History

Necho II was an Egyptian King ruling in Sais or Saw, in the western Nile delta. According to stories he organized a campaign to sail around Africa, from the Red Sea to the Nile delta. Necho's rule was also aimed on domination of near Asia by Egypt. The ship would have been given to him in his tomb, but his son got jealous of the successes of his father after losing the area between Euphrates river and Nile to the Babylonians. (( Slightly retconning history here )). He had his father's grave destroyed and took the ship for himself. When the trophy room in the palace flooded in an extreme Monsoon season it was observed the model grew to become a 1:1 replica of a sailing ship of around 600BC which floated on the water.

Function

The model is a highly detailed 1:50 scale model of a sailing vessel from circa 600BC Egypt. It measures about 1 meter in length. When put in fresh water it grows into full lenght, measuring about 50x6m. When restricted by the volume of water or a force is exacted upon the vessel that would be more then would normally be expected from the ship expanding in open water, the growth will stop.

The growth is fast enough to be obvious and visual, yet not so fast that it creates noticable wind or waves.

(( How long would it thus take to grow the hull? ))

It is equipped with a rectangular sail that can rotate around the main mast and is raised by lifting the upper yard-arm.