I would like to dedicate this short article to Patrice Pomey, who followed the different stages of the construction of the Kyrenia II, participated as scientist-observer during the navigation from Piraeus to Cyprus and expressed a deep interest in our first attempt at nautical experimental archaeology.

The Kyrenia II project

During the summer of 1981, after a careful evaluation of all the information gathered on the ancient shipwreck of Kyrenia, I decided to investigate the possibilities of building a full-scale replica of that Greek merchantman. I first contacted Manolis Psarros, a reputed boat builder in Perama, whose family is originally from the island of Symi and has for generations built traditional wooden boats. I described to Manolis what would be required for the construction of an “ancient ship” abiding by the rules of experimental archaeology. His response was positive. I then contacted Michael Katzev, the excavator of the Kyrenia shipwreck, and his wife Susan Womer Katzev, who had participated in all the phases of the project, and then later Richard Steffy, who had reassembled the ancient hull and was a world-­renowned specialist on ancient shipbuilding. They enthusiastically accepted to put at the disposal of the project all information they had acquired during more than a decade of work on the ancient ship and to assist in the construction of the replica.

I was well aware of the difficulties that we had to face, the most challenging being the assembly of the hull using the “shell first” method. It should be stressed that the shipbuilders were sceptical as to the possibility of building a ship by first setting the planks of the hull and only later fastening the frames to the planking.

The challenge was great since for the last 1,500 years ships in the Mediterranean have been built “skeleton first”. But there were many more questions that needed to be answered: how would a ship with a rocked keel behave, and what about the lack of caulking, and the use of the steering oars and of a single square sail ?

What led me to decide on attempting the construction of a replica of that particular ship was that some 75 % of the timber of ancient wreck’s hull had been retrieved and preserved. The whole keel, most of the strakes of the hull planking and the frames had been preserved, as well as small portions of the stem-post and stern-post, while numerous construction details were visible. The assembly of the hull planking was achieved through an intricate method of mortise and tenons, while the frames were secured to the planks with bronze nails driven through treenails. Contrary to the traditional shipbuilding method, the frames of the ancient ship were not fastened to the keel.

There would certainly be more questions to be answered, such as the storing of a load of nearly 400 amphorae, the use of long oars for manoeuvring in ports and secluded coves, the mode of anchoring. How could the captain and crew of four live on such a restricted space deprived of amenities ? How would they plan their course, hopping from one island to another deprived of the help of navigation aids ? It was hoped that those questions would be answered during the long experimental voyages.

One may wonder why I undertook such a complex, daring scientific project, a pioneering attempt in the field of Mediterranean nautical experimental archaeology. Because of my profession as a marine consultant, I was close to a variety of different types of yachts and I had also conducted research into the traditional boat building techniques of a wide variety of traditional Greek wooden sea craft.

In 1967, when Andreas Kariolou, a Cypriot diver, found the wreck of a 4^th century BC merchantman on the seabed in the approaches to the port of Kyrenia, I was on the island of Symi supervising the construction of five traditional caiques at the old boatyard of Dimitris Sarris, the last boat builder on the island. This was part of a desperate attempt to revive the boatbuilding tradition of Symi. The Symian trechandiris we were building were 15 metres long, exactly the same length as the ancient ship that had just been discovered in Cyprus. Both ships had similarities as well as striking differences (fig. 1).

Construction

The construction of the Kyrenia II, the replica of the ancient craft, presented other scientific as well as practical difficulties. The construction of the ancient ship must have required only three months of work, but it took nearly three whole years for Psarros’ chief shipwright, Michalis Oikonomou, and a number of apprentices to build the replica. The ship was finally launched in June 1984 and, after a number of short and extended sea trials, the long voyages to and from Cyprus began.

The construction advanced very slowly because there were constant questions that had to be answered, and equal time was spent in Athenian archaeological libraries as in the Perama boatyard. The ancient sources were most valuable, Theophrastus in particular, as well as the wide bibliography related to the iconography of ships of the Greek Classical and Hellenistic periods.

Obviously, as for all ancient shipwrecks, most of the equipment and fittings of the Kyrenia shipwreck were missing. There was no mast, no rigging, no sail, no decks, and a multitude of details had to be reproduced using iconographic evidence from vase paintings as well as graffiti representations of ships. All the intricate mechanism of the mast-step had been found on the wreck, so it was clear that there was a single mast that had an adjustable inclination. A pulley block as well as numerous lead rings and other small wooden fittings of the rig were found and had to be interpreted and replicated.

