Continuing with the
last post about a reader’s quote sent in and wanted us to comment upon it. The
quote had to do with Lehi traveling at one point nearly eastward (as they
crossed the great sand desert of Arabia), and if that didn’t also mean it was
the direction they traveled once in their ship and sailing to the Land of
Promise.
The problem and
answer lie in the need to know about the conditions, features and oceans
eastward from Arabia. And why early trade routes would not have been workable
for Nephi’s deep sea ship.
The early traders in
Indonesia and India were considered low-caste merchants and sailors, and until
recently, believed to have not traded across the sea in West Java and Kalimantanand
earlier than the fourth or fifth centuries A.D; however, it is now understood
that the very first evidence of trade in this region was between India and the
small island of Bali, off the eastern coast of Java in Indonesia, and dated to
2000 years ago by Lansing, Redd, Karafet, et all, in a 1991 study by the
Anthropology Department of the University of Arizona, Tucson. Still, this is
hundreds of years after Lehi went to sea.
Left: More than a thousand years after Lehi,
in 500 A.D., Srivijaya began to develop in Sumatra, and in the 7th
century A.D., Srivijayan trade routes in the South China Sea were just becoming
well established between the major islands and the mainland of Southeast Asia
(today: Thailand, Cambodia and Vitenam); Right: A replica of an 8th
Century A.D. Indonesian ship
In the pre-history of
Indonesia, not until the middle of the 2nd century A.D., (850 years
after Lehi), did the first Indonesia kingdom, Kutai (Dayak Kutai) rise into
existence on Borneo, followed by Tanumanagara (Taruma), beginning in 358 A.D., and
by 397 controlled 48 small kingdoms on the island of Java, and Kalingga in the
500s, also on Java, which opened trade routes with two India emperors.
Red Arrow: Sumatra; Yellow Arrow: Borneo;
Blue Arrow: Java; Green Arrow: South Sulawesi
A century later, Srivijaya
(Sri Vijaya) on Sumatra rose to power to control the trade of the Indonesia
region and was a formidable sea power until the thirteenth century. Around 600
A.D., Arab traders stopped at Indonesian ports along the way to Guangzhou and
other southern Chinese ports. By the 11th century A.D., the courts
of Borneo were exporting dammar resin, hornbill ivory, camphor to China and
India, and Buginese in Southern Sulawesi (Celebes) traded iron resourced with
Java, while the North Moluccan ports traded their legendary clove and nutmeg
with other Indonesian islands. All of which gave rise to pirate fleets based
near Palembang, on the north coast of Sumatra.
The voyages of Zheng He in 1405-1433 A.D.
Note his course close to the coasts
In 1292, Marco Polo
landed in northern Sumatra on his way back to Europe from China. And in the 12th
century, an emperor of the Ming Dynasty commissioned Grand Eunuch Zheng He to
make seven naval expeditions, each comprising hundreds of ships and crews
numbering more than 20,000 to the coasts of China to Southeast Asia, Arabia and
East Africa, using Java and Sumatra as waystops. By the fifteenth century
Melaka was a rich port city that dominated the Strait of Malacca and controlled
much of the archipelago's trade.
In all of this, it
should be kept in mind that these sea trades were within Indonesian waters and
did not move outward into the Indian Ocean or Sea of Arabia until as late as
the eighth and ninth centuries A.D.—1500 years after Lehi sailed.
In fact, mariners,
both ancient and in the days of the Age of Sail, had to consider the space on
board for food, and often ship masters could not fill their ship with enough
food for any lengthy coastal voyage, especially one involving trade which
required space for goods, and had to find sheltered beaches where drinking
water could be found, and hopefully river estuaries where both food and water
could be found.
As Arthur de Graauw
pointed out in his Ancient Ports and
Harbours, ships carried "Pilots," one in charge of setting
the course from one anchorage to another. They used “periples,” a record of earlier treks or voyages (often such secrets
were committed to memory). It was the ship pilot’s responsibility to find
sheltered areas to set in for the night where food and water could be obtained
and a safe haven from the extreme risk of sailing coastal waters at night.
Seafarers, especially
ancient ones, preferred shelters with clear landmarks on shore (such as a
typical mountain) and many shelters were needed, as seafarers followed
the coast, using safe shelters to spend the night and to escape bad weather. These
early cabotage voyages began in the
east (China) and sailed westward, with the winds all the way through Indonesia
ports and to Arabia and East Africa. Returning was a different matter, for
moving against the winds and currents required a much slower voyage with
constant evening stops. In fact, as late as the twelfth century, Portuguese
sailors trying to sail to the Spice Islands (Indonesia) across the Indian Ocean
(west to east), took them three and four times as long as sailing back (east to
west) along the same route. They finally found that sailing down along the
Southern Ocean in the swift current toward Australia, then swinging north along
the eastern curve of the South Indian Ocean Gyre, took them directly to Indonesia, sailing from
south to north.
The basic winds through the Sea of Arabia,
Indian Ocean, and Indonesia. Note that through Indonesia, all winds flow
basically from east to west, blocking any movement of a ship “driven forth before
then wind” from traveling from east to west through the archipelago and into
the Pacific
Still, sailing in these early days, especially among
islands, was very different than one might expect living in our day and age.
The Captain simply did not just grab the spoked wheel and holler out to haul in
the lines and sail away—he had the help of several people, including an expert who
was usually third in command under the Captain (Captain-General) and the Master
(usually the owner or his representative), called a Pilot.
As an example, when Vasco da Gama sailed around
Africa on his wide swing out into the Atlantic,
he had a Gujarati Pilot named Ahmad ibn Majid aboard to direct the course,
however the famous Arab pilot mistook the town of Capna for the rich Hindu port
of Calicut, the principle market of trade for
precious stones, pearls, and spices, and the ship anchored six miles down the
coast from their destination. Portuguese Pedro Álvares Cabral sailed to Brazil with a fleet of thirteen ships, then down around the tip
of Africa in 1500 following de Gama’s route, he had a Pilot named Alfonso Lopes
guiding his lead ship.
Captain Cabral (white arrow) standing on the
Main Deck among the crew, pointing to the Brazilian coast; the ship’s Pilot,
Alfonso Lopes (white arrow), stands on the Quarter Deck calling out the sight
of land
Each of Columbus’
three ships had a pilot. The Santa Maria,
Columbus’ flagship, had Sancho Ruiz (Cristobal Garcia Xalmiento was Pilot of
the Pinta, and Pedro Alonso Niño,
Pilot, and Bartolome Roldan, apprentice pilot, of the Niña).
Top: The Captain and Pilot (Red Arrow) stood
on the Quarter Deck (Green Arrow), open to the sky and ocean about them; the
Helm or Steerage (Blue Arrow) was at the rear of the Main Deck (because that
was where the tiller was located), with no view of the ocean or sky, blocked
out by the Quarter Deck above and the masts and Forecastle forward—however, the
experienced sailor steering could see out the back of the ship at the wake, and
if it was straight, he was steering a straight course. The Captain oversaw the
entire ship while the Pilot was in charge of the ship’s steerage, with lookouts
above on the maintop (crow’s nest) and Forecastle to shout out directions when
the ship neared land, shoals, reefs, etc.; Bottom Left: Columbus’ ship, the
“Santa Maria”; Bottom Right: Close-up of the ship’s stern with the experienced
seaman at the tiller, with the Captain in his cabin writing in his log, and the
ship’s Pilot looking out to sea
(See the next post,
“They Turned Eastward” – Part III,” for more information on the article about
sailing directly eastward and the very real complications of such an attempt)
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