http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47679000/jpg/_47679785_one341.jpgThe Jewel of Muscat, a reconstruction of an Arab trading ship 1,200 years old, has sailed into the Sri Lankan port of Galle, a staging post on its journey across the Indian Ocean from the Arabian peninsula to Singapore.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47679000/jpg/_47679786_two766.jpgShe is modelled on a wreck found off Indonesia which experts say was made in Arabia in the 9th Century. The copy has been painstakingly built in Oman as a gift from that country to Singapore.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47679000/jpg/_47679787_three766.jpgThe multinational crew arrived exhausted from Cochin in southern India after a 10-day crossing during which they hit a storm and had to repair a mast that split.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47679000/jpg/_47679788_four766.jpgCaptain Saleh Aljabri says the crew have to “work shoulder to shoulder in one heart and one brain” to make the voyage successful. Steering the Jewel is much harder than operating a modern vessel, he says.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47679000/jpg/_47679789_five766.jpgThe hull is stitched together with coconut fibre threaded through 70,000 holes. Not a single nail is used. The wood - from Ghana, India and Oman - is made waterproof by goat fat and shark oil.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47679000/jpg/_47679790_six766.jpgBelow decks, a crew member shows the BBC his bunk. The crew live in cramped conditions for months but their “personalities have mingled beautifully”, says a Sri Lankan sailor.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47679000/jpg/_47679791_seven766.jpgYoung Sri Lankans are on hand to give the crew a rousing welcome along with musicians, dancers and Sri Lankan and Omani dignitaries.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47679000/jpg/_47679792_eight766.jpgAfter repairs and recuperation will follow a crossing to Malaysia. Thanks to the ship, a string of Indian Ocean countries are rediscovering their shared commercial and cultural past and sampling its heritage. (Text and images: Charles Haviland)
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
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