Ships 2 Essay, Research Paper

Ship

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.