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Kas-Uluburun Shipwreck
(Captain's log -book)
'As the captain of thes ship, i am
proud that my pharaoh has enrusted
to me the royal treasures in our cargo
hold: delicate gold and silver bracelets
and pendants and rings from the jewellers
of Canaan and Egypt, rare ebony logs
transported from tropical Africa,
amber beads from landsso far to the
north that few men know the source,
and the teeth of elephants and hippopotamuses
hunted along the shores of my own
country.
Shall i drink a toast with this great
golden goblet?
After leaving the coast of Syria
behind us, we sail westward to Cyprus
for additional cargo. Porters brought
on board 350 ingots of pure copper,
smelted from the ore of the island's
famed mines. In all they weigh ten
tons.
mixed with the ton of tin ingots already
on my ship, this will make enough
bronze to outfit an entire army! In
thanking his gods for delivery of
thes wealth, the Hittite king who
receives it will surely burn as incense
some of the resin my ship is carrying
in a hundred Canaanite jars. But i
am instructed not to tell you the
name of the king to whom i am to deliver
this wealth - even my crew does not
know our destination. They know only
that we continue to sail wastward.
 I
have entrusted the safety of our voyage
to our own patron goddess. We carry
her gold-covered bronze figure at
the bow of the ship. In celebrating
her magnificence, my crew dances to
the sound of the bronze cymbals, ivory
trumpet, and lutes of tortoise-shell
we carry.
We stop for the night at the entrance
to the huge bay that cuts into the
bay till we round the southernmost
point of this land. But now some of
my sailors are putting out their fishing
nets. The Mycenean merchant who accompanies
us pours wine from his own pitcher
into his own cup. I will weigh carefully
anything he sells with the animal-shaped
weights i carry with me; one of them
is the finest ever seen in my time.
Now the sun is rising, and my men
hoist the huge stone anchor that has
held us firmly through the night.
The wind is rising, but our stout
hull, its fir planks joined tightly
together, will carry us safely through
the waves. I do not fear pirates,
as well are well armed with swords,
daggers, spears, maces and bows and
arrows.
Now we must round the southernmost
protrusion of land, the Great Point.
But the wind is rising, but the wind
is suddenly coming from the south.
My helmsman tries to turn us away
from the sheer cliff ahead. We must
furl our sail.
I is too late. We have struct the
cliff. Thi ship and all on board are
sinking in 33 fathooms of water. We
have finally reached land, but it
is not our original destination."
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