Archimedes of Syracuse

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             This method would not end with gold crowns. King Hieron II of Syracuse wanted a huge ship built by Archimedes. He envisioned a palace at sea. It would be called The Syracusia. On board this ship would be; eight watchtowers each carved with the figure of Atlas holding up the world, a massive catapult able to fire 180 pound stone missiles. For the passengers, a flower lined promenade, a sheltered swimming pool, a bath house with heated water, a library with books and statues, a temple to the Goddess Aphrodite and a gymnasium. The ship would also be packed with cargo; 400 tons of grain, 10,000 jars of pickled fish, 74 tons of drinking water, and 600 tons of wool. The most passengers it carried at one time was 1,942. It would have housed 20 horses each with its own stall. The vessel would weigh 2000 tons when completed. Archimedes had a dilemma on his hands. Could such a vessel even float?.
             In his treatise, On Floating Bodies, Archimedes states: "Any object, wholly or partially immersed in a fluid, is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object." - Archimedes of Syracuse, date unknown.
             The Archimedes Principle is also known as the Law of Buoyancy. With regards to ships, the principle states that the weight of the vessel must be less than or equal to the weight of the water displaced by the vessel's hull below the keel. That meant that if the Syracusia weighed 2000 tons and displaced 2000 tons of water, it would float. Barely.
             The Syracusia sailed only once to the shore of Alexandria in 240 B.C. where it was given to Ptolemy III Euergetes of Egypt and was renamed The Alexandria. Among some of Archimedes' other achievements, is the Archimedes Screw pump. The Archimedes Screw was originally developed to remove bilge water from the inside of the hull of the Syracusia. The mechanics of the pump were a screw shaped blade inside a cylinder that could be turned by hand, this action would bring water from one side of the device and pump it out of the other side.