The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities carried out one of the most famous transfers of antiquities in the world, which is the transfer of the first Khufu boat, which was found in 1954, on the southern side of the Khufu pyramid, from inside its museum in the archaeological area, using the smart remote-controlled cart, which was specially brought in From Belgium to transport the boat in one piece, in its entirety, without dismantling, to its new display place in the Grand Egyptian Museum.
The sun boats are a funerary boat that was made 5,000 years ago, around 2800 BC. They are wooden boats made of cedar wood and were found disassembled. They put the bodies of kings on them, at the time of the funeral ceremonies, and they called the first boat the Khufu boat.
On this occasion, we talk about the history of boats in Egypt and the fleets, and the historical texts on the walls of temples and pharaonic tombs refer to the role played by the men of the ancient Egyptian fleet in the battles that took place during that historical era. The state and control of the coasts of the Egyptian territory and the protection of the country's maritime borders.
According to the "Memory of Contemporary Egypt" magazine, the real beginning of the Egyptian fleet was in the Mediterranean when Muhammad Ali intervened in the Morea campaign (Greece) at the beginning of the third decade of the nineteenth century.
At this stage, Muhammad Ali relied on buying ships from foreign countries, and during the Mora War, the Egyptian fleet faced the Ottoman fleet in the Battle of Nafarin, the fleets of England, France and Russia, and despite the inequality in strength and technical level, and despite the French officers leaving their positions in the Egyptian ships, the men of The Egyptian navy carried out their duty to defend their military honor, and despite the defeat of Nafarin, Muhammad Ali remained interested in strengthening the navy by establishing the Alexandria arsenal. The issuance of a firman in 1841 AD, Muhammad Ali did not have the right to build warships except with the permission of the Sublime Porte, and from that time the decline of the Egyptian navy began, so the arsenal was no longer operating at its full capacity.
During the reign of Abbas Helmy I, the navy was liquidated, so he dispensed with foreign experts and released the Egyptians to work on the Cairo-Alexandria railway. Said Pasha tried to revive the navy when he took over the rule of Egypt and built some ships, but the European countries adhered to the terms of the firman 1841 AD, so the navy returned to decay again.
The era of Khedive Ismail is considered a renaissance era for the Egyptian Navy in the White and Red Bahrain. Ismail strengthened the fleet by building new armored ships in the arsenals of France, Austria and England. He also reopened the Naval School under the supervision of an English officer (Miklob Bey), and Ismail’s era witnessed the start of using modern means of war. Under the surface of the water using torpedoes and sea mines in Abu Qir and Rashid under the supervision of American experts.
With Egypt subjected to British occupation, the navy was abolished, its ships sold disassembled, and coastal guarding and smuggling prevention were entrusted to the Coast Guard.
Sun, Aug. 8, 2021
