Refutation to Gavin Menzies’ book,in Lisbon Portugal
By Commander José Manuel Malhão Pereira madrugada@sapo.pt

November 5, 2004

Gavin Menzies was in Lisbon , Portugal , during the first week of November 2004. This was his second visit to Portugal since his Portuguese translation was published there, in the Spring of 2004

There was a symposium in the Lisbon Technical University with him attending. For ninety minutes various scholars made several presentations refuting the “theories” that Menzies wrote about on his book: “1421- The year the Chinese discovered America ”.

Here is Commander Malhão Pereira’s speech:

Some nautical observations related to "1421- The Year China Discovered the World," by Gavin Menzies

Reference: Gavin Menzies, 1421- The Year China Discovered the World, London, Bantam Press, 2002

NOTE: CLICK ON EACH MAP FOR A LARGER VIEW

Summary of the voyage ( Map 1 ).

a-      Beginning on 3rd March 1421.

b-     Malacca and Samudra.

c-      In Calicut and return of Zheng He in November.

d-     Calicut to the Cape .

e-      Cape to Cape Verde Islands .

f-       Splitting of the fleet in the Caribbean .

g-      Voyage of Hong Bao.

h-      Voyage of Zhu Man.

i-        Voyage of Zhu Wen.

Some nautical observations made to Mr. Gavin Menzies, during a talk he gave in 4 November 2004 in Lisbon

Note. The author justifies his success in finding the great Chinese voyages, with his great experience of the winds and currents (in a motor vessel (!)- HMS Newfoundland (p. 83).

Winds and currents.

To cross from Calicut to the African coast in the Northern Indian Ocean in June is not possible, because the southwest Monsoon is already well established. In reality, the southwest wind begin at the end of April, only dying by the middle of September See map 1. So his planning of this part of the voyage is wrong.
Zheng He returned to China in November. But during that month the prevailing wind is against, because the Northeast Monsoon is blowing See map 1. Another wrong guess!
The rounding of the Cape is very difficult in any epoch, but during August, which means the southern winter, is worst. The strong winds are mainly against, not in accordance with the author who says that the “…fleet has been swept by the wind and current around the Cape …” (p. 96). This means that the winds were favorable, which is not the case, as per the documented Portuguese voyages and of other nations. No losses or difficulties are suggested in the book, although we are dealing with a big armada of ships of more than 130 meters in length and 50 meters of beam, in an area where waves of more than 20 meters are reported. It is interesting to note that the south-African coast is littered with more than 2700 wrecks, or at least 2700 ships have been lost in the area

On map 2 a sketch of the track of a Portuguese ship, taken from his logbook, that made the western passage in 33 days!
The current near the north coast of the Gulf of Guinea is to the east and not to the west See map 1. To navigate from Mina to Cape Verde , the Portuguese had to come south and pass near São Tomé Islands . This is not in accordance with the author (p. 99). And this is important for the author, because he will accommodate an ancient map, having this phenomenon in consideration.
The return of part of the fleet of Zhou Wen through the Atlantic Ocean is not in accordance with the normal route followed by the ships of Carreira da India. It should follow, on the south Atlantic, a course to the Southwest, South, Southeast and East, to see the Cape , running down the latitude of it. See map 1
The voyage of Zhou Man on the North Pacific Ocean is very difficult to understand, because the Spaniards have taken 35 years to discover the return route from Manilla to Panamá, and a Chinese Admiral in one only attempt was successful. Why not continue the voyages and establish the Carreira das Indias of China ? (See José Manuel Malhão Pereira, “A Viagem de Fernão de Magalhães e o Estabelecimento da Carreira das Índias de Espanha”, in VI Simpósio de História Marítima, Lisboa, Academia de Marinha, 2000).
The passage of the Magellan Straits with such an armada of big ships, with winds that can hit sometimes 70 knots (the famous williwaws), blowing in narrow canals, and the passage of the Horn with the same armada, is really an enormous achievement!

Navigation and astronomy

The author refers the use of sextants by the Chinese (p. 59). Since I know, the sextant, which was an evolution of the octant, dates from the end of the 18^th century.
On page 61, I quote the following. The Pole Star, “… when viewed from the North Pole, is directly above the observer at 90º altitude …”. I am not going to comment this interesting observation by now!
Except by the end of the book (when explaining the voyage of Yang Qing (which lasted from February 1421 till September 1422 and is not designed on the drawing of the voyages - TP1), the author gives information that the Chinese of the other armadas did not knew how to find longitude. (p. 62, for example). This fact is an opportunity for the author to expand longitudinally in the area of the Gulf of Guinea , a Japanese map, the Kangnido Map, which according to him is drawn with information given by the Chinese on that voyage

Map 3. So, as the Chinese did not know how to find longitude, the apparent error of the chart was due to the Chinese pilots not give allowance for the current when calculating the distance navigated. So the author distorted the chart to show that it has been the Chinese that gave the information for the drawing of the chart. As I said above, the current flows on the opposite direction, so I think that the author should now make the opposite action, which unhappily will go against his theory.
I think that now is a good opportunity for me to make also an exercise of accommodation of charts.

