FOR thousands of years, man has heeded the call of the sea: whether for trade or piracy, for exploration and adventure, or to seek to understand more of his environment. Until the advent of aircraft, ships were the links that bound country to country, continent to continent and people to people. They were, in one, a means of trade, of spreading civilisation and of making war.
In ancient times, apart from the rowed galleys of war, ships were lumbering square-rigged affairs that could only sail with the wind abaft the beam. In the Mediterranean it is oft still said that, to get from A to B, a yacht must either have a strong storm jib or a good engine.
It was in the eastern Mediterranean, probably in the second century…
