Wreck of Serçe Limani

At some time in the course of the second quarter of the eleventh century, a Byzantine merchant ship making its way to the west took the commercial maritime route south of Anatolia. It was transporting cargo from the Syrian-Lebanese coast, at the time part of the Fatimide Caliphate. It must have run into violent winds and it sank near the coast of Asia Minor, off Rhodes, in a creek today known as Serçe Limanı, where it had sought shelter.

The ship, which measured fifty by seventeen Byzantine feet, had two masts with triangular (lateen) sails. Despite its modest dimensions, it had a cargo capacity of approximately 30 metric tons. It probably resembled a qārib, an Egyptian boat that plied the length of the Nile.

Recovery began in 1977 and brought to light some remains of the ship's equipment and its commercial cargo. The goods comprised diverse products, some of which were shipped in small quantities to minimise the risk of losses due to price changes. Equipment for weighing - scales and weights - for transactions between the Byzantine and Fatimid worlds have been identified. Some of the weights were made of glass and were used to weigh gold and silver Fatimid coins; the most recent are stamped with a date that corresponds to AD 1024/1025, or 1021/1022, and thus give a chronological point of reference. There are also a few Fatimid and Byzantine coins and a small quantity of jewels among the goods discovered. The small number of coins, the absence of ingots and the presence of three Byzantine seals lead us to think that notes of credit were preferred as a means of payment, as this would avoid any losses due to piracy, an omnipresent risk despite the ship's being equipped with a significant amount of defensive arms.

Among the cargo over 80 pieces of Islamic medieval glassware, typical of Syrian production, was found. Syrian glass reputed for its quality. There are recipients (bowl, cups, vases, ewers, plates, bottles, jars and so on) and lamps. But for the most part, this commercial cargo comprised three tons of broken glass collected for recycling, probably destined for workshops in Constantinople, an important centre of Byzantine glass production. The ceramic artefacts found on the ship include oil and wine amphorae, and various types of dishes; among the most important are glazed Islamic bowls with sgraffiato and champlevé decoration, water jugs decorated with imitation kufiq characters which seem to be Syrian copies of Egyptian water jugs, as well as cooking pots whose inside surface is lead-glazed. These objects represent a sample of the ceramic ware used in Syria and Palestine during the Crusader period.

The ship must have made its crossing shortly after the last negotiations to improve relations between the Byzantine Empire and the Fatimid Caliphate. The diplomatic progress made was confirmed when a peace treaty was concluded in 1027. The Serçe Limanı wreck and its context bear witness to a period of free trade in the Mediterranean, where commercial exchanges between Muslims and Christians were common practice.