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00:02A solitary boat, a mighty sea, an epic voyage into the teeth of the storm.
00:14The jewel of Muscat is recreating a 1,200-year-old crossing.
00:19Its journey, a recipe for adventure or disaster.
00:41There's an elemental force that dominates the skies above the Indian Ocean.
00:47The monsoon, a seasonal wind that can spawn massive cyclones with winds of 120 km an hour and more.
00:57The monsoon brings life-giving rains to the region.
01:02But for sailors, the monsoon can also be the harbinger of death.
01:11Pitting herself against this mighty wind, a wooden boat just 18 meters long.
01:17The jewel of Muscat.
01:22A combined crew of sailors, archaeologists and historians risk life and limb on a fantastic voyage.
01:30They will follow an ancient trade route over 5,000 km, linking Arabia, India and the Far East.
01:37Their final destination, Singapore.
01:44The jewel of Muscat was inspired by a wreck.
01:48In 1998, divers discovered the remains of a cargo ship dating back to the 9th century.
01:55It contained a fortune in ceramics and gold.
02:00The treasure was Chinese, but the ship itself seemed Arab.
02:10Ten years later, on a beach in Oman, work began on a reconstruction.
02:17Using an ancient technique, the entire vessel was sewn together with rope made from coconut fiber.
02:24The ship took a year to build.
02:28Quite simply, it's unique.
02:37Now, in a marina near Muscat, the capital of Oman, the crew makes final preparations for departure.
02:46The jewel's captain, Salah al-Jabri, has 25 years' sailing experience.
02:52From that time, I just picked up a lot of things as well.
02:56Feeling on board, feeling about the sea, smell the wind itself, the direction of the wind.
03:04All these things growing by time.
03:09The first leg of the voyage will take a month.
03:13Once at sea, the jewel will be on her own.
03:15So the crew is faced with the task of loading a long list of provisions.
03:21Three tons of fresh water, a hundred kilos of onions, twenty kilos of watermelons.
03:29But space is limited.
03:31It's down to the first mate to figure out the storage.
03:37We have all the stores here for the food, for dry food here.
03:42Down below.
03:44Eggs, oils, milk, for tea.
03:50Okay.
03:51Canned food.
03:53I want your bread.
03:55Dead.
03:57The voyage offers the historians and archaeologists on board
04:01a unique opportunity to step back in time.
04:04We want to do a lot of scientific investigation.
04:08A lot that hasn't ever been done before.
04:12It really is a floating lab.
04:15We can experiment with life on board.
04:19You know, we'll try sleeping on deck like they did.
04:21We'll try eating the way they did and processing the materials
04:25and cooking the way they did, all that sort of thing.
04:32Preparations are finally complete.
04:35The ship will leave in the morning.
04:38Everybody ready, almost?
04:40Inshallah.
04:41Ready for departure, inshallah, tomorrow?
04:43Inshallah.
04:44Excellent.
04:45If all goes well, the crew will be away from family and loved ones
04:50for a period of months.
04:51But if things go wrong, they may never see their homes again.
04:55And my children, they ask me, where are you going?
04:59I said, I go to Singapore.
05:01They say, with what?
05:02I say, with the ship.
05:03How is this ship?
05:04I show them a picture of that ship.
05:08They say, I want to go with you.
05:10I said, unfortunately, I like to take you.
05:13But no chance for you now.
05:23Even a veteran like Captain Salah is finding it tough to take his leave.
05:29When you're doing your packing,
05:32and you know, as a sailor, you're going away.
05:37Maybe this is the last time you're doing this in your house.
05:43So you never know you'll come back to the home or to the family or not.
05:55Salah had previously promised his family he wouldn't go to sea again.
06:01After five, six voyages, you know, every voyage takes six to seven months.
06:05A really tough life.
06:06And I said, that's it.
06:08I'm not doing it again.
06:13But I've been thinking about it, and to finish my career,
06:16and to finish to this maritime and heritage to Oman,
06:19we have someone of us in this country, in this, in Oman, to do it.
06:27Choosing the voyage over his family meant a painful conversation with his mother.
