In mid-August, the sailors, led by German experimental archaeologist Dr Dominique Görlitz, 53, cast off the lines in the Bulgarian town of Varna on the Black Sea and set off on their reed boat, which they had previously spent weeks assembling themselves. "Abora IV" set course for the Mediterranean.
After overcoming initial difficulties and, in particular, reworking the boat's sails, they reached the harbour town of Kas on the south-west coast of Turkey last Thursday. Prior to this, there had been stopovers in Burgas, Istanbul, Çanakkale, Limnos and Santorini, among others.
In Kas, work has now begun on rigging the boat so that it can then be taken out of the water. In the coming days, it will be transported by lorry to the prehistoric site of Patara near Antalya, where it will be placed in a permanent exhibition.
The "Abora IV" is 14 metres long, four metres wide and weighs twelve tonnes. It carries a square sail with a surface area of 75 square metres. It was built from Totora reed, which had been specially imported from South America. The purpose of the expedition was to retrace the trade routes of the Egyptians between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea as described in ancient records. The voyage was intended to experimentally test whether the Black Sea, with its treacherous currents and northerly winds, could be crossed by an ancient Egyptian papyrus sailor.
Görlitz's original plan was to sail via Istanbul, Athens and Crete to Alexandria on Egypt's Mediterranean coast, a distance of around 1600 nautical miles. Instead, the journey ended prematurely after just under 1000 nautical miles.
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Pascal Schürmann
Editor YACHT
