Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 3 | Page 38

Journal of Zheng He, first voyage. (1405-1407)
Diocesan Boys' School, Poon, Adrien - 12
July 15 th , 1405
We have finally set sail! I couldn’t believe that emperor Zhu Di entrusted me with all these ships and men.
Can you believe that these 280 ships actually contain more than 200 thousand TongQian ’s worth of treasure
and 1000 men? So far there’s not much weather problems, but Wang predicts that there will be some
fearsome tempests as we cross the middle of the sea. I hope none of my men get diseases. That would be
catastrophic.
July 22 th , 1405
It’s been a week since my last entry, and we are starting to run into some choppy waves along the Vijayan
coast. There has been some water seeping into our grain stores--- we fixed that soon enough. The crew
are very cheerful since they are well fed. 2 months left until we reach Champa.
July 29 th , 1405
Two of my men were caught stealing wine from our stores. I had them whipped on a post to discourage any
rebellious crewmen. How dare them! The weather has calmed down a bit, and food is still plentiful. No
diseases so far.
August 5 th , 1405
So my right hand, Wang, had this ‘brilliant’ idea to hang our wet clothes from the mast so that they could
‘dry faster’. Well, I’ll tell you what really happened. Half of them got even more drenched by the sea spray,
and the rest got blown off. I told him that our method (making the men wring out their clothing and
putting them in the cabins to dry) was much safer and prevented the loss of fine clothing. Oh, and the wind
is getting really strong. I commanded the oarsmen to steer closer to store, so even if we get blown out to
sea, we’ll not be completely lost.
August 12 th , 1405
Oh dear--- a mast from one of the treasure ships has been broken off by the wind. 20 of my men were
forced to abandon ship and swim to safety to a rope floating by, connected to my command ship. Well,
there goes one-fiftieth of our treasure. The cook, Chung Gaot, from the sunken ship got a concussion from
the falling rigging. Everyone was sad, since his roasted pigeon was exquisite . We won’t be eating much good
food for a few days, because our other cooks aren’t very skilled ones.
August 19 th , 1405
Finally, the raging gale has subsided--- for how long we don’t know. Chung Gaot is still passed out. We
gave him herbs that reduce swelling, so that he won’t sustain any lasting injuries. The crew are getting dull-
--they’ve become bored of dicing and gambling their shoes. We should’ve hired a storyteller to keep the
men entertained, since the men won’t work hard if they are bored and tired.
September 5 th , 1405
It’s been 12 days since my last entry. I couldn’t write for the last week because the storms hit our fleet hard
and blew a couple of men overboard. Luckily, they grabbed onto some floating timber and were saved from
drowning. I was also nearly blown overboard, but my hand was entangled in some ropes and that stopped
me from going over. My entries are going to be less frequent as the storms get more plentiful.
October 2 nd , 1405
Catastrophe! Some rats have stowed aboard on our ship and the plague is with them. More than 30 of the
oarsmen are affected. They had swollen welts all over their body and were vomiting and shivering. Once we
give them medicine and root out the rats’ hiding place, all should be well.
October 26 th , 1405
We found the rats’ lair--- the inside of a large, hollow log in the oarsmen’s cabins. The physicians on our
ships predict that the men will require 20 more days to fully recover. Chung Gaot is completely fine now,
and our food is great once again. We have nearly reached our destination--- two more weeks!
November 10 th , 1405
We have reached the coast of Vijaya, Champa! The guardsmen on the coast tower were so amazed of our
ships that they stared in awe at them until Wang rang a bell loudly in their faces. They permitted us an
audience with their king the next day.
November 12 th , 1405
We presented the gifts of tea leaves, pandas, bamboo, gold and silk to the king. He was overjoyed, and
swore that he would pay homage to China annually. Mission complete!
December 26 th , 1405
The crew and I all had an excellent time bartering with the locals and exploring Vijaya’s cultures, but it’s
time to go. We prepared our ships and set sail to our next destination: Ceylon!