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.The Roman Ship
Dates and Facts
Reconstruction of the original at a glance:
Length: 16 meters
Height with mast: 9 meters
Width: 2.8 meters
Draft: ca. 50 centimeters
Length-width ration: 6:1
Weight: ca. 4 tons
Crew: 22 persons including master and steersman
Style: Mediterranean, shell construction, grooved and tongued joint construction, bent keel
Building materials:
Oak (keel, ribs, thwarts, keelson, wooden nails [shaped, ca. 700 pieces], stern post, notches, formed wooden bow part)
Lark (deals, mast)
Spruce (oars)
Iron nails (fastening of deals on stern post and bow)
Organic tar made from roots (used to impregnate the deal wood against cracking)
Linseed oil: (treatment of all ship parts above water level)
Oakum (caulking for sealing between deals)
Constructor: shipyard run by youth employment project "Jugend in Arbeit e.V.", Hamburg-Harburg, Dept. of Ancient History at the University of Hamburg, exhibition project IMPERIUM – KONFLIKT – MYTHOS. 2000 Jahre Varusschlacht (IMPERIUM – CONFLICT – MYTH. 2,000 Years Varus Battle)
Keel laying: January 2007
Completion: March 2007
Ship naming ceremony: May 30, 2008 in Hamburg