Map 4 This chart that I am going to project is a chart of 1351, published by Raymond Beazley in his Prince Henry the Navigator, (edition of 1901). Look that this chart is of the 14^th century, long before the Chinese voyages!

Map 5 With my accommodation and in accordance with my conveniences, I got an incredible shape for Africa , that although has not any toponymy on it, is very similar to the actual shape of this Continent. So, dear Mr. Manzies, I also have the right to accommodate charts and to conclude that probably this chart is in accordance with information gotten by the sailors of the King of Congo, during their canoe exploration of African’s southern waters! I will return soon to this subject.
The author, in page 89, comments that the Chinese did not have a star to find latitude in the southern oceans, so “.. To locate one, they would have to sail far into the icy waters of the deep south. This was to be one of the most important aims of the expedition.”. The stars the author intended to find were the stars of the Southern Cross and also Canopus , which are southern stars. It is this what Hong Bao has made in his courageous voyage in the icy waters of the Antarctic See photo 1. But I do not understand why is necessary to arrive beneath a star, that is, to have it in his zenith (above the observers head), to have the necessary information to find latitude. As the stars of the Southern Cross and Canopus are visible in the Northern Hemisphere, although in low latitudes, and what was necessary, was to know their declinations, this operation could be done in any place where they are visible.
On page 129 the author speaks about the latitude of Canopus . I do not know what this means, because it is the declination of the star that is needed. On the previous page insists that the Pole Star is at the Pole!
The author insists that, when the armada of Hong Bao was crossing the Southern Ocean, and I quote from page 145 : “The Chinese astronomers’ determination of the positions of Canopus and the Southern Cross in the sky was a pivotal moment in the history of man’s knowledge of the globe.”!
Commenting the extraordinary accuracy in longitude of the Cantino, Piri Reis, and Waldsmuller Maps, and other contemporary maps, the author says that all the information was due to the voyage of Yang King, who navigated the Indian Ocean between March 1421 and September 1422, because the Portuguese voyages did not justified that accuracy. So, the great astronomer and navigator Yang King, has spread his armada in many places, where the Chinese built, during that period, many observation towers. The method was the determination of longitude with lunar eclipses, method that was not known by the admirals and astronomers, pilots, mathematicians and philosophers (with some concubines also!), that sailed on the previous voyages. It is difficult to understand why this was a secret to be only known by Yang Qing!

I found that the only total eclipse of the moon during the period was on the 13^th of August 1421. During that day within a period of a little less than one hour, the ships had the opportunity to observe the eclipse and after arriving China to coordinate thousands of miles of coast!

Without discussing the method, and assuming that it is correct, a single event gave the opportunity of the Yang Qing astronomers to chart the entire Indian Ocean ! And this was more valuable than the experience of the Portuguese pilots during many voyages to the area after 1498, where they plotted land with latitude by astronomical means and longitude by dead reckoning, and with in formations collected locally in the beginning of the 16^th century, from Arab, Persian, Indian, Malayan and also Chinese sailors.

Besides that, why the accurate information of the Chinese 15^th century sailors was not immediately available, with that accuracy, in 1423?

Mapmaking

About the maps, what I have to say, is that the brothers Pizzigano map of 1367, which I could not bring here today, has already all the islands that are in the Zuane Pizzigano map of 1424, although they have a different shape.

Map 6 See also this European map of the 14^th century where the Atlantic seems to be navigable till India , from its southern tip. And this chart has no information of the Chinese, who only crossed the Cape of Good Hope in 1421! The same happens to the map of 1351. See map 4
And why those islands, Antillia included, are always present, with approximately the same positions (and at the latitude or Portugal (approximately), throughout the European cartography till the end of the 15^th century? In reality, the waters of the Caribbean , were chartered by Columbus and Juan de La Cosa, and the result was their correct positioning on the maps of Cantino, Juan de La Cosa, Waldsmuller, etc.
And why the author accommodate one of the Antillia to Guadaloupe, rotating it 90º and assuming that it was more 20º in latitude to the south?

This is only a small sample of the things that can be said about this book and contradict the erroneous information contained on it, but I would like to say that the Portuguese indeed began their great voyages on the “shoulders of giants”. And those giants were the Greek astronomers, the Arab translators of the Greek texts, and also the Arab and Jewish astronomers, and the Castilian King, Afonso X, that ordered the compilation of all those valuable information. And the Polynesians, Malays, Indians and Chinese that navigated the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean . All of them, but not one only culture, during a single expedition.

And 100 years after, the French, the Dutch and the English, were really sailing on the shoulders of the Portuguese, who never considered themselves more than humble sailors.

Mr Menzies only disagreed with my statement in the question of the monsoon and the sailing to the west on the North Indian Ocean in June. I can assure and prove to anyone that that is impossible. No ship of that sort and size could make that voyage. Nowadays, very modern racing yachts, but with a lot of suffering and many times damage, attempt to do that!

I can only consider this book as a romance. Michener, C. S. Forester or Jules Verne made very good novels. And in average, they were not wrong scientifically. But this one, is only a romance, written and published for reasons very difficult to understand. Most of all, with very wrong assumptions.

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