Zhou Man

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Zhou Man, 15th century Chinese admiral and explorer, was born into a wealthy merchant family in the year 1378. At the age of six, his father died on an overseas voyage to Korea. Mourning his father's death, he left his mother and his four younger siblings behind. He worked his way into the emperor's staff by the age of 22. At 32, he was assigned "Grand Leader of All Vessels Commanded by the Emperor's Swift Hand."

Zhou, with the help of three other commanders explored wide reaches of the Pacific. A stone inscription, dated 1431, at the Palace of the Celestial Spouse at Chiang-su and Liu Shia-Chang is translated as:

"We, Zheng He and his companions [including Admirals Hong Bao, Zhou Man, Zhou Wen, and Yang Qing], at the beginning of Zhu Di's reign received the Imperial Commission as envoys to the barbarians. Up until now seven voyages have taken place and, each time, we have commanded several tens of thousands of government soldiers and more than a hundred oceangoing vessels. We have...reached countries of the Western Regions, more than three thousand countries in all. We have...beheld in the ocean huge waves like mountains rising sky-high, and we have set eyes on barbarian regions far away, hidden in a blue transparency of light vapors, whilst our sails, loftily unfurled like clouds, day and night continued their course, rapid like that of a star, traversing those savage waves."

During one voyage, Zhou chanced upon lead deposits in Australia and initiated mining operations. Many of his workers were exposed to uranium and died of apparent radiation poisoning. In 1421, his fleet may have approached and mapped the Pacific coast of North America, but this assertion remains controversial.

Some evidence seems to indicate that Zhou's fleet was struck by a meteor at 48 degrees south, 166 degrees east around 1422, and the resulting tsunami impacted the wrecks of many ships on Australia and New Zealand shores.