The Ships of Tarshish

The Phoenicians were among the first builders of ocean going vessels in the Mediterranean Sea. These were ships that helped make King Solomon very rich -- and the Phoenicians, at least for a time, not only very rich but also the masters of the Mediterranean from Tyre along its eastern shores as far West as Spain.


Their seamanship grew gradually. First they built and sailed smaller vessels made from Juniper wood and propelled by the wind and linen sails and sailors manning oak oars up down the eastern end of the Mediterranean trading with their neighbours to the North and South of them such as Israel and King Solomon of Israel thousands of years before the time of Christ.


As their ship technology and building skills grew over the years they eventually built vessels over a hundred feet long and their sailors ventured farther West along the northern shores of Africa creating trading alliances and settlements as they went.


Eventually they reached what today is known as the Straits of Gibraltar at the western entrance to the Mediterranean and crossed over to Spain where they established a lucrative trading business with the inhabitants of Tarshish who had an abundance of minerals such as gold, silver, and other minerals to trade.


Because of their ability to withstand the often violent weather they encountered on these 4,000 mile voyages these ships soon became renowned as "The Ships of Tarshish" and other nations, such as Israel, seeking to building their own navies  on the  Mediterranean and Red Seas  copied both the design and name  of these early ocean going vessels