06:35So in the end, mom said, yes, but you should keep very close to your God always,
06:42and we pray for you, and this is really the last voyage for you.
07:06The day of departure.
07:12Senior government ministers and members of the Omani royal family are on hand
07:17to wish bon voyage to the Jewel.
07:26The ship is a gift from the Sultan to the people of Singapore.
07:32The sea.
07:35Speeches are made.
07:37Gifts exchanged.
07:40Time to go.
07:53No one has sailed a ship like this for centuries.
08:05The jewel of Muscat will follow the ancient trade routes travelled by Arab seafarers over a thousand years ago.
08:31Under tow, the jewel soon leaves the cheering crowds behind her.
08:39More than 5,000 kilometers of open sea lie before her.
08:49The plan is to sail from Oman to Singapore in stages.
08:55The first leg to cross nearly 2,500 kilometers to the port of Cochin in Kerala, southern India.
09:06As the ship enters international waters, the wind picks up.
09:13Captain Salah gives the order.
09:18The main sail goes up for the first time on the voyage.
09:22As in the 9th century, it's handmade from canvas.
09:29The main sail is 81 square meters, half the size of a volleyball court.
09:34And, with the wooden spars that support it, weighs more than 150 kilos.
09:40We haven't got only these heavy yards to bring it down and hoist it up.
09:45We really need muscles.
09:48We need good, healthy people to hoist all the sail.
09:55The second mast holds the mizzen sail.
09:59Mizzen in Arabic means balance.
10:03Smaller than the main sail, the mizzen helps steer the ship.
10:08When a modern twin-masted catch draws alongside her,
10:12the difference between ancient and modern sailing technology is obvious.
10:18And the modern catch, as you see now, is quite light, easy to hoist.
10:23We need maybe two person, winches, and all this system.
10:29On the catch, one man can do the work of eight in a fraction of the time.
10:36The design may be ancient, but the jewel performs like a thoroughbred.
10:41We're driving 50 tons of the ship, plus people.
10:47That's incredible.
10:48Really incredible.
10:48I'm very impressed myself.
10:50Very impressed.
10:59At a lab in the UK,
11:01Tom Vosmer puts the sails to the test.
11:05He's opted for a square rig,
11:07based on manuscript illustrations from the period.
11:10It's all he's got to go on.
11:12We have no archaeological evidence of the rig.
11:15Even with what we knew from the structure of the ship,
11:19from the wreck site itself,
11:22there's still a lot of unknown and a lot of understanding to come to.
11:26So this is an opportunity to learn to know what to expect from the ship
11:32and what not to expect, I suppose.
11:36The wind tunnel shows how the sails perform.
11:41As the wind curves around the sails' leading edge,
11:44it creates lift that generates thrust to drive the boat forward.
11:53Harnessing the forces from the wind is the job of the helmsman.
11:57Whatever who is staying in this position,
12:00he's always watching.
12:01What's the wind doing?
12:02And how much the sail is blowing in and out.
12:08To find the wind, you have to spot a range of tell-tale signs.
12:13We use a lot of things.
12:17The waves, the wind itself,
12:22maybe the flag,
12:24and all the hair sensitive in the back.
12:26So giving you a lot of directions.
12:30But no matter how alert a sailor is,
12:33the wind can spring some unpleasant surprises.
12:43By the end of the first week,
12:46the crew settles into a routine.
12:55Living life 9th century style poses unique challenges.
13:02Conditions below are cramped.
13:07While on deck,
13:08simply getting from one end of the boat to the other
13:11requires some careful footwork.
13:13First thing, watch your head
13:15so you don't crack it against the cross beam here.
13:17And don't slip on the ropes.
13:19Don't get your feet tangled up.
13:20There's nowhere else for them to go.
13:22Moving forward through the maze of ropes here.
13:24Careful not to hit your legs on the shear beam.
13:29Don't get hit by the lower yard of the mizzenmast.
13:32Under the beams, through here.
13:35And then we can move forward into the bow section,
13:39past the main mast here.
13:41Again, we've got a shear beam here.
13:43You have to watch the legs down here.
13:46And then we have this massive main mast yard
13:49you have to be very, very careful of.
