The journey of Fa-Hsien from Ceylon to Canton
A. Grimes, a Meteorological Officer with the S.S. & F.M.S., uses newly available wind data for the equatorial region to reconstruct the maritime track of the Chinese pilgrim Fa-hsien’s voyage from Ceylon to Canton (p. 76).
Summary
Grimes draws on wind charts derived from Dipperman’s mean transport data and daily synoptic charts from the Singapore Meteorological Office to argue that Fa-hsien’s departure in early September was meteorologically optimal for reaching the northern end of the Malacca Straits and then proceeding south on the northwesterlies (p. 76). He contends that the Bay of Bengal cyclone encountered two days after departure would have carried the ship north-eastward to the Andaman group, not to Java as Giles’ map implies, and that the vessel was subsequently brought down the Straits on the NE monsoon winds in November–December (pp. 77–78). Grimes identifies Ye-po-ti most plausibly as the north-west coast of Borneo, where the SW monsoon sets in at the end of May, matching the timing of the second leg’s departure (p. 78). The second storm, a typhoon, is placed near 18° N, 116° E, with the ship drifting to a position near 30° N, 126° E before a NW course brought it to Lau-shan (p. 78). The article is accompanied by twelve monthly wind charts and a comparative voyage map (pp. 80–92).