大員廈門航路上帆船側風航行的優勢

On the Advantage of Reaching on the Historical Sea-Route between Tayouan and Amoy

十七世紀以前，台海兩岸交流零星而管道未定；自從大員（今之安平）被開發為廈門的對渡口岸之後，沉寂的福爾摩莎島有了一個新的開始。為了開拓台海商機、促進東亞貿易，荷蘭東印度公司積極吸引閩南地區的漢人來台進行貨物交易與土地開發，而大員與廈門間的海上聯繫也逐漸演變成為一條組織化、制度化的航路。這條航路的形成，地緣政治、社會變遷及區域經濟發展等歷史因素均有重要影響，不過航行技術上的原因也有關係，本文即嘗試從這個角度出發，進行探討。帆船行駛以風為動力。就駕駛操作而言，側風航行是最便利而安全的行駛方式，而大員廈門間的對渡航向與季風方向的角度關係正好符合此項原理。這種航行技術上的方便性裨益了閩南人士的渡海來台，促進了兩岸間的交流往來，並將台灣土地開發帶入了一個新的時代。

Before the 17 Century, there were few fragmental contacts between Taiwan and China. When the offshore bar Tayouan, today’s Anping, was built as a joint harbor with Amoy, a new epoch came to Formosa. Due to the overseas trade in the Taiwan Strait and East Asia, the Dutch East India Company persuaded Chinese to come over to Taiwan to make deals with them and to cultivate the land; meanwhile maritime contacts between Tayouan and Amoy were gradually transformed into an organized and regular sea-route. Certainly the transformation had its geopolitical, social and economical background, but sailing techniques also had an influence on it, and this paper will discuss this point of view. Among them the reaching is the most favorable way to sail and the monsoons over the Taiwan Strait provide an available situation to reach between Tayouan and Amoy. This encouraged Chinese to cross the Strait, provided chances to establish an intensive relation between both sides and brought development of Taiwan into a new age.