13:51So now we are in the bow section proper,
13:54negotiating the ropes and chains and galvanized steel anchors.
13:59This is perhaps the most dangerous section of the ship.
14:04It's most vulnerable because of the low height of the yard.
14:09So we always try to keep our heads as low as possible.
14:14But 9th century living has pleasures as well as hazards.
14:18This is from all, all from 9th century, all guys.
14:23Yeah, this is in our local language.
14:26How about this?
14:28Dry fish.
14:30Spicy.
14:31Spicy.
14:32We mix it together.
14:36Very special.
14:37Good.
14:38Very tasty.
14:38Very tasty.
14:41On average, the crew gets just two meals a day,
14:45which they eat the traditional way.
14:47Shared platters and taken with the right hand.
14:57But the business of sailing doesn't stop for mealtimes.
15:07For thousands of years, sailors looked to the stars for directions.
15:14Now, historian Eric Staples and Captain Salah do the same.
15:19Right above the clouds.
15:21It's a very special.
15:24Salah uses an ancient Arab navigational tool called a kamal.
15:29The kamal measures the distance between known stars, like the North Star, and the horizon.
15:35If I look at the horizon...
15:36A knot in the string gives the navigator a position.
15:40Maybe they don't get it 100% tight, but they really get the way where is their destination.
15:48By experimenting with the kamal, Eric hopes to shed light on how the ancient Arabs made their way across the
15:55oceans.
15:56Hopefully this can tell us.
15:58Yeah.
15:59Hopefully this can tell us every night.
16:00So that we have an entire chart of latitudes and positions for a kamal.
16:09Inshallah.
16:10Very good.
16:15The monsoon that drives the jewel actually comprises two winds that blow in different directions at different times of the
16:24year.
16:25The idea is to hitch a ride on one to catch the other.
16:29The trick is to reach the changeover spot on time.
16:37So far, the jewel is on schedule.
16:43Yesterday was one of the best sailing since we left, actually.
16:50From 10 o'clock to 10 o'clock, which is 92 nautical miles, which is not bad at all.
17:0020 days into the voyage, the jewel of Muscat has sailed over 2,000 kilometers across the Indian Ocean.
17:10But the captain is worried.
17:12The ship is skirting the edge of a high-pressure area hundreds of kilometers across.
17:19In the center, the winds are light, variable, or even non-existent.
17:26It can be just shifting area with different directions, but we try to avoid that as much as we can
17:32to go north, and from there we run down.
17:37Salah gambles on using the winds on the edge of the weather system to take the jewel through to the
17:42coast.
17:45The gamble fails.
17:51Ten degrees north of the equator, the jewel is becalmed.
17:58You lose two days in the same place.
18:03Sometimes the wind is coming six, seven north, eight north, and sometimes zero, zero.
18:09Zero.
18:14Hey.
18:21The onboard temperature climbs higher.
18:27It's getting really hot.
18:30People are getting really, really tired.
18:40Below decks, a pungent smell of rotten eggs rises from the bilge.
18:48Hydrogen sulfide gas, a result of bacteria buildup in seawater trapped in the hold.
18:55Ninth century methods come to the crew's aid.
19:00Frankincense doesn't get rid of the gas, but it does mask the smell.
19:22And the ship is creaking, and you can hear the swish of the water along the hull.
19:29And it's during moments like that that I feel that I have been transported back in time,
19:37that in a certain way this jewel of Moscow is a time machine.
19:47The jewel has now been at sea for three weeks.
19:52There's still little sign of wind.
19:55With the schedule under threat, Captain Salah comes to a decision.
19:59To get the ship moving, they need help.
20:06Because of that, I took my decision to the ship.
20:13The jewel picks up a tow from the Indian Coast Guard.
20:2024 hours later, one month after leaving Oman, she reaches the port of Cochin in India.
20:32Today, a bustling metropolis of one and a half million,
20:36Cochin was once a major pit stop on the ancient east-west trading route.
20:41Spices, textiles, and ceramics all passed through the port.
20:46The city's Arab heritage is still visible today.
20:55When the crew finally sets foot on dry land after 28 days at sea,
21:01they're overwhelmed by the reception.
