Phoenicia vessel to visit Yemen next two days

ADEN, Sep. 09 (Saba)- The Phoenicia vessel and on its board 20
sailors from different nationalities is going to arrive in the Aden
port within next two days in the formwork of its journey which
started last August from Arwad Island off the coast of Syria.

The sailing ship attempts to replicate what the Greek historian
Herodotus mentions as the first circumnavigation of Africa in about
600 BC. It would involve the circumnavigation of Africa, a feat
which has not been undertaken for two and a half millennia.

The route goes through the Red Sea, past Somalia and down the East
African cost before rounding the southern tip of Africa around
Christmas time.

According to Philip Beale, the ship's captain, "The most difficult
part will be circumnavigating around the Cape of Good Hope where
many shipwrecks are testimony to the difficult conditions there."

The vessel, the small, pine-wood Phoenicia, is modelled on the type
of ship the Phoenician sailors Herodotus credited with the landmark
voyage would have used.

The year-long voyage will take the crew into some of the most
dangerous waters in the world.

The vessel will return next May to Syria and then to the British
Museum in London to participate in a Phoenician civilization
exhibition which will be held there during 2009-2010.

According to maritime sources, the Phoenicia ship's tour to the port
of Aden aims at visiting the historical sites of Yemen's cultural
civilization, pointing out that the province had arranged a
reception program to the vessel sailors.

"The sailors are going to visit the archeological and historical
sites in the province and meet a number of Yemeni researchers", said
the sources.

The Phoenicians lived in areas of modern-day Lebanon, Syria and
other parts of the Mediterranean from about 1200 BC and are widely
credited with being both strong seafarers and the first civilization
to make extensive use of an alphabet.