Syracusia [Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia]

Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia ^ | prior to 2006 | Houghton Mifflin

[SunkenCiv]

One of the most complete descriptions of a ship from antiquity is that described by the Greek writer Athenaeus. Writing in the second century ce, but basing his account on more contemporary descriptions (now lost), he described a huge grain ship built by Hieron II, king of Syracuse from 269 to 215 bce. Lionel Casson considers this to be the largest ship built in antiquity... There were cabins for 142 first-class passengers on the second deck in addition to accommodations for steerage, the lower deck being reserved for cargo and the upper deck for soldiers, said to number 400. The first-class passengers could use a library, a gymnasium, promenades lined with flower beds, a chapel dedicated to Aphrodite, a reading room, and a bath. Twenty horses could be carried in separate stalls, and there was ample provision for fresh water and a saltwater fish tank for the cook's use. The ship was also heavily armed, being defended by marines stationed in eight deck towers who could fight the ship from the bronze tops of the three masts or from a raised fighting deck. The latter was fitted with a catapult of Archimedes' design capable of hurling an 18-foot dart or 180-pound stone 600 feet. The number of crew is not specified, but the account says that "although the bilge was extraordinarily deep, it was bailed by only one man using a screw pump, one of Archimedes' inventions."

[SunkenCiv]

The Roman emperor Caligula had a number of 200 ton columns moved from Egyptian quarries to Rome, by ship, suggesting ships larger than this! Lionel Casson notes that the large grain haulers running wheat from the Nile Valley to Rome were also very popular methods of transport for travellers.

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[SunkenCiv]

Finding one of these giant grain haulers would add a great deal of knowledge of ancient shipbuilding.

Examining the Evidence for the Shipwreck on the Munxar Reef
Associates for Biblical Research

Mr. Cornuke’s investigations on the island of Malta led to the conclusion that the shipwreck occurred on the eastern end of the island of Malta, rather than the traditional site at St. Paul’s Bay on the northern side of the island. His view is that the Alexandrian grain ship containing the Apostle Paul and his traveling companion, Luke, was shipwrecked on the Munxar Reef near St. Thomas Bay on the eastern side of the island. Mr. Cornuke claims that he located local spear fishermen and divers who told him about six anchor stocks that were located near or on the Munxar Reef. Mr. Cornuke has suggested that these six anchor stocks came from the shipwreck of Paul (Acts 27:29,40). Four of the anchor stocks were found at fifteen fathoms, or ninety feet of water (Acts 27:28), these would have been the ones the crew threw over first. The other two were found at a shallower depth and he thinks these were the anchors the sailors were pretending to put out from the prow (Acts 27:30). He identifies the "place where two seas meet" (Acts 27:41) as the Munxar Reef and the "bay with the beach" as St. Thomas Bay (Acts 27:39). He concluded that neither the sea captain, nor his crew, would have recognized the eastern shoreline of the Maltese coast.

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[SunkenCiv]

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[Jeff Head]

They had their great ships of the world back then...and this sounds very, very inmpressive for the time.

Today, we have our own...

[SunkenCiv]

Isis
Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia

Lucian gives fairly specific dimensions: the Isis is 120 cubits (180 feet) in length, more than a quarter of that (45 feet) in beam, and 29 cubits (43.5 feet) from the deck to bottom of the hold at its deepest. Based on these figures, Casson has calculated her capacity at 1,200 to 1,300 tons -- a figure not at all improbable given the scale of the Roman grain trade, the skill of Roman shipwrights, and the collateral evidence from excavated underwater sites such as the Albenga wreck. After the fall of Rome, merchant vessels of this size were not built again in the west until the carracks of the sixteenth century.

[son of caesar]

sunken civ, i shall post this to you in the first person.

after my empire collapsed, you puny mortals could not reach my achievments for another 1200 yrs or so. your entire western world is built on the dust of my bones, treat it well, for its a transitory thing.

[Ramius]

Impressive.

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

I think 1200 to 1300 tons displacement works out to approximately a 10 to 11 yard cube of water, plus additional for the weight of the ship of course. :')

[Ciexyz]

Big enough for animals going in two by two?

[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

• The Syracusia Ship | Michael Lahanas