The ancient ship’s hull was all of Aegean pine and that same wood was available in Samos. So, duplicating the method used in antiquity, but also in the construction of traditional caiques up to the early 20^th century, Manolis Psarros and his chief shipwright travelled to Samos to select pine trees with branches that had the required curvature to be used according to their shape for the various parts of the ship. The timber was seasoned before being adzed to the right shape (fig. 2‑4).

For the mast, special permission was obtained from the Department of Forests in order to fell a more than 10 metre-high cypress from a forest in Meteora, in central Greece.

One of the thousands of details that had to be investigated was the making of bronze nails : hundreds were hand-forged, one by one, by a traditional Constantinople-born technician, Napoleon Chrystallidis. Then we had to deal with the problem of finding the material for making the sail. We did not contemplate using modern synthetic canvas, but weaving a heavy linen sail was not considered. Michael Katzev finally found a heavy piece of linen in the stores of the Royal Navy : it was part of the same material made for the commemorative voyage of the Mayflower II. It fitted our purpose perfectly.

As the construction of the hull was advancing, a persistent question was the absence of caulking on the ancient ship. Michael Katzev and Richard Steffy were adamant in stressing that the ancient ship had no caulking at all. However, it was obvious that the ancient ship, which was probably over half-a-century old when it sank, had lost its water-tightness and the lead-sheathing of the hull up to the load line had cured this problem. According to the excavator, this was a late repair meant to deal with the poor condition of the hull, which had been attacked by teredo worms. Thus, it was decided that there would be no caulking in the hope that after immersion in the sea the timber of the planking would expand to secure the necessary water-tightness. This process, known as staniarisma in Greek, was then used for small dinghies, but, as Giorgos Psarros, Manolis father, insisted, this could not apply to a 15-metre boat. “It will definitely sink”, he said. And indeed it did sink. When first launched (fig. 5), there was a slow but steady ingress of water and the ship sunk up to the bulwark. It still remained buoyant but semi-submerged for 48 hours. It was then noted that the timber had slowly expanded and, after pumping the water out of the hold, the Kyrenia II remained afloat, high and proud. No caulking was ever needed, and during the following years of her repeated voyages the hull remained reasonably dry. A hand-operated pump dealt with the minimal ingress of water, usual in all traditional wooden hulls.

During 1984 and 1985 the Kyrenia II had numerous short sea trials, sailing mainly in the waters of the Saronic Gulf : the marina of Zea became her homeport (fig. 6). Navigation under different winds, as well as anchoring, berthing in various positions, and storing amphorae were experienced. Then, during autumn of 1986 and 1987, two long voyages to and from Cyprus were carried out.

During the numerous and lengthy interviews with candidates, both for skipper and crew, I tried to make clear that this was not an adventure but a scientific endeavour : the crew had to go back in time, take a leap backwards of some 2,300 years. It was absolutely necessary to put aside all innovations that have gradually made navigation safer and more comfortable. A scale model of the Kyrenia II was used to explain the differences in construction and the difficulties that the crew would face using a different steering mechanism and a square sail. To my question, “How will you use this square sail under different wind directions ?”, the answer, “I will reef it and make it into a lateen sail” was sufficient to disqualify the candidate. It is known that the lateen sail is a late invention and to jump forward some six centuries would have been to fake the sea trials and the experimental voyages.

The 600 nautical-mile voyage from Piraeus to Cyprus in September 1986 was made in a total of 25 days, but as the ship stopped at several islands, she in fact sailed for only 15 days. The long, non-stop crossing from Kastellorizo to Paphos was dictated by the fact that political tensions forbade a call in a Turkish port. It was decided that Antonis Vassiliadis, a most experienced skipper whose curriculum vitae included a singlehanded Atlantic crossing, would be the captain for the eastbound voyage. Six crew members were selected, but only three to four manned the ship at any one time. The westbound voyage was an exclusively experimental voyage that started in Paphos on 8 September 1987 and ended in Zea, Piraeus after 19 days. The ship covered a total distance of 660 nm in 12 days : seven days were spent in port. The captain was Glafkos Kariolou, son of the Cypriot diver who had first found the ancient ship, and the crew was exclusively composed of experienced sailors from Kyrenia. Glafkos had been a crew member on the Greece to Cyprus voyage and had acquired the necessary experience on how to handle the intricate steering mechanism, the special rig and the square sail.

