Replica Phoenician ship completes Atlantic voyage

The replica Phoenician ship, Phoenicia has arrived in the U.S. after a five-month voyage of over 6,000 miles. The voyage is part of the Phoenicians Before Columbus Expedition, designed with the help of the US-based Phoenician International Research Center, to show that Phoenician ships could have crossed the Atlantic over 2,000 years before Christopher Columbus “discovered” the American continent.

Replica Phoenician Ship, the Phoenicia made landfall in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
after an unprecedented 6,000-mile Atlantic voyage [Credit: Associated Press]

The Phoenicia began its voyage from Carthage, Tunisia on September 28, 2019. After sailing from Carthage to Cadiz, Spain, Essaouira, Morocco and Tenerife in the Canary Islands, the ship left the Old World on November 23, 2019 and safely reached port in the Dominican Republic on December 31, 2019, having crossed the Atlantic Ocean using nothing but wind, current, sail and compass.

The Phoenicia made landfall on American shores on Tuesday, February 4, 2020, docking at Coral Ridge Yacht Club in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The Phoenicia is a traditionally-built replica of a Phoenician merchant vessel, based on a 600 BC design. British Adventurer and Expedition Leader, Philip Beale FRGS, captains the Phoenicia, sailing with a multi-national crew with representatives from the United States, Lebanon, Tunisia, United Kingdom, Norway, Holland, Brazil and Indonesia. Amongst the crew is filmmaker Yuri Sanada from Aventuras Produções, Brazil. He is documenting life on board as well as the challenges the Phoenicians were likely to have faced.

According to Greek geographer and historian, Strabo, the Phoenicians traded and settled along the East Atlantic coast, prompting Beale’s belief in the likelihood that the Phoenicians would have attempted to sail West in the hope of discovering more lands. Beale commissioned the building of the Phoenicia ship 12 years ago. It was traditionally built in Syria and its design was based on the wreckage of the Jules Vernes 7, discovered in the Mediterranean in the early 1990’s. The Phoenicia is believed to be the only replica of its kind in the world. Having already circumnavigated Africa in the First Phoenician Ship expedition (2008-10), Beale was once again at the helm for the cross Atlantic challenge; reiterating his passion for the seafaring Phoenicians.

The Expedition has been endorsed by the Ministries of Information and Tourism of the Republic of Lebanon and received support, expedition supplies and services from numerous organizations in the Republic of Tunisia, prior to the launch of the Expedition from Carthage, Tunisia in September 2019. The Expedition is part of the United Nations Environment ‘Clean Seas Campaign’, taking daily water samples to measure micro plastic levels and raising awareness about plastic pollution in the ocean.

The journey across the Atlantic from Tenerife to the Dominican Republic took 39 days, a distance of some 3,700 miles. From the Dominican Republic to Florida, the journey of 1,000 miles will take 12 days. The total voyage from Carthage, Tunisia to Florida has covered over 6,000 miles, taking five months to complete.

Source: GlobeNewsWire [February 07, 2020]



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