No news on the junk, so let's add some (possibly near) future discussion:
Far Eastern Pirates expansion?
In the 15th century onwards there were some incredible naval battles between Korea and Japan. Korea fielded large, durable, slab-sided shallow-draft ships called panokseons heavily armed with cannons, while the much lighter Japanese ships had just a handful of cannon (likely chasers only) but were very fast and relied on boarding assaults to attain victory. They carried numerous arquebusiers. In response the Koreans constructed turtle ships with roofs studded with iron spikes to prevent boarding outright (possibly the first ever armoured ships in history?)
In Japanese home waters there existed as well huge floating fortresses with full-sized land structures (pagodas etc) on top. These were exclusively oar powered, being far too heavy for sailing.
Likewise Chinese naval power in the day was not to be trifled with; junk-type sails with semi-rigid ribbing were easy to sail both against and with the wind; while famous admirals such as Zheng He commanded treasure fleets led by massive flagships;
That's Santa Maria in the foreground!
Chinese ships of the 17th Century were remarkably graceful and "galleon like":
Far Eastern Pirates expansion?
In the 15th century onwards there were some incredible naval battles between Korea and Japan. Korea fielded large, durable, slab-sided shallow-draft ships called panokseons heavily armed with cannons, while the much lighter Japanese ships had just a handful of cannon (likely chasers only) but were very fast and relied on boarding assaults to attain victory. They carried numerous arquebusiers. In response the Koreans constructed turtle ships with roofs studded with iron spikes to prevent boarding outright (possibly the first ever armoured ships in history?)
In Japanese home waters there existed as well huge floating fortresses with full-sized land structures (pagodas etc) on top. These were exclusively oar powered, being far too heavy for sailing.
Likewise Chinese naval power in the day was not to be trifled with; junk-type sails with semi-rigid ribbing were easy to sail both against and with the wind; while famous admirals such as Zheng He commanded treasure fleets led by massive flagships;
That's Santa Maria in the foreground!
Chinese ships of the 17th Century were remarkably graceful and "galleon like":