Quote Originally Posted by Larkaan
You have to remember that these ships are built using a mortise and tennon joint, which is rather flimsy. If the ship is shaking about in rough seas, the water is going to come in and cause catastrophic flooding. There was also no waterproofing, nor was the hull coppered or in some other way treated to prevent rot and the shipworm Teredo navalis from slowly ruining their hull.
Really? I'd always assumed that Homer's regular reference to 'black ships' referred to the use of bitumen as a sealant.

If the Phoenician (without doubt an excellent seafaring people) sailors didn't use any kind of ocean worthy ships, what were the traders along the Atlantic coast using, and why wouldn't the Phoenicians use such vessels?