A starboard quarter view of the famous Chinese junk 'Keying' that was the first and only Chinese junk to sail on its own from China to the North Atlantic via the Cape of Good Hope between the years 1846 and 1848. It was also the first ever Chinese-built vessel to visit both Britain and the east coast (New York and Boston) of the United States. The voyage was financed by a group of Hong Kong investors whose goal was to make profit by charging admission to American and British visitors who wanted to see "exotic" wonders of the East. The voyage was carried out by a mixed crew of mostly Cantonese sailors and their sailing master and a small number of British officers and sailors. In addition to the crew, there was on board an artist, a props manager, a trope of famous jugglers, and a few passengers, possibly some investors, a mandarin of the fifth rank, and a tailor.
The voyage was successful in that the junk made it across the globe, but the business investment was largely a flop due to the hostilities within the crew (resulting in a court case in New York), bad weather (resulting in a detour to New York), and slow progress (what was expected to take 4-6 months took 15). After the 'Keying' finally arrived in London and her novelty died down, she ended up being scrapped and left in the mudflats of the River Mersey at Birkenhead, opposite Liverpool, largely ignored and forgotten.
This representation of the 'Keying' by the London publisher, Rock Brothers & Payne, is one of the best-known images of the junk. Her ends are exaggeratedly curved up and the masts hold up sails that have battens spanning the full width of the sails. Another interesting feature of this print is the Chinese in its title. In reality, the six characters are nonsense in meaning. They were most likely added to create an image of authenticity and foreignness. If anything, the characters seems to have been used solely for their phonetic value in Cantonese. The first two characters sound like 'Keying' but are incorrect for Qiying, the name of the Manchu dignitary for which the junk was named.
References:
Davies, Stephen. East Sails West: The Voyage of the Keying, 1846-1855. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2014.
A Description of the Chinese Junk, "Keying," printed for the proprietors of the junk and sold only on board. 4th ed. London: J. Such, 1848.
The Chinese Junk "Keying," being a full account of that vessel, with extracts from the journal of Capt. Kellett. New York: Israel Sacket No. 1 Nassau Street, 1847.
