3500 Year Old Sailboat Sails Again

by Nancy Knudsen on 22 Jul 2006 When you go for a sail on Sunday, remember that the tradition you are following is one of the oldest known to civilised man. The earliest known European civilisation, the Minoan civilisation, was known to have sailing boats, and now, there's a 'new' one.

Working from prehistoric visual representations, the Island of Crete has reconstructed a sailing ship from the 15th Century BCE. After a research programme faithfully following the rules of scientific deontology, this amazing craft has been constructed, using materials known to exist at the time.

The result is a long elegant wooden boat with a single square rigged sail, and rowing positions for a crew of 24. This constructed replica, called the Minoa, averages 3.2 knots, and has now been sailed to Piraeus, taking 25 days, day sailing only on 10 sailing days. The craft today sits serenely in the harbour of Xania in Crete, looking as though it’s ready to sail any minute. In fact, it is the property of the Maritime Museum of Crete, and a closely guarded treasure.

A Museum Official explains the process of re-creating the sailing ship: ‘Due to the lack of primary archaeological findings (remains of a shipwreck of this type) the research was based on an innovating technocratic procedure known as the ‘Expert Approach’, that follows the archaeological research. This method, which uses digital technology, interprets the prehistoric representations, the phytogenic raw materials, the technological framework of that era, and the rules of shipbuilding, which were followed even empirically by prehistoric shipbuilders by trial and error.’