PHOENICIAN MERCHANT GALLEY 1500 BC

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aukepalmhof
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PHOENICIAN MERCHANT GALLEY 1500 BC

Post by aukepalmhof » Tue Apr 05, 2022 9:16 pm

The best seafarers and shipbuilders of the ancient world were the Phoenicians. The famous Lebanese cedar trees covering the slopes of mountains of their native land were the perfect material for the construction of strong seaworthy ships. The Phoenicians made important contributions to marine science, having been credited with the division of a circle into 360 degrees and having reliable celestial reference points.
The Phoenicians' most significant contribution was the "round boat" a broad-beamed ship that depended principally on sails rather than oars and provided a much larger cargo space than the narrow galleys. Phoenician round ships traveled the Mediterranean and beyond.
The stamp shows us a Phoenician trade ship of about 1500 BC. This is a rather capacious vessel with strong stem posts (firm beam in prow and stern extremities of the ship) and two stern oars. The mast bore a direct sail on two curved beams. To the prow stem post, they fastened a large clay amphora for storage of potable water.

https://www.oocities.org/CapitolHill/Pa ... ships.html

According to the Greek writers, Phoenician vessels were mainly of two kinds, merchant ships and war-vessels. The merchant ships were of a broad, round make, what our sailors would call "tubs," resembling probably the Dutch fishing-boats of a century ago. They were impelled both by oars and sails but depended mainly on the latter. Each of them had a single mast of moderate height, to which a single sail was attached;10 this was what in modern times is called a "square sail," a form which is only well suited for sailing with when the wind is directly astern. It was apparently attached to the yard and had to be hoisted together with the yard, along which it could be closely reefed, or from which it could be loosely shaken out. It was managed, no doubt, by ropes attached to the two lower corners, which must have been held in the hands of sailors, as it would have been most dangerous to belay them. As long as the wind served, the merchant captain used his sail; when it died away, or became adverse, he dropped yard and sail on to his deck, and made use of his oars.
Merchant ships had, commonly, small boats attached to them, which afforded a chance of safety if the ship foundered, and were useful when cargoes had to be landed on a shelving shore.11 We have no means of knowing whether these boats were hoisted up on deck until they were wanted, or attached to the ships by ropes and towed after them; but the latter arrangement is the more probable.

https://phoenicia.org/ships.html
Cambodia 1993 200r sg 1308, Scott1291
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1993 Phénicien (2).jpg
1993 Phénicien (2).jpg (64.21 KiB) Viewed 578 times

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