A replica 600 BC Phoenician merchant ship, the Phoenicia, is due to arrive in Grand Harbour this week on one of the final legs of an expedition covering 17,000 miles around Africa.

The 20m long vessel, built using traditional methods, is currently recreating the first circumnavigation of Africa achieved some 2,600 years ago.

Led by Philip Beale, the British Captain and Adventure Travel Director and an international crew of 11, Phoenicia is attempting to show how Phoenician mariners could have achieved the first circumnavigation of ancient Africa 2,500 years ago.

The replica 600 BC vessel was constructed in Arwad, Syria, using information from a 6th century Mediterranean wreck and has withstood some of the world's most challenging sailing conditions in its two year circumnavigation of Africa.

www.phoenicia.org.uk.

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