History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c37.s1.t4.1

v1.c37.s1.t4.1

Magasthenese describes in his book on India, the Magadha empire and Candra Gupta Maurya. Arthaśāstra gives a great deal of information regarding the shipping in those days. Candra Gupta maintained a large number of boats and ships for the purpose of trades and also for checking pirates. During the time of Cyprus, the Great, the founder of the Archaemenian (550-350 B.C.), the leather boat even to a capacity of 14 tons were made in Armenia and plied down the river Euphrates by two men carrying wine as principal cargo and, at least, one donkey to carry the leathers of the dismantled boat back to Armenia for reuse. In 512 B.C., the Archaemenian armies crossed the Bosphores by a bridge of leather boats. Saint Brenden lived during A.D. 489-583 sailed using leather on several voyages along the west coast of Ireland. Tim Severin, the author of the book ‘The Brenden Voyage’ published in 1978, re-enacted the scene in 1976-77 and proved such a voyage was feasible. Fine white wood or the native Irish Ash made Brenden’s lattice frame. Nearly two miles of leather thongs was used to hand lash 1600 joints into Brenden’s frame work. The 49 vegetable tanned with Oak bark ox hides (4′ × 3.5′ each) were used and stitched together to cover the frame. Buckets of wool grease was used and painted over the hull to protect the thongs, timber and the leather. Brenden started from Ireland on May 17, 1976 and reached Newfound Land on June 26, 1977 via Faroes islands, Iceland, Greenland, sailing 4500 miles. A leather boat that some had feared would disintegrate in the first gale had successfully crossed the Atlantic. There was no longer any practical objection to the idea that the Irish monks might have sailed in leather boats to North America before the Norseman and long before Columbus.