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Old 11-10-2021, 16:15   #1
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Paul's 1st century ship

Looking for comments from you ancient mariner experts.

I'm studying Paul's trip from Caesarea to the shipwreck on Malta. Wondering about ship handling of 1st century ships... i.e. could they point to weather? If so, how much? What sort of speed were they capable of? How many crew? Did they like to hug coastlines or were they capable of open water? Etc.

I've only been able to find one example of the probable ship but Paul changed vessels during his journey. First vessel was a ship of Adramyttium (Image attached), probably a costal ship? Then he boarded "a ship of Alexandria sailing into Italy" (Acts 27:6), which was ultimately driven downwind when passing Crete. Could this second vessel have been a more capable design but still difficult to sail to weather? Also, any idea of the ship length and beam?

Overall, I'm trying to understand what the challenges would have been in piloting such ships, especially in more difficult weather.

Thanks in advance for your reply.

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Old 11-10-2021, 18:03   #2
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Re: Paul's 1st century ship

One book you might enjoy is Raphael Patai, The Children of Noah: Jewish Seafaring in Ancient Times. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1998.

The book is uneven. And dated. But still about the best available for its breadth of coverage: everything from the nomenclature of the components of the ship to naval warfare, the law of the sea, legends and sailors tales, and more.
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Old 11-10-2021, 18:43   #3
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Re: Paul's 1st century ship

You might also find some interesting reading (and additional pointers to references) here: https://www.ancientportsantiques.com/ancient-sailing/

The ship he was one, if an Alexandrian grain ship, may have been quite large. Probably not as large as the Isis, perhaps in the 20 to 50 m range. IIRC trips towards Rome would have stayed closer to the coast, but going the other direction the more direct route would have been faster. (This is more about wind direction.)
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Old 11-10-2021, 20:20   #4
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Re: Paul's 1st century ship

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Originally Posted by Alan Mighty View Post
One book you might enjoy is Raphael Patai, The Children of Noah: Jewish Seafaring in Ancient Times. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1998.
For further guidance of A la carte and those interested, the contents pages of Patai are attached (at least for 24 hours):
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Old 12-10-2021, 08:36   #5
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Re: Paul's 1st century ship

Partial answer:
There were certainly ships capable of water sailing">blue water sailing at Paul's time and much earlier.
You have to lose sight of land to get to Crete, Malta, Cyorus.
Crete had a huge navy more than thousand years B. C
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Old 12-10-2021, 08:38   #6
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Re: Paul's 1st century ship

This is a very fascinating topic. Thanks for asking and to Alan Mighty and Requiem, thank you for those interesting references.
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Old 12-10-2021, 10:08   #7
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Re: Paul's 1st century ship

Helpful references... Thank you.

From the references, it looks like prevailing winds are from the NW in the Med. Direct passages from Italy to Alexandria (the bread basket) would be possible. Sailing back from Alexandria to Italy was more of a challenge. Following coasts to take advantage of diurnal winds that occurred along the coasts. Impressive.
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Old 12-10-2021, 10:57   #8
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Re: Paul's 1st century ship

You might enjoy a book called Navigation through the Ages by Donald Launer, ISBN # 978-1-57409-278-3, published by Sheridan House Inc (Sheridan House - Talking About Literature). Although he only briefly talks about navigation during the period you inquired about, it is nonetheless an excellent discussion about navigation including early navigation.
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Old 12-10-2021, 16:07   #9
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Re: Paul's 1st century ship

Once you've read Patai, I recommend you read:

James Beresford, The Ancient Sailing Season. Leiden & Boston: Brill. 2013.

The book is of course about the assumption made by many classical scholars that sailing, or commercial sailing carrying cargo and passengers, was limited to a short 'sailing season' of about 5 months. That assumption has been affirmed, denied, qualified, and whatever else you can do with an idea, for donkey's years.

Of course, other imperatives over-rule any captain's idea of when it's a good time to leave port (military needs, coercive threats, hunger, greed, plague, debt collectors, volcanic eruption, etc). Sometimes gentlemen have to go to weather and claw off a lee shore, even if no big Boeing is available.

Beresford 2013 has an Introduction and six (6) chapters:

1. The Textual Evidence
2. The Mediterranean Climatic Regime
3. Ships and Sails
4. Navigation
5. The Sailing Season of the Indian Ocean.
6. Ancient Pirates and Fishermen

In C1, Beresford considers texts dating to 700 BCE (Hesiod's Works and Days) and then everything else from the grain trade out of Alexandria, olive oil arriving at Carthage, Paul's winter voyage(s), myths and legends, and the preserved literature of shipping contracts.

A more recent work than Patai 1998. More academic and authoritative.

Interesting that if memory serves me right, Patai 1998 is not in Beresford's bibiliography, but Lin & Larry Pardey are. Both Pardey & Pardey Seraffyn's Mediterranean Adventure, 1981; and Pardey & Pardey Storm Tactics Handbook, 1996.

Beresford mentions not Noah (so that's a good reason to read Patai 1998 first, because Patai considers the more ancient sources for the Noah story).

Tim Severin and Homer get mentions too. Natch.

Beresford's bibliography includes a work I've not seen: J. Smith, The Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul. (4th edn.) London. 1880. Might be on Google Books for all I ken.
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Old 12-10-2021, 19:20   #10
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Re: Paul's 1st century ship

Here's what was going on in the skies at the time (AD 59, June 30th on the island of Crete). Note that Polaris is a full 10° away from the North celestial pole.


