Replica Phoenician ship ends round-Africa journey (Video)

BBC ^ | October 24, 2010 | Lina Sinjab

[decimon]

The replica of a Phoenician ship from 600BC has arrived home in western Syria after a two-year voyage circumnavigating the coast of Africa.

[decimon]

Closer to my home ping.

[Average Al]

2 and a half years? A piece of driftwood could have beat that! ;-)

[decimon]

2 and a half years?

Probably explains why such journeys weren't, as far as we know, common.

[Venturer]

The galley slaves, must have been slow rowers.

[decimon]

The galley slaves, must have been slow rowers.

Aside from off of Somalia.

[Cardhu]

Sail bost in Malta taken from my window

Not much difference after 2,600 years

[martin_fierro]

How Phoeni.

[martin_fierro]

Sail bost in Malta taken from my window
Not much difference after 2,600 years

Dang, you are old.

[decimon]

Thanks for the pics.

Not much difference after 2,600 years

Better sails.

[Cardhu]

Better sails. ...and a bigger Value Added Tax (VAT)

[muawiyah]

Actually, it doesn't explain that at all ~ rather the reverse. Fur traders used to leave central New York and arrive in central Saskatchewan in a year, and then buy furs and get back to central New York a year later ~ 2 year round trip just for really great furs.

A 2 year trip all the way around Africa ~ envision the riches they could pick up for a song.

I suspect the problem wasn't the duration, but the "take" as compared to the "risk". More than likely Phoenician boats could be seized by raiding parties along the shore with ease. Although Africans in Subsaharan Africa were fairly barbaric they were numerous and well versed in agriculture by the time the Phoenicians visited.

They might have let 'em skip on by on their first trip, but not the second!

Later civilizations weren't all that keen on sailing around Africa either.

Of Note: there are various seaworms that bore into and eat wooden boats WITH EASE. Columbus and others knew that when they went to America and prepared for the worst by taking tooks with them to build new boats. The earliest sailers going South discovered that problem I am sure.

Check out Teredo

[SunkenCiv]

· GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach · · join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic · subscribe ·
	Antiquity Journal  & archive  Archaeologica  Archaeology  Archaeology Channel  BAR  Bronze Age Forum  Discover  Dogpile  Eurekalert  Google  LiveScience  Mirabilis.ca  Nat Geographic  PhysOrg  Science Daily  Science News  Texas AM  Yahoo  Excerpt, or Link only?	Thanks decimon for the topic and ping and thanks martin_fierro for the ping! Sailor to recreate Phoenicians' epic African voyage [2008] To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. The Histories by Herodotus tr by George Rawlinson Book IV -- Melpomene As for Libya, we know it to be washed on all sides by the sea, except where it is attached to Asia. This discovery was first made by Necos, the Egyptian king, who on desisting from the canal which he had begun between the Nile and the Arabian gulf, sent to sea a number of ships manned by Phoenicians, with orders to make for the Pillars of Hercules, and return to Egypt through them, and by the Mediterranean. The Phoenicians took their departure from Egypt by way of the Erythraean sea, and so sailed into the southern ocean. When autumn came, they went ashore, wherever they might happen to be, and having sown a tract of land with corn, waited until the grain was fit to cut. Having reaped it, they again set sail; and thus it came to pass that two whole years went by, and it was not till the third year that they doubled the Pillars of Hercules, and made good their voyage home. On their return, they declared -- I for my part do not believe them, but perhaps others may -- that in sailing round Libya they had the sun upon their right hand. In this way was the extent of Libya first discovered.
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[SunkenCiv]

more classical-era stuff about the Phoenician voyages:

Extract from the Natural History of Pliny the Elder
http://ing.iac.es/lapalma/pliny.html

[ApplegateRanch]

When autumn came, they went ashore, wherever they might happen to be, and having sown a tract of land with corn, waited until the grain was fit to cut. Having reaped it, they again set sail;

Now we know the real reason they pretty much always sailed within sight of land: they were looking for a good place to plant their next meals!

[Oztrich Boy]

Columbus and others knew that when they went to America and prepared for the worst by taking tooks with them to build new boats

Big mistake. Only the Buckland Hobbits who live east of the Brandywine River understand Boats. The Tooks live in West Farthing. on the opposite side of the Shire.

[No Truce With Kings]

“Columbus and others knew that when they went to America and prepared for the worst by taking tooks with them to build new boats.”

Assuming you meant tools instead of tooks, that is not very impressive. The tools required to build a seagoing ship in the late 15th century consisted of an axe, an adz, a saw and an auger. That's all. A ships’ carpenter that sailed without those deserved to be keelhauled. (And yes, that is an anachronistic punishment at that time.)

[muawiyah]

Remember the escape mechanism on the old spring driven or pendulum driven clocks ~ you just missed a "tic".

Wasn't the point that Columbus was terribly astute but that it was necessary to carry sufficient tools with you to BUILD ANOTHER BOAT.

No doubt there were numerous voyagers before him who forgot the tools ~ they didn't come back to tell the story to everybody else!

[No Truce With Kings]

Remember the escape mechanism on the old spring driven or pendulum driven clocks ~ you just missed a “tic”.

Wasn’t the point that Columbus was terribly astute but that it was necessary to carry sufficient tools with you to BUILD ANOTHER BOAT.

No doubt there were numerous voyagers before him who forgot the tools ~ they didn’t come back to tell the story to everybody else!”

O-kaa-ay. If you say so, sport. I missed a “tic.” I just don’t see what is . . . remarkable . . . about Columbus’s “Chips” carrying a standard set of tools that anyone but an incompetent would have carried. It’s not like building a new ship after the one an explorer has been lost is an unusual story — even, or especially in the Age of Exploration.

No doubt some people today would find it necessary to be reminded “to carry sufficient tools with you to BUILD ANOTHER BOAT,” but few people did back then, and few people that I associate with today would find the reminder necessary. What other profound advice do you have? Check your tire pressure and make sure you have gas in the tank before starting a cross-country trip? Or maybe have a few spare batteries for your flashlight because the power fails occasionally?

Anyhow could you please expand upon why you find this to be somehow significant. I sure can’t figure it out.

[muawiyah]

once upon a time a gigantic ship came up the Potomac and turned around. Very amazing show.

They failed to bring tools with them to build another.