21:04I'm really very pleased, and I'm very surprised with this welcoming in Cochin.
21:14Media, public, politicians, dignitaries, everyone wants a piece of the jewel.
21:23Exhausted, Salah and crew bear it all with good grace.
21:34Meanwhile, the jewel lies waiting.
21:40Luca Belfioretti, the project's construction site manager,
21:43and Tom Vosma, have flown from Oman,
21:46and are anxious to give the ship a thorough service.
21:50A month at sea has taken its toll.
21:53The hull needs a makeover.
21:55It's algae that's growing on there.
21:58Quite normal, and of course, when we haul the boat out,
22:03much of that will be scraped off.
22:08Bringing the jewel ashore is a risky business.
22:12The plan is to drag her up a slipway out of the water.
22:16Like this, and this is three meters and a half.
22:18Our boat is six meters and a half.
22:20So you will have another meter and a half in each side.
22:23I can explain it. Please come with me.
22:25The slipway operators generally handle great steel barges.
22:30They've never come across a boat like this before.
22:32The vessel will be kept on.
22:34The vessel will be kept on.
22:35The vessel will be kept on.
22:36But you know our vessel cannot afford to have the wage on touching.
22:43Because we have the stitching coming out.
22:48The site will need special preparation.
22:51They would have to dredge their slipway before we could come up on it.
22:54Because there's so much gunk and it was pretty disgusting actually.
22:58But they said they'd have to clean all that off.
23:01And I don't know how long that's going to take.
23:03You know, we're basically two days behind schedule now.
23:10Tom considers an alternative approach.
23:13Dry dock.
23:15The idea is the ship will settle on these blocks as the water pumps out.
23:24But the dock is huge.
23:27The blocks are steel.
23:29It all seems a poor fit with a delicate 9th century boat.
23:35There are too many unknowns about...
23:37We can't see what's happening with the ship as the water's pumped out.
23:41We can't see how it's going to settle onto the blocks.
23:46You know, we should be absolutely 100% sure that this is going to work.
23:52And we're not sure.
23:55With time running out, there's little choice.
23:59They decide to go ahead.
24:07More than 5 million litres of water pour into the dock.
24:12For a nail-biting 90 minutes, the jewel eases slowly in.
24:20The murky waters restrict visibility.
24:23The boss wants to know the distance between the bottom of the keel and the keel block.
24:30No idea.
24:33It's impossible to see.
24:38At last, the jewel comes to rest safely.
24:49Now, the Indian workers can start to scrape the hull off and apply chunam.
24:55A protective coating made of goat fat and lime.
25:01This coating of chunam on the bottom isn't really an anti-fouling in the sense that it doesn't keep things
25:08from attaching.
25:10The only thing it really does is make the barnacles easier to scrape off.
25:21With the refit complete, it's time to move on.
25:27But the whole episode has cost them vital time.
25:33As they leave Cochin later than planned, the crew wonders what the wind might now have in store for them.
25:47The second leg of the voyage is a short 600-kilometer hop to Gaul in Sri Lanka.
25:59But four days out, off the coast of southern India, a sudden squall takes the crew by surprise.
26:19A loud crack. Something is wrong.
26:26Inspection reveals a split running halfway round the main mast.
26:34When the squall subsides, the crew improvises a makeshift splint to get them to Sri Lanka.
26:46On arrival in Gaul, a decision is made.
26:49As a safety measure, both masts will be replaced.
26:55Luca Belfioretti leads a team on an arduous search of the teak forests of Sri Lanka.
27:03They have to find two suitable trees, each one straight and at least 17 meters long.
27:12With the toughest leg of the voyage still to come, second best is not good enough.
27:18The jewel of Muscapie is the best swim boat ever built.
27:21So, I really don't want to say, okay, this is good enough.
27:26I want two great trees.
27:31After making an uncomfortable three-week trek, he thinks he's finally found the right trees.
27:38One is perfect. I mean, I never saw such beautiful trees in my life.
27:51The jewel finally can get a pair of brand new masts.
28:02Repaired and provisioned, she is now ready to set out on the 2,200 kilometer leg to Penang Island in
28:10Malaysia.
28:14The jewel is now three months into her voyage.
