Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1892-07-14
For the Ellsworth American. 4
Ancient Sailors.

10 any one who has been chained TO
the oar for all the best years Of his life
more than 20 others, pcrhaps-the desire
must sometimes come to know a little
more OF who were the earlier ones to fol
low these ways, and Il wish TO know some
thing Of the ships they sailed 50 far as
| have been able 10 learn there is no regu.
lar history Of the former. and descriptions
Of the latter are me,gre indeed.
From The bible. and from points in
various histories Of ancient nations, we
may gather little OF the early history Of
maritime trade
We know, by reasoning, that in very
early times every collection OF people
ministered TO their own wants and lived
entirely By The products of their own sur
roundngs. Under these conditions there
could be no commerce and no call for
ships. But in time men learned that an
interchange Of commodities brought com
fort; and that the surplus of one country's
products exchanged in the markets Of
another, for such other produce as that
country could best spare, was good for
both; ami the enhanced value Of the arti-
cles moved gave profit to the carrier. At
first such exchange was made bv land
traffic alone, which increased TO the i'm
.f--.s ss.-r fii s-----.
largely gave way to carriage by water
first on rivers and then by ventures upon
the sea. The Zldonian branch of the
Canaanitcs-later called Phpnicisns-so
far as we have any knowledge were the
first mariners. By Jacobs prediction re-
garding Z,bulou. Gen. ~ 49, we may in
his moving to Egypt, Il. c. l10G and that
Zdon was before then the haven Of
ships" which we know Il to have been
sfterward. The situation Of this ancient
city-on the coast Of the sea, and where
there was a harbor-would lead us to be-
lieve that il was located tor the convcn-
ience Of shipping. Il wa. probably founded
by Zidou, great grandson of Noah, about
b. c. 900. The Ildonisns seem TO have
been very ingenious, and having timber
and metals OF their own they promptly
answered to the earliest demands for ship
building and That-with them as il has in
modern tmes-led to seamanship, and to
the building up Of rich and prosperous
nation. Tyre was founded. twenty miles
! -.
rival to the more ancient Zidon but en-
tirely overshadowed it and became the
greatest of all the Zidonian confederate
cities and this by its energy in maritime
commerce which directly fostered manu-.
factures. Its greatness is described in
Eek %, as also some description of wha,
its ships were built of. They were a
daring people; worshipers of Baal and
Ashtoreth; inclined 10 be peaceful bu,
strong in defence Their sole policy was
| gain-never desirous Of conquest of war
Navigation, in their early attempts, hst
| difficulties beyond the first thoughts OF
our comprehension. The compass, tha
most kngly card of the mariner, was no
| known nor any other Of the many perfsc
instruments the navigator of to-day ha,
always at his hand. Beside these trouble.
the sea belonged to the strongest-tt
those only Who were able to defend them
| selves.
Probably their first voyages were onl,
to the neighboring state of Palestine
along 8 straight coast and but one hun
dred miles distant.
The natural products of the two coun
tries differed greatly. Ph9nicia produce,
scarcely any grain, while fruits, timber an
metals were abundant. Palestine, largel
fertile plain, produced grains, wine an
oil. These conditions early called for ex
change and carriage by water soon prove
the easier way. From this apprentice
like trade, the hardy PhGnicians game
courage to venture further away, and 500
spread their ships and their trade over tn
whole Mediterranean-becom carrier
for other peoples as well as trading to an
from their own shores.
In order to reap the full benefit Of the
growing chance in commerce, they estal
lished trading posts OF colonial towns, c
their own people, at distant and foreig
points; this policy they commenced {
early as 100 B. C. Among these towI
We're Malaga, Cadz and Seville, wei
known ports Of this day. Not only in, I
near, the Mediterranean did they plal
these posts, but on the shores of the RI
sea and the Persian gulf, in Africa ar
Arabia, bringing to those places the rio
products of Ceylon and Malabar, Of Il
Indus and the Ganges.
The somewhat mysterious Iarshish
supposed to have been Tartessus, no
sunken city near Rota in southern Spa
The place where this city was said to ha'
been, was once pointed out to me, but
seemed more likely that it might have be-
Just q little further north and ,cithin Il
mouth of the Guadalquiver. 1t is lit
confusing that Solomon's ships fro
Ezion- geber, on the Red sea, made voyag
to Tarshish (as also to Ophir, which pla
is now unknown) and Jehoshaphat pI
pared fleet at the same place to go
Tarshish but they were "broken" and
not go. Some writer's have argued th
Solomon's ships did sail around Africa