Quote Originally Posted by Larkaan
As for your question, Tellos Athenaios, cheap vessels would be more likely to suffer in a crossing... poor fitting joints would quickly flood a vessel, and flimsy construction could snap it in two. A well built Phoenician galley is a very light vessel to begin with. As for the calm times of the year... well, if its too calm, then the trip to South America is slower, prolonging the time that the ship is subjected to all the conditions I've described.

I'm not saying that those ships would fall about after 48 hours in the ocean, but 2 to 3 weeks with no overhaul, no drying out, while being tossed on the open ocean would be very hard on the vessel and the crew.
Nah, my question was aiming at showing why cheap & cheerful vessels wouldn't have seemed such a bad choice to people back then. Relatively short distances, at the quiet times of year...