28:17The delays mean she's setting sail in the most unpredictable part of the monsoon.
28:25The captain knows the risks.
28:28This will be most dangerous and difficult passage because of the rain, the weather conditions have been tangible around this
28:40area.
28:41And the monsoon started already almost 10 days ago.
28:47The mood is somber.
29:02The crew bid farewell to Gaul like soldiers on the eve of battle.
29:10.
29:13.
29:18The Lord is the Son of God.
29:45Once at sea, the wind lifts the ocean's swell to four and then five meters.
29:55The ship is broad across the middle. She's designed to carry cargo.
30:00In heavy seas, she pitches and rolls like an old tub.
30:05Constant squalls sweep in with little or no warning.
30:09We had score after score. Tremendous strong wind. Yesterday, on the first day, we had very strong wind, reached 30,
30:1837.
30:21The crew raises and lowers the sails many times a day. No easy task on slippery wooden decks.
30:30The sails, you have to work. It's really a hard, strong body.
30:36It's really as well to voice them and to bring them down.
30:43Over the next three days, the wind and rain get worse.
30:54The jewel is blown east, but is making good speed.
30:59Now, it's 8.6 knots speed when one sail is well.
31:13Then, disturbing news reaches Tom Vosma from the harbormaster in Sri Lanka.
31:19This came through from Captain Rohith about a cyclone forming in the Bay of Bengal.
31:28I went right to the computer and called that up and said, uh-oh.
31:33A fast-developing tropical storm is heading the jewel's way.
31:44Over 400 kilometers from the nearest land, Captain Salah has no choice but to carry on.
31:52The wind speed continues to increase.
32:08Under difficult conditions, it's impossible to cook.
32:11The tired crew have had no hot food for days.
32:15A slice of onion, tomato, and a bread.
32:21So this is really our dinner tonight.
32:23I haven't got anything speckled since early morning.
32:32Soon after their frugal supper, the edge of cyclone Leila strikes the ship.
32:47The wind gets stronger, whipping the waves up and battering the tiny wooden vessel.
32:53As gusts increase to 40 and then 45 knots.
33:01Salah faces a choice.
33:03If he leaves the single sail up, he risks breaking the mast.
33:12But if he lowers the sail, the ship may turn sideways on to the violent storm and capsize.
33:19It's just going, shifting to the wave and to the wind, which is quite dangerous.
33:27Salah puts his faith in the new mast and keeps the sail up.
33:31He decides to run before the wind, which is now blowing at 52 knots, close to 100 kilometers per hour.
33:44This time, his gamble pays off.
33:58I need to dry a little bit. I'm completely wet, even with this.
34:04Everyone is happy to see the morning.
34:18But the ship has not gone unscathed.
34:24The level of water in the bilges is rising.
34:30Crew member Alessandro Guidoni crawls into the bowels of the ship to find out why.
34:40He makes a worrying find.
34:45All over the hull, seams are slowly leaking.
34:51The violent weather has loosened the stitching that holds the hull planking together.
34:57Because of the rough sea, the boat is, the ship is rolling quite heavily.
35:04And that means, you know, because the hull is flexible, that means that, you know, some parts, you can have,
35:11you know, some gaps because of the pressure, the water, the water's down.
35:18It all adds to the workload of the crew.
35:21They take turns pumping thousands of liters of water to keep the sea at bay.
35:35Now, in light winds, maintaining speed is more difficult.
35:40On voyages like this, Arab traders stood to make a fortune.
35:44Keeping the boat moving was critical.
35:49The conditions provide a chance to put ancient sail technology to the test.
35:56Sails woven from palm leaves.
36:03Maybe palm sails will be more effective than canvas in light winds.
36:12Apparently not.
36:15And so far it looks like it's good, but it doesn't push us very much, to be honest.
36:22It doesn't make any difference in speed.
36:25Before we said it was 2 knots, 2.5, and still the speed as it is.
36:34But the light winds soon pass.
36:4314 days out from Gaul, dark clouds gather once again.
36:54We're expecting a thunderstorm to hit us.
36:57Looks like with some rain as well.
37:00So, yeah, you can see very strong lightning as well.
