Ship Essay, Research Paper

Archeologists found 3 shipwrecks that

show the different stages of shipwreck building and how they tried to improve

in cost and in labor. Archeologists describe the different cargos, and

possible explanations on how it was sunk. The archeologist also built scale

models of the ship and also tries to build the original ships back and

in a sense “enters” the ship maker’s life and discovers some problems he

might have had, and how he built the ship.

The Greek shipwreck of Kyrenea occurred

near 500 B.C. in the Mediterranean Sea. On this voyage its cargo was large

wine containers called amphorae. The amphorae were found all stacked up

neatly on one side, and all clustered on the other side. This proves that

when the vessel hit the ocean floor it was leaning on one side and eventually

the other side collapsed and all the amphorae got scattered. They found

403 intact amphorae and compared them to the previously collected amphorae

and then determined the date of the shipwreck. The archeologists also determined

that it was sunk sometime in September by all the fig leaves that were

found on board. How the ship sank remained a mystery until they found eight

iron spears in the ship but no gold, but there is a lack of bones. They

determined that pirates sank it because pirating was not an uncommon thing

at that age in time. The Kyrenea was built “Hull First” this is the beginning

of the ship building evolution.

The shipwreck of Yassi Ada is the next

shipwreck to happen in chronological order. It was build sometime near

625 A.D. and was dated by the coins found on board. It was build half hull

first then the rest frame first proving an evolution of shipbuilding. Found

inscribed is the ship were Greek words translated “This ship belongs to

George, Sr. Sea Captain.”

The Arabian shipwreck of Serge Liman took

place in about 1025 A.D. and was dated by a Arabian glass bottle found

on board. The bottle was round in shape and had a long arabian neck. This

is one of a few left that were found intact. The ship was carying glass

that was to be recycled from an old glass factory because the millions

of shattered glass peices could not be assembled together and they also

found peices that were molten. This ship was built frame first, the cheapest

and easiest way to build ships. This is the last ship building evolution

step to occur.

The ship building evolution occurred because

people always needed cheaper ways to build ships and ways that would reduce

labor costs. Ships where first built hull first and as time progressed

they started building ships half hull first half frame first, and finally

only frame first. Frame first is the most advanced because the hull can

be bent to size and held together by iron nails.