TOUR OF PRECIOUS DRAGON

The Ship

On Deck

Below Decks

The Ship

What is Precious Dragon?

A junk is a traditional Chinese sailing vessel, characterised by its high poop deck that extends aft of the boat's hull and is rigged with what's technically called fully battened balanced lugsails, usually on unstayed masts. Precious Dragon has three masts.

Junks come in many shapes and forms depending on what they are used for and where they work, ranging from river transports, to offshore fishing boats to the mighty Treasure Junks of Zheng He.These Treasure Junks, also known as Star Rafts, were up to 300 ft.(90 m.) long with maybe nine masts. Their sails were probably made of rush matting. Unfortunately very little detail is known of these vessels and none exist today (although Rex and his Chinese counterparts are making plans...)

We didn't have time (or finance) to build a Star Raft, so we had to find an existing Junk that was capable and available to do the Voyage of the Dragon Kings . Traditional ocean going Junks are very rare, they are not used any more in mainland China. In Hong Kong there are only about three, one is neglected and unusable, the others were unavailable.

Precious Dragon was found in England! She had sailed there in 1997 from Hong Kong, so was definitely capable -and she was available! She is a copy of the Hong Kong fishing junks that were used several hundred years ago, which were unusual as these were one of the few types of junks that adopted western stayed masts.

Precious Dragon was shipped to Hong Kong, courtesy of COSCO UK, where she was repaired and refitted ready for the Voyage of the Dragon Kings.

Precious Dragon, built 1989 in Yacal hardwood by Leung Wan Kee, Tsing Yi, Hong Kong,

LOA 60' (18.3m.)
LWL  48' (14.6m)
Beam 16'6"  (5.0m.)
Draft  7'6" (2.3m.)
Displacement 35tons