37:04Everybody getting ready with the life jackets and waterproof stuff.
37:13Ship's carpenter, Pushpadas Alamasari, is on lookout in the prow of the ship.
37:21When the squall hits, it's short but violent.
37:29Captain Salah orders the mainsail lowered.
37:46One of the hundred kilo wooden spars has snapped.
37:53And there's a man down.
37:57Pushpadas has been hit in the head, I'm going down.
38:01Pushpadas has missed death by inches.
38:04Pushpadas had just sat down at the bow, just a split second, early.
38:13Fortunately, and so the yard gave him a glancing blow on the back of the head.
38:20He could have been, uh, more serious if he had not sat down.
38:27Amazingly, the next day, he's back on his feet.
38:31Pain, too much pain, and coming in bubble like a cricket ball.
38:37I'm very lucky, I think.
38:46As the coast of Malaysia appears, the jewel's struggle to cross the Bay of Bengal is over.
38:54But the crew are aware this is no time to relax.
39:03After a three-week stopover in Penang Island, the voyage resumes.
39:08The jewel of Muscat passes the fairway buoy on the last leg of her journey to Singapore.
39:16The crew now faces a very different danger from the storms of the Indian Ocean.
39:22The captain, yeah.
39:23Okay, guys.
39:25Captain Salah urges vigilance.
39:27This is the most important legs, because a lot of, uh, shipping, a lot of fishing boat.
39:37So to keep the ship, jewel, safe and sound, please, please, please, keep looking out as much as you can.
39:44No sleep in the watch at all.
39:47The jewel will pass through the narrow strait of Malacca, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.
39:56With no engine, the little wooden ship is vulnerable to collision, especially in light winds.
40:05Immediately, the danger is apparent.
40:07A tug and barge come close to the slow-moving jewel.
40:14It is really close, and, uh, two, three cables from the ship.
40:20And that's really frightening as well.
40:23First mate, Kamis, constantly checks the bearing to determine whether or not the two ships are closing.
40:35But the danger's not over.
40:38Fishing boats, tankers, and container ships race up and down the strait, narrowly avoiding the jewel.
40:49Over 60,000 vessels use the strait every year.
41:00At night, the strait comes alive with moving lights.
41:09With the shore on one side and the shipping lane on the other, there's little room for manoeuvre.
41:15One, six, zero.
41:19The jewel's last line of defence, a flashing light mounted on the bow.
41:32It's never, never ever seen something like that, the traffic.
41:35The ships, tugs, small fishing boats, nuts all over the places.
41:41So I'm sure a lot of people are being really tired, knackered, and ready to go to some nice, warm
41:47place.
41:48As the jewel approaches Singapore, it becomes another blip on the port controller's radar.
41:55The jewel of Mascat is Singapore, VETI's West. Do you read me over?
42:00Good morning, sir.
42:02And then, the words they have waited five months to hear.
42:06Welcome to Singapore, sir.
42:11Not quite home, but the jewel is safe, at last.
42:17Now, maybe five, five months.
42:21InshaAllah, in rapid normal, I get a nice rest.
42:32For me, it's maybe it's the last time to sailing, because I know I'll never get against this ship.
42:39It is magic.
42:41These are the last moments of the jewel at sea.
42:45It's incredible to think, and sad to think as well, this is the last time this boat will sail.
42:58She's to become the centerpiece of a permanent exhibition on Arab seafaring in Singapore.
43:06After crossing more than 5,000 kilometers of ocean, the jewel enters Keppel Harbor.
43:15And I'm very proud to be captain of this, and alhamdulillah, we made it.
43:30A year in the building.
43:35The only ship of its kind afloat.
43:40A triumph of archaeology in action.
43:45At last, the crew can celebrate.
43:48At last, the crew can celebrate.
43:48A half-time made itavoast.
43:49A half-time made a rise in the city.
43:54A short-time made itavoast, but she has been together with a raise in the city.
43:57There are many not all kids.
43:58A half-time made itavoast.
44:02A half-time made itavoast.
44:15The president of Singapore accepts the Sultan's gift.
44:24Now captain and crew can return to their families.
44:45Congratulations.
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