[Click image for larger version.]


Click image for larger version

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Old 12-10-2021, 20:14   #11
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Re: Paul's 1st century ship

Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan Mighty View Post
One book you might enjoy is Raphael Patai, The Children of Noah: Jewish Seafaring in Ancient Times. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1998.

The book is uneven. And dated. But still about the best available for its breadth of coverage: everything from the nomenclature of the components of the ship to naval warfare, the law of the sea, legends and sailors tales, and more.
Very interesting - will try to find a copy at a decent price (just looked - AUD75 for a paperback!).

Thanks - appreciated
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Old 12-10-2021, 20:15   #12
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Re: Paul's 1st century ship

Quote:
Originally Posted by A la carte View Post
Looking for comments from you ancient mariner experts.

I'm studying Paul's trip from Caesarea to the shipwreck on Malta. Wondering about ship handling of 1st century ships... i.e. could they point to weather? If so, how much? What sort of speed were they capable of? How many crew? Did they like to hug coastlines or were they capable of open water? Etc.

I've only been able to find one example of the probable ship but Paul changed vessels during his journey. First vessel was a ship of Adramyttium (Image attached), probably a costal ship? Then he boarded "a ship of Alexandria sailing into Italy" (Acts 27:6), which was ultimately driven downwind when passing Crete. Could this second vessel have been a more capable design but still difficult to sail to weather? Also, any idea of the ship length and beam?

Overall, I'm trying to understand what the challenges would have been in piloting such ships, especially in more difficult weather.

Thanks in advance for your reply.

Great question. Thank you for asking - and the responders!
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Old 12-10-2021, 20:26   #13
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Re: Paul's 1st century ship

Quote:
Originally Posted by meirriba View Post
Partial answer:

There were certainly ships capable of blue water sailing at Paul's time and much earlier.

You have to lose sight of land to get to Crete, Malta, Cyorus.

Crete had a huge navy more than thousand years B. C


And of course China has a rich maritime history
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Old 12-10-2021, 20:49   #14
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Re: Paul's 1st century ship

The battle at Actium between Cleopatra and Mark Antony's fleet and the Romans (31 AD) would have been interesting and probably involved the best sailing technology of the day. It certainly had a dramatic effect on the Greek relationship with the militaristic, intellectually vacuous Romans and shifted intellectual endeavours to Istanbul/ and then much later into (thankfully) the Arabic "House of Wisdom" that ultimately saved and developed our knowledge of medicine (Galen, Avicenna), astronomy (Claudius Ptolemy’s Almagest) and the works of Euclid and others (Mohammad ibn Musa al' Khwarizmi from Khiva, Omah Khyam etc.). This battle outcome also had a dramatic effect on the Christians of the day and basically, they all headed off to Istanbul and flourished there under St Constantine and St Justinian and then later the protection afforded by the Islamic rulers. The Romans, under Diocletian (284 to 305 AD) was rather naughty and for a while tried to thin out the number of pesky Christians while also providing entertainment for the plebs.
I understand that sailing around the Med, was a tricky business and drawings of the trading boats invariably show square rigs, but not so on the Nile where the current lateen style rigs (dhows) used today were used in the past as they had to be able to sail upwind.
I also understand that some of these lateen rigs were used in the Red Sea and down the East African coast.

Places such as Carthage would have been highly dependent on trading ships so they must have got their acts together. Ostia, the main trading and naval port for Rome (after 400 BC) must have records of their sailing vessels. The evolution to the use of lateen rigs must have been a slow event but a good place to see the ultimate successful boat is to visit the Maritime Museum at Mossel Bay (South Africa) to see the working copy of the triple lateen rig as used by Bartomleu Dias to round the bottom of SA (1488) and open up the phenomenal trading routes that so invigorated European business.
Rig types clearly have had a dramatic effect on us all, and just where and how this all evolved would make for fascinating reading.
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Old 12-10-2021, 21:06   #15
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Re: Paul's 1st century ship

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Originally Posted by billgewater View Post
The battle at Actium between Cleopatra and Mark Antony's fleet and the Romans (31 AD) would have been interesting and probably involved the best sailing technology of the day. It certainly had a dramatic effect on the Greek relationship with the militaristic, intellectually vacuous Romans and shifted intellectual endeavours to Istanbul/ and then much later into (thankfully) the Arabic "House of Wisdom" that ultimately saved and developed our knowledge of medicine (Galen, Avicenna), astronomy (Claudius Ptolemy’s Almagest) and the works of Euclid and others (Mohammad ibn Musa al' Khwarizmi from Khiva, Omah Khyam etc.). This battle outcome also had a dramatic effect on the Christians of the day and basically, they all headed off to Istanbul and flourished there under St Constantine and St Justinian and then later the protection afforded by the Islamic rulers. The Romans, under Diocletian (284 to 305 AD) was rather naughty and for a while tried to thin out the number of pesky Christians while also providing entertainment for the plebs.
.

A lot of anachronism here. The Battle of Actium "shifted intellectual endeavours to Istanbul"? Really? Constantinople wasn't called Istanbul until after the Ottoman conquest in the 15thC, and wasn't even founded as a Roman capital until 324. The Battle of Actium was in 31AD, almost 200 years before there was any Constantinople for anyone to go to.
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