Jewel of Muscat
Videos, photos and information on the reconstruction of a 9th-century Arab ship, and its historic voyage from Oman to Singapore.
How close is the construction of the Jewel compared with the Belitung ship wreck?
Our team of archaeologists we have tried to make the Jewel of Muscat as close to the original Belitung wreck as possible, always mindful of the fact that we are not sure why the original vessel sank (the excavator thought it hit a nearby reef, but there was no evidence of this in the remains).
The hull planking and most of the frames were from the same species of timber as the original (Afzelia africana), as were the beams (teak). Some of the frames are an Omani wood called sidr (Ziziphus spina christi). We had no evidence of mast or yard material, so used the two favourites of the region, teak (Tectona grandis) and poona (Calophyllum inophyllum).
Two materials were used for different sets of sails – canvas, and woven palm (Doum palm). We have not yet tried the palm mat sails. Both materials were being used in the ninth century.
About 25% of the Belitung wreck was preserved, but most of that was on one side, so assuming symmetry, we had 50%. One of the main differences was that we could not find planks as wide as the original, so the Jewel has more strakes. However, the girth is exactly the same as the original, as is the angle of the stem and the configurations of the stem/keel joint.
The stern was never excavated, so the stern of Jewel was based on iconography, ethnography, the distribution of the cargo, and what we assumed were the hood ends of hull planking. The steering systems - median rudder controlled by ropes and two quarter rudders - was based on iconography and textual evidence (of a few centuries later, as we have nothing from the ninth century).
There was no evidence in the wreck of the number of masts. We decided on two primarily for structural and sailing considerations – to distribute the compression and tension forces more evenly than a single mast would have done, to allow more sail to be carried, and to allow more flexibility in sail/hull balance. We would like to build another with only one mast, just to compare performance and handling. The choice of rigging rope (manila) was based on SEM analysis of the original rigging materials, comprising primarily manila, with traces of cotton and human hair.