THE SHIPMENT OF TRADED GOODS AND OF BALLAST IN ANTIQUITY

Abstract

Summary. A ship's Master has to ensure that goods are loaded in such a combination, and stowed in such a manner, that his ship has a safe freeboard and adequate stability. In antiquity these considerations would have been evaluated from experience and by inherited rules of thumb, whereas today stowage factors are used. Greek decorated pottery, with a relatively high stowage factor, is most unlikely to have been used as ballast in the ancient Mediterranean, but small consignments may have been used as ‘space‐fillers’.