Re: EB in America...
This one's right up my alley... Maritime and Naval history are my thing (from reed and skin canoes to steam, effectively)Originally Posted by mAIOR
In abstract: No, they didn't. Or if they did, it would not have been repeated.
Phoenicians would've been using Pentecosters or other similar galley style vessels such as Biremes, maybe Triremes (trieres, in Greek). Even the big round ships used for grain trade by Greek and Roman times weren't fully envisioned yet.
Those Phoenician galleys, like all galleys up to the end of their major use in the 16th century, where not ocean-crossing craft. Even the relatively fair waters of the Aegean could cause issues, as shown by the number of shipwrecks found. A storm could be their end, easily. 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.
For these reasons, most galleys would stick within sight of land, and pull their ships up onto land at night to let them dry out. So, assuming even that these Phoenicians followed the African coast, then jumped over to, say, Cape Verde to repair, refit, and resupply, they still have an aproximately 1500 mile journey with no stops to South America. The modern Trireme reconstruction, the Olympias, can only make about 10 knots under sail. To use that as a base, you can see that the trip would have an entire week period where they were in the middle of nowhere, effectively, and subject to storm and current. If it was cloudy, they could easily get lost, since they lacked compass and sextant. A storm, if they survived it, could blow them way off course, and a current could move them in completely the wrong direction.
But here's the kicker: the prevailing winds go East to West. Getting back, even if they made it, would be practically impossible. Those ships had no effective way to tack into the wind, and would be obliged to row back into the eye of the wind. The Olympias could sustain about 4 knots, so using that, we can see that the trip would take almost 3 weeks to get back (since they'd be rowing into the wind, and thus slowed, any advantage skilled Phoenician rowers would have against the Olympias is negligable) Again, this assumes that there was no storm, current, or clouds. That amount of constant, sustained rowing would drain fresh food and water supplies quickly, and is even enough time for the crew to start getting scurvy if they did not carry proper foods with them. I can't say they'd starve, because I don't know how much food they might carry for such a voyage, but its easy to see why there could be issues with this passage in a vessel with little to no protection to the crew from the elements. Sunstroke and sunburn are issues that would not have been prevelant on the way to South America, but devestating on the trip back, as well.
As for other early arrivals to the Americas, well, the Chinese could (and likely did, there's some strong evidence to support that one) have done it before Columbus. We all know that the Vikings did, but they had Iceland and Greenland to hop from. Pacific Islanders? Easily done, but if they did they didn't leave much of a mark. But Phoenicians? Unlikely, or at least unlikely to be repeated after a few ships tried and never came back. Besides, they were traders... It would be a very expensive, dangerous, and long voyage. The profit would be huge, but would it offset the cost of the trip and the multitude of failures that would likely occur?
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