"The article hypothesizes that this was built in the 1700s. The dating of the eel grass is 13 or 1400s and the coconut fibers of a similar date therefore the explanation is not consistent with the dating. This is why I referred to the theory as silly. In order for the theory to be correct this would of had to been built back in 1400s."
Yes it does...or as Loki has said about the coconut fibers, the 1100's
I still contend that the fibers themselves may be that old and used many times as packing materials until the finally ended up in the box drain area....Loki says no, because wayfarers would not reuse these materials for so long. But since the fibers themselves were a commodity item (Nothing is free!) they could have traveled the world many times in many different ships holds and reused at each port of call to repack other items to ship. Why would they dispose of the fibers after just a voyage or two? Especially when the further from a port where new fibers were available, the more costly they would become...Once again Loki says no, they would be to degraded to use....BUT, as we have seen on the show, 900 years later, the ones retrieved are NOT to degraded to pick up in a clump, pulled apart by individual fibers and tested...and I would bet dried they could STILL be used for packing cargo.
Edit to add: Loki has also pointed out that no sailors would use old line, rope, or hawsers...true...but those were made of coconut fibers that could have been converted to packing material use when the uesfulness as a line or rope was over and the ship rerigged... this stuff was not free or cheap to move to different ports, so they would reuse them in whatever way they could until they literally were just dust..IMO
So that theory of them not lasting hundreds of years as packing material doesnt work for me...and then at some point being buried as a filtering material or even washed up after floating from a shipwreck or from a storm surge..
One other thing...years ago i worked as a warehouse man..shipping and receiving...some days we would have a hundred pallet loads of materials shipped in small boxes with the part and packing peanuts....and also sent out many pallet loads a day of parts packed in peanuts...did we toss out any peanuts? Nope...they were all reused as they cost money...same thing
Actually the last dating of the c. fibres was to the 14th century. In my opinion it is ridiculous to think that anybody would use centuries old vegetable matter for packing material, and then to think that it was also made from old rope. Remember, for one thing we are talking about the wealthiest of all the Catholic orders. And then to use it again as some kind of filter, LOL.
No Rd, when Jacques de Molay left Cyprus for France with some ten vessels and about 300 men (where coir rope and c. fibre packing was readily available), they had new coir rope and new packing material.
Once more I will mention that several Knights Templar vessels left Cyprus in 1307, landing in France that same year at a location (La Rochelle) where there were other Templar ships. Within a couple of months all of these ships disappeared.
Its not styrofoam peanuts that last forever Rd, your talking apples and oranges as another poster has told me a couple of times.
Oh, one more thing, I never said the Templars buried anything on Oak Island, only that they passed through on their way to New Ross.
Another point I would like to clear up is the comment that a vessel sailing the nice calm Mediterranean wouldn't be capable of ocean travel. I live and sail on the Great Lakes, and I can tell you that any ship that can safely traverse these inland seas can also sail the oceans, with a noted exception, our very long and narrow Great Lakes freighters which could break in half in giant ocean swells.
I have the design of a Venetian built ship from the late 13th century (the Templars are known to have bought Venetian ships) that gives its length as translated at 39 meters. These late 13th century vessels were already using sails as the prominent means of propulsion, with oars as a backup.
Admittedly with better weather forecasting today I wouldn't hesitate a moment from crossing the North Atlantic with a ship of this design.
centuries old dry eel grass compared to wet for centuries coconut fibre? When remodeling a very old house I found a decent looking dry newspaper many years old, does that mean old wet newspapers would work for packing? Apples and oranges Rd.
Cheers, Loki
