The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World by Lincoln Paine

to in an Eleventh Dynasty (2100 BCE ) inscription recording an expedition to Punt underHenu, who“went forth fromCoptos upon the road … with an army of 3,000 men. I made the road a river, and the Red Land (desert) a stretch of field, for I gave each a leathern bottle, a carrying pole, 2 jars of water and 20 loaves to each one among them every day.” Clearly Henu “made the road a river” by virtue of the fact that the ship traveled along it, albeit in pieces.
    Physically and logistically demanding though they were, expeditions to Punt date from at least the Fifth Dynasty. “The Shipwrecked Sailor,” the oldest surviving shipwreck narrative, contemporary with Henu’s expedition, gives a sense of the riches to be gained in the trade. In the story, the sole survivor of a crew of 120 lands on an apparently uninhabited island where a serpent befriends him. In gratitude for the serpent’s help, the sailor offers to send himships “laden with all the products of Egypt.” The serpent laughs and says, “You do not have much myrrh / I am, sir, the Prince of Punt. / Myrrh belongs to me.” After assuring the sailor that he will be rescued and see his home and family again, the serpent presents him with a cargo of “myrrh, oil, ladanum, spice, / Cinnamon, aromatics, eye-paint, giraffe tails, / Large cakes of incense, ivory tusks, / Hounds, apes, baboons, and all fine products.” As the serpent predicts, the sailor is rescued and returns home with gifts for the pharaoh.
    The fullest account of any Egyptian trading mission on the Red Sea dates from the reign of the New Kingdom’s pharaohHatshepsut, who ruled as coregent with her short-lived brother,Thutmose II, and as regent for her nephew and son-in-law,Thutmose III. During his minority she assumed fully the role of a pharaoh—including the pharaonic regalia of a false beard—the only woman in Egypt’s long history known to have done so. Recorded in magnificent detail on three walls of Hatshepsut’s mortuarytemple at Thebes,this voyage to Punt took place around 1470 BCE . Artistic representations of ships can be problematic sources for the study of naval architecture because they are often rendered by people who lack technical ability as illustrators, are unfamiliar with the vessels they are showing, or are uninterested in material accuracy. In the case of the Punt expedition artists, however, we have independent verification of their reliability thanks to theircarvings of fish, which are so detailed that modern ichthyologists can identify them by species.
    The first five scenes show the departure of the fleet, its welcome in Punt, the exchange of wares, the loading of the ships, and the return voyage. The next two show the presentation of tribute to Hatshepsut and her presentation, in turn, of offerings to the god Amon. The eighth panel shows the goods being measured and weighed, while the ninth and tenth show Hatshepsut announcing the success of the expedition to her court and Amon. If the illustrations are correct, the expedition included five ships. Based on the number of rowers shown—fifteen per side—the ships were about twenty-three meters long. Arriving at Punt, a land where the houses were built on stilts, the Egyptians set up shop—literally, “the tent of the king’s-messenger”—and laid out their wares, including necklaces, hatchets, and daggers in addition to offerings of “bread, beer, wine, meat, fruit, everything found in Egypt according to that which was commanded in the court.” In the Egyptian view there is no doubt as to the status of the Puntites, who are shown giving obeisance and bearing tribute to the Egyptians and who ask, “as they pray for peace…‘Did you come down upon the ways of heaven, or did ye sail upon the waters, upon the sea of God’s Land?…Lo, as for the King of Egypt, is there no way to his majesty, that we may live by the breath which he gives?’ ”
    The fourth scene depicts the true object of the voyage,