The Jewel of Muscat is a ship based on the design of the Belitung shipwreck, an Arabian dhow that was found off the coast of Belitung Island, Indonesia in 1998 and subsequently salvaged. It was built in a joint effort by the governments of Oman and Singapore and Mike Flecker one of the people employed by the salvage company Seabed Explorations at the time of the original recovery.
Present-day knowledge of the original materials and methods used in construction of the Jewel and this type of Arab dhow stems largely from the shipwreck itself, found preserved under sediment. The sediment preserved the remains of the wooden vessel and without this the wreck would have been lost due to worms. Most important were the discoveries about the methods of construction which were repeated in the construction of the Jewel.
Fortunately pieces of the original timbers were preserved, allowing scientists to analyse the remains and determine the type of wood used. This wood is unique to an area which forms a thin band across central Africa from west to east, falling short of the east coast by a couple of hundred miles. This has allowed archaeologists to identify the original wrecked ship as being made in Africa.
The Jewel is approximately 21 feet (6.4 m) wide and 58 feet (18 m) long. Building of the ship began in October 2008 and it set sail for Singapore on 16 February 2010, arriving on 3 July 2010.
The ship is remarkable in that it was sewn together, following the construction techniques used in the wrecked ship, rather than the using more traditional methods of pegs or nails. The dhow is approximately 21 feet wide and 58 feet long and is an accurate reproduction thanks to the measurements taken by Walterfang's team during the excavation.
The Jewel of Muscat is housed in the Maritime Experiential Museum and Aquarium in the Sentosa resort in Singapore.
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