Junk

The junk is the Chinese seagoing sailing vessel with a flat or shallow-keeled hull, watertight bulkheads, and battened lugsails, attested from at least the Han dynasty and refined over two millennia. Watertight compartments gave it strength and survivability long before European ships adopted them, and the balanced lug rig let small crews handle large sails. Junks carried the coastal and South China Sea trade and reached East Africa under Zheng He’s Ming treasure fleets. Regional types ranged from the river junk to the ocean trader.