ROUND THE WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 147, 23 June 1928, Page 4

ROUND THE WORLD.

GOSSIP OF THE PORT.

EARLY NAVIGATORS.

A recent article in this column caused an interesting argument among a number of Auckland master mariners. Who were the earliest deep-water navigators known to history? was the subject matter of the argument, and the writer was inivted to give his views on the subject. Careful investigation among th» volumes of the Auckland library gave valuable information, which will be of interest to all those who take passing notice of the sea, ships and sailors. It would be impossible to suggest who the daring man was who first ventured afloat on the deep waters. The original master mariner is lost in the mists of antiquity. A Phoenician myth, however, says that Usous took a tree and made it boat-shaped and was first to venture, upon the sea, and also that Chryson invented the raft, the fishing line and bait, and was the first man to navigate ships out of sight of land. The difficulty of the myth, however, lies in the fact that it locates these men at Tyre, the Phoenician city. Tyre, unfortunately for the truth of the myth, was founded by Phoenician "sailors" in 1200 8.C., who had been trading upon the Mediterranean for centuries.

There are records also showing that the coasts of India have been navigated for' at least nine thousand years. The 1 Phoenicians are the first deep-water sailors 'known to history. These pople are believed to have originated in, or about, Bahrein, in the Persian Gulf—a good locality for the development of a race of seamen. Their first craft were probably merely logs tied together to form rafts, and from that they evolved the dug-out. In such crazy ships they paddled across the gulf to exchange their produce with other people. These dug-outs would not be very serviceable vessels and, to keep out the water which came aboard, they erected mats along the side. From the idea of mats as bulwarks they began to use planks and gradually developed the art of boat building with frames, planks and keels. The Phoenicians developed their knowledge of the sea in the coasting trade of the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. A people who could note the courses of the planets among the fixed stars would not be long in observing, and using, the monsoons. From the navigation of the Indian and Arabian coasts they extended their voyages up the Red Sea and eventually some Phoenicians reached the Mediterranean by the overland route, where they built ships and carried on their trade. Finding the Mediterranean much to their liking, they migrated to the shores of that sea and built their cities at Tyre, Sidon and various other places where good harbours existed.

In the City of Memphis a Phoenician sailors' quarter existed in 1200 B.C. Those wonderful old master mariners carried on and were undoubtedly the first navigators in the records of authentic history. Unfortunately the names of the actual masters of the ships are not recorded, although the names of the ships can still be found. The first really great sea voyage of which we have a record is that dispatched by the Egyptian Pharaoh, Niku, who reigned in Egypt from 610 to 594 B.C. The record of this stupendous voyage is, unfortunately, very brief, and for long was not accepted by historians a£ having been accomplished. Recent discoveries in Africa, however, have proved the story to be absoltuely correct in many of its details. Niku, who was responsible for the starting off of this voyage, did so because he wished bis Red Sea fleet of war vessels to be able to co-operate with his Mediterranean fleet. He had previously attempted to dig a canal across the Isthmus of Suez to allow his fleet through, but was not successful. Evidence of this canal was found when De Lessens made his first survey for his projected Suez Canal. He then decided to see if it was a practicable proposition for vessels to sail round Africa and accordingly dispatched twenty-two ships to sea, manned by Phoenicians. These hardy seamen sailed through the Red Sea, down the Indian Ocean, safely rounded the Cape of Good Hope and after many trials no less than twelve of the ships returned to Esypt through the Straits of Gibraltar. History tells us that they took three years in making the voyage, and that the seamen landed at various places en route, and sowed grain, waiting for it to ripen before proceeding on their voyage.

It was many hundreds of years after this memorable voyage, that the southern and south-western parts of Africa' were a train visited or seen by the crews of ships. Amone the records of the city of Carthage, which have fortunately been nreserved, is the complete account of a vr*.-age made by a master mariner called Hanno alone the west coast of Africa, to found colonies for the mulattoes who had increased in and around Carthapre to such an extent as to endanger the supremacy of the pure race. Hanno sailed with a "multitude of men and women to the number of 30.000 in merchant shins and with sixty ships of fifty oars each." These last, we are told, "were warships for the protection of the convoy." He made settlements along the west coast as far as the south extremity of Sierra Leone. Whilst. Carthage was extending its sea power, _ the great Roman Emnire was developing, and as was inevitable, they went to war. The Romans were ignorant of sea tactics, but they had ingenuity and trusted to their short swords. Having no sea knowledge themselves they copied the designs of the Carthaginian ships, and history tells us that they met the men of Carthage under the miehty Hannibal, "off the city of Mylae." and decisively defeated them. This happened in 262 8.C.. but strange to say the Romans abandoned the sea until the year 249 B.C. In that year a Roman fleet, 200 strong, built by public subscription, again met the Carthaginians at sea. and again defeated them. This war ended the rule of the Phoenicians at sea.

History tells us of many deep water voyages made to England by the Phoenicians. When our prehistoric fore-fathers were running around the bleak coasts of Cornwall dressed in skins, the Phoenicians were regular traders to their harbours. exchanging cloth and iron for the valuable tin which was mined in the south-western counties of England. The prehistoric and legendary Jason was one of the ancient master mariners who sailed the Black Sea. Pytheus, a Greek who lived at the same time as Alexander the Great, sailed alonz the coasts of Europe as far as the north of Scotland, and named the islands Thule, which are now known as the Hebrides. As we get further into history of the civilisation we know to-day the next sea people of note were the Venetians. The rise of the A enetians as a seafaring people is really due to the invasion of the Roman Empire by the Huns under Attila. Tho Huns reached the Plains of the Po in A.D. 451, and the people of Padua and the other towns in the vicinity fled in terror before them and took refuge at the head of the Adriatic. Here they founded a settlement that afterwards became known as the City of Venice. Living as they did, constantly on the sea. they soon built up a great fleet of merchant ships. They traded with all parts of the then known world, making monthly voyages along the coasts of Spain and France, and called at London en route. It £b a well-known fact that during the wars of the Crusade many Venetian ships were chartered by English knights to take them to the Holy land. From the foregoing it will be seen that the earliest navigators were undoubtedly the ancient master mariners of the Mediterranean. It was not until many years later that the Vikings, those liardy mariners of Xorseland, started making deep water voyages, and as they were the p«ople who taught the early Britons the ar J> of seamanship, their doings will be told in a later article.