Building Pharaoh’s Ship
Ethan Keyser
ME 350X History of Technology
25 September, 2014
In Building Pharaoh’s Ship, a team of archeologists set out to build a sea-worthy ship based on designs found in ancient Egyptian tombs. Although many historians were skeptical that the Egyptians were capable of building a ship capable of travelling the across the sea, the team of archeologists believed that the Egyptian pharaoh/queen Hatshepsut organized a long range voyage across the Red sea to Put, for the purpose of trading for precious spices. Using designs found in the tombs, and remnants from other Egyptians vessels, the team was able to create blueprints for building a ship. They also found a crew of woodworkers who would build the ship by hand.
One of the major challenges for constructing the ship was that it was not built using a modern skeleton design. Instead, each board on the ship was uniquely designed, and made to fit with the boards around it. The ship also lacked any kind of caulking between the boards to make them watertight. Instead, the vessel relied on the swelling of the boards to create a seal. Because of this the boat had to be sunk once constructed to allow the boards to swell. Once completed the ship sailed vary well, helping to prove that the Egyptians were capable of cross-sea trade.