action above their heads.
Close-combat grappling was therefore not a primary function
of these ships. The 'armour plating' was of wood or
rhinoceros hide, and there was a fierce tiger's face painted on
the bow.
To combat these fast-moving ships the Song used lime
bombs thrown by trebuchet catapults. The bombs were
pottery containers with very thin walls, inside which were
placed poisonous drugs (probably arsenic), lime and
fragments of scrap iron as well as gunpowder. When these
were hurled on to Jin ships the lime filled the air with smoke
so that their sailors could not open their eyes. The explosive
devices were almost identical to soft-cased explosive
'thunderclap bombs' thrown by traction trebuchets. The
bombs were fitted with time fuses that caused them to
explode on hitting the surface of the water. The bomb cases
rebounded and broke, scattering noxious clouds from the
lime that had been mixed in with the gunpowder.
PADDLE-WHEEL WARSHIPS OF THE
SOUTHERN SONG RUN THE GAUNTLET OF
THUNDER CRASH BOMBS TO BREAK THE
BLOCKADE OF XIANGYANG BY THE MONGOLS,
AD 1272
The most famous use of paddle-wheel fighting ships in
Chinese warfare took place during the epic siege of
Xiangyang (modern Xiangfan in Hubei Province) between
1267 and 1272, the war which saw the most desperate
rearguard action by the Southern Song against the
advancing Mongols. The siege of Xiangyang is best known
today because it was the occasion when counterweight
trebuchets made their first appearance in China, but the use
of paddle-wheel warships is equally striking. Two heroes of
the Song took a relief convoy of 100 paddle-boats laden with
clothing and other supplies to the help of the beleaguered
twin cities of Xiangyang and Fancheng that lay opposite
each other on the river. The convoy waited until dark to make
their return voyage, but the Mongols burned bales of straw
on the riverbank to give illumination. The Song paddleships
took up a rectangular formation, every ship being equipped
with firelances, trebuchets and bombs, burning charcoal,
large axes and heavy crossbows, and sailed out into the river
using red lamps as signals. But the Mongols fired iron-cased
bombs from counterweight and traction trebuchets when the
Song fleet approached, so that the Song crewmen were 'up
to their ankles in blood'.
The design of these paddleships gave them offensive as
well as defensive potential, because bulwark boards were on
each side, each plank being five feet long and two feet wide.
Below this were fixed turning pulleys like those which raise
hanging windows. When approaching the enemy, those
inside could loose bombs, incendiary arrows and firelances.
On closing with the enemy the sailors suddenly lifted up and
fully opened the bulwark hatches so that the walls acted like
a shield.