3800 year old Egyptian ship rebuilt and sailed

Edited by Carcharodon - 02-Jun-2009 at 00:45

Curious. If they were such a good sailors why they subcontracted Phoenicians for the job?

In another way too Egypt is extraordinary, since it is located at the only natural landbridge (at least in recent times) between the two biggest landmasses - Euraisan and African - and between the two important waters, Meditteranean And Red Sea. In a near similar position lie the land many seems as "Holy".

Awesome article I had no idea Egypt's maritime technology was so advanced. 

Originally posted by Carcharodon Originally posted by pinguin Curious. If they were such a good sailors why they subcontracted Phoenicians for the job?   Even if you are a splendid sailor you can always find someone who is better. And if you are smart then you take advantage of his knowledge.   Take Sweden as an example, ever since the viking age (and even earlier) Swedes and other nordic people had been good sailors but still Sweden in the 17th century hired dutch shipbuilders to help them build warships and other vessels.

What the Dutch were especially good at was building ships that could navigate in (relatively) shallow waters. Did that interest the Swedes?

Edited by gcle2003 - 05-Jun-2009 at 14:18

Athens' ships, in the days of the Peleponesian War, were largely manned by "foreign mercenaries", which I presume included Greeks from non-aligned city-states. Some historians have commented on the international makeup of sailors who manned Spain's ships in the "Golden Age". Arturo Perez-Reverte, a novelist who is no mean historian when to comes to detail, portrays the crews of Mediterranian galleys as fairly international in makeup. Herman Melville, in "Moby Dick", comments on how international nature of the crews on U.S. whaling ships in the first part of the 19th Century. Apparently up until the Age of Nelson, the sailors actually manning naval ships were technically civilians. Only the ships' officers, marines, and gunners were considered military personnel.  Perhaps the early Egyptian fleets were similarly manned.

The historical sources regarding Punt in ancient time seems to bee a bit vague. Schoolars have suggested trading ports in Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Yemen or Somalia.

Edited by Carcharodon - 06-Jun-2009 at 01:04

Originally posted by pinguin Curious. If they were such a good sailors why they subcontracted Phoenicians for the job?

The Phoenicians were Africans

GCLE, Melville also has two Black characters in Moby Dick. One, a sailor, proves not to have the mettle for whaling. But the other is an African they picked up on some coast who rose to become a Harpooner, which Melville underscores carries the status of a ship's officer, and not a mere sailor.