Friday, May 11, 2012

Mediterranean Bronze-Age Style Galley Under Construction

This item just appeared on the WoodenBoat Facebook page, quoted here in full:
"Adem Ali Yılmaz tells us that this is being built at a high school in Turkey and that the dimensions are length 19 meters, beam 4 meters."


I don't know the provenance of the design: it appears similar to ancient Greek ships, but similar designs were probably used by other nations throughout the Mediterranean. The Persian ships at the battle of Salamis, for example, were roughly similar to the Greek ships against which they fought, and Turkey lay within the Persian empire at that time.


See my comments about the bow of Tim Severin's Argo, then look at the details of the bow construction here. The keel appears to be laminated. The structure of the stem, however, looks pretty authentic. On the other hand, I believe that Bronze-Age Mediterranean boatbuilders used no forms in their shell-first hull construction. If that's the case, then the use of forms and ribbands here is not a historically accurate method.


That issue aside, this is an ambitious and impressive project for a high school and I wish them luck and success. I sure would like to know and see more about this project.

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