The Seventh Voyage of Sanbao by Briney

Bryce • Sea/Undersea • posted on Jul 04, 2009

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Description

In the fourth decade of the Fifteenth Century, the seventh and final voyage of "Ma Sanbao", the celebrated Admiral Zheng He, though Asia and the Indian Ocean. China's enormous "Treasure ships" formed the largest fleet Asia would see for centuries... until World War Two broke out that is. Others say that the Admiral's extraordinary career was a real life inspiration for the Seven Voyages of Sinbad. But Emperors do not live forever, and the political balance in court tipped. Maritime affairs sadly fell out of favour. We are left to imagine the impression a sight like this would have left upon a single rickety Portuguese Carrick full of starving, scurvy-weakened sailors coming to "civilise" the East. What is Mandarin for "Did we hit something?" ;-) But in turning away from the sea, the new Emperor declared that the sea was a place for pirates. And do you know what? Without a navy out there... pretty soon it was a place for pirates... Rendered in Bryce 5.5. I modelled and simply textured the treasureships in Shade 7LE. Postwork in Painter 8.

Comments (3)

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Helleshoj

3:40AM | Sat, 04 July 2009

The Portuguese, and later the Dutch and the English, did not come to "civilize" the world. They came for the oh so expensive spices in what now is Indonesia, and to a very high degree they were the pirates you mentioned. Ships manned with scum, whose only choice at home was the voyage into a dangerous unknown country and the gallows. A good picture. A sight, which definitely would have scared the Portuguese, if ever they saw it. But they came later, far later. I would have liked to see more waves on that sea, though.

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