The Travels of Marco Polo

Polo starts his narration of his travels in India by giving a great amount of detail about the ships–what they are made of, how they are built, what kind of components they feature, how they are powered, how they are repaired, and how large they are. 

This is the story of the Great Khan's attempt to conquer Zipangu (which we now know as Japan). Polo gives detailed descriptions of the Japanese sovereign's palace, at the same time admitting that “so vast indeed are the riches of the palace that it is impossible to convey an idea of them” (3630-32). When the Mongols launched their great invasion fleet against Japan, they landed safely enough and made some headway but were undone by conflict between two commanders. Then, “it happened after a time that a north wind began to blow with great force, and the ships of the Tartars, which lay near the shore of the island, were driven foul of each other” (3643-44). Many ships foundered. Some escaped, however, and returned to the Chinese mainland.

A large number of Mongols survived the storm but had no ships with which to sail home. They hid from a pursuing party of Japanese and stole their boats, ending up in the Japanese capital and, at one point, seizing it.