Besides the scientific aspects related to the construction and the experimental voyages, there were several practical matters in the project that required careful coordination. It was a costly project notwithstanding the fact that a lot of work was on a voluntary basis. It involved a diversity of skills, and coordination was complicated and time consuming. The voyages in particular required numerous bureaucratic formalities and a multitude of administrative matters had to be solved. Patience and perseverance were as important as keeping to the criteria of a scientific experiment.

Needless to say, the project was made possible due to the scientific data gathered over years of research by the team of American archaeologists who led the excavation and the reassembling of the ancient Kyrenia shipwreck. Without the generous contributions of Michael Katzev, Richard Steffy and Susan Katzev, it is probable that I would not have attempted the Kyrenia II project.

The voyages to and from Cyprus concluded the project in the most satisfactory manner, however, I would like to stress that nautical experimental archaeology is not an adventure. It does not involve a hazardous crossing, it is not a unique achievement designed to be difficult to repeat. A scientific project involving the construction and sailing of an ancient ship should refer to a known ship that has existed, the remains of which are tangible, and not to a mythical, legendary vessel. We have to bear in mind that we are trying to recreate a voyage that was repeated regularly, over and over again, for decades and for centuries. Such trial voyages should be conducted with the maximum of security for the ship, its crew and observers.

Alongside the scientific achievements, it was considered proper for the Kyrenia II to promote the Greek nautical tradition. Thus, the ship was used as an exhibit on various occasions abroad as well as in Greece. She was transported to New York on the deck of a container ship in 1986 and took part in the impressive naval parade commemorating the centennial of the Statue of Liberty. Thereafter, the ship was exhibited in the Mystic Seaport Museum for two months. A voyage to the old capital of Japan, Nara, followed on the occasion of the Silk Road exhibition in 1988, and a year later she was transported to Hamburg for the festivities commemorating the 700^th anniversary of the city’s foundation. Her last appearance abroad was in Seville on the occasion of the 1992 World Fair. Back in Greece the ship was exhibited in various towns on occasions related to nautical events. It was then decided that she would be transported to Cyprus to be permanently exhibited in a new museum, the Thalassa Museum in Aghia Napa, which was built for this purpose.

The Athenian trireme project

The Kyrenia II project in experimental archaeology was the starting point for two further attempts conducted in Greece : the Athenian trireme, involving the construction, the rowing and sailing of a 37 m warship of Greek Classical times, and the papyrella, an experiment designed to investigate the possibilities of the transportation of obsidian from the island of Milos in Mesolithic times.

In 1982, when the construction of the Kyrenia II was progressing, I was invited by Professor John Morrison, president of the Trireme Trust, to take part in an advisory meeting held at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. John Morrison was the leading specialist on Athenian triremes and his first article on those complex war machines dated to 1938. It had been decided that, with the collaboration of John Coates, the then retired Chief Naval Architect of the Royal Navy, and a team of British scholars that included Eric McKee specialising in nautical experimental archaeology, the construction of an Athenian trireme was to be undertaken in England. The aims of the Greenwich meeting were to present the project to an audience of specialists, explain what was to be attempted and hear their comments. After the meeting we were shown a full-scale replica of a section of the proposed trireme that comprised the seats for six rowers accommodated on three banks. The blades of the oars could move in a miniature circular pond.

The project was almost ready to take off and the necessary funds had been secured in England along with the cooperation of the Royal Navy. I was not aware before the Greenwich meeting of the details of the project, though I vaguely knew of the attempts to construct such a complex ship that had failed in the past. The best known was that of Napoleon III, which had resulted in a total fiasco. The project was indeed challenging and when, at the end of the meeting, I had the opportunity to talk privately to John Morrison I asked if he would consider building the Athenian trireme in Greece. There were certainly advantages in doing so as large wooden hulls were still being built in Greece, the skilled labour existed and, when the time came for sea trials, an experiment in rowing in the waters off Salamis would be more appropriate than in the very different conditions of the North Sea.

In 1993 the Athenian trireme was transported to London and rowed on the Thames to mark the celebration of 2,500 years of Athenian democracy. The ship is now exhibited in The Park of Maritime Tradition in Paleo Faliro Bay.

The papyrella project

The papyrella is now exhibited in the Thalassa Museum at Aghia Napa, alongside the Kyrenia II.

The Kyrenia II, the Athenian trireme Olympias and the papyrella, constitute three attempts in nautical experimental archaeology with three very different seagoing craft. The Kyrenia II answered mainly the question as to the possibility of shell-first construction, the Athenian trireme solved the long standing query regarding the repartition of 170 oarsmen on three levels, while the papyrella indicated that a small papyrus raft can be paddled across the often rough waters off the Cyclades.