THE VOYAGE · 1421 · THE UNKNOWN OCEAN
Zheng He's treasure fleet reaches the Americas
The sixth voyage, 1421. The greatest fleet on Earth stands off the coast of Africa, done with the known world, and its admiral must decide whether the ocean has another side. In our timeline the fleet turned for home, and China burned its ships within a generation. This is the timeline where it sailed on east.
1421 · THE OPEN PACIFIC
No fleet like it existed before and none has since: two hundred and fifty ships, twenty-seven thousand men, the greatest of the hulls four hundred feet of teak with nine masts and a rudder the size of a house. Zheng He, admiral of the Western Seas, has reached Africa twice and brought home a giraffe for an emperor. In our timeline the fleet’s orders always pointed home. In the timeline recorded here, the Yongle Emperor’s last letter carries one more line: follow the morning current east, and see whether the ocean ends.