'Jewel of Muscat' ready for its tryst with history

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MUSCAT -- Tom Vosmer, the Director of Construction of the Jewel of Muscat project, is a busy man. Vosmer and his men have been working tirelessly at Qantab Beach, paying attention to any pop, groan or crack, as they get the Jewel of Muscat ready to test the waters, literally.

Kicking off its trial run, the ship, that's on its way to script history, sets sail at 5am today from Qantab Beach to Marina Bander Al Rowdha with five people, including Captain Saleh Said Al Jabri, on board.

Asked whether he had any concerns during the soft launch, a confident Vosmer says, "I'm confident of the ship. The ship is up on jacks right now, and we have been co-coordinating to lower it smoothly down in a controlled manner, checking as we go that everything's in order.

Tricky step
"Since it can be done only a few centimetres at a time, we have managed to lower it half-a-metre since last night and we still have another half metre to go. This lowering of the ship down onto the rails, that it's going to ride on, is the most tricky step and the fact that we haven't heard a pop, a groan or a crack so far is a very good sign. Thursday was an excellent day for all of us and things so far have been moving very smoothly, in a well coordinate manner."

A joint initiative of Oman and Singapore, the Jewel of Muscat project involves the reconstruction of a 9th-century sewn-plank ship on the beach of Qantab village. Once the hand-built hull is launched into the Gulf of Oman, she will set off on an epic voyage that will end in Singapore, one of Oman's oldest trading partners.

Vosmer, who will be co-coordinating from the shore today, fills in on details of the day before the launch, "We started work at 8am today, but we still have a long day ahead of us. We need to get the boat down to the place where we want it and until we finish that there's no sleep for us. Today, the whole day we've been lowering the boat down unto the track, finishing the lane of the track, preparing the ballast and setting up the mechanism to control the speed of the launch. We have around 25 people working right now."

For Captain Saleh, who has been sailing for almost 20 years, this experience is a sea change from what he has done so far. "It cannot be compared to anything I have experienced before. Even Shabab was different and she is the closest.

I have come to something like this. The boats of Oman Sail are all modern and high-tech, the opposite of the Jewel of Muscat. To bring something like this from a previous lifetime into the modern world is totally unique."

Saleh says there is great excitement among youngsters about the project, "There is a lot of interest in the building method, the materials and the journey itself. Young Omanis come here with a sense of awe about how hard their forefathers had to work and how tough life was back then. They are more interested in the building methods and the heritage and what it will mean to Oman."

Final destination
Though the journey from Qantab to Marina will be covered within a couple of hours the Jewel of Muscat will stay in the water to do sea trials and tests until she departs for her destination in Singapore late in February next year.

A tad nervous on being part of this once-in-a-lifetime event, Saleh hopes that the trial run is a smooth one. "I think it is natural to be nervous when a project like this reaches such a milestone as this. I am more excited than nervous and my only concern is that she settles well in the water. Also, we are trying out best to maintain the schedule we have laid out for ourselves. Only if we stick to that time period, will be able to make the most of the high tide."

Well, they sure seem to know that time and tide wait for none.  

By Peden Doma Bhutia

© Times of Oman 2009