Impossible Naval Engineering of the Ancients

Today on Far Future Horizons we explore the Maritime engineering skills of antiquity.

Naval engineering has been at the vanguard of technological innovation through out recorded history. For the simple reason that if anything goes wrong at sea, you're dead.

In this exciting episode of Ancient Discoveries we relive the most extraordinary naval ambitions of the ancients.

Who Really Discovered America?

Today on Far Future Horizons we commemorate the five hundred and twenty-third anniversary of the discovery of America by exploring the question - Who Really Discovered America?

This documentary explores the possibility that a number of explorers discovered the New World long before Christopher Columbus staked his claim in 1492. 

The Quest for the Phoenicians

Today on Far Future Horizons we voyage back into antiquity in a quest to understand – The Phoenicians.

Hidden beneath Greek and Roman ruins lies a civilization lost to history. The Phoenicians were people of the Levant, living among the Canaanites of the Old Testament and with a domain covering the eastern Mediterranean and beyond. From 1200 BC to the razing of Carthage in 146 BC, the Phoenicians spread ever westward.

They were the true “lords of the sea” skilled and audacious seafarers, merchants and colonizers of the early Mediterranean world. 

Ancient Discoveries - Roman Ships

Today on Far Future Horizons we take another foray into the field of marine archaeology with the History Channel’s acclaimed documentary series “Ancient Discoveries”.

The Great Ships of Antiquity

Greek Trireme

Some of the greatest ships in history were actually designed, built and sailed thousands of years ago.

Join us as today on Far Future Horizons as we examine the greatest warship of the ancient world, the Greek Trireme. What made Triremes so deadly and fast?

Sin City - The Port Royal Project

Today we join a team of divers as they unlock an archaeological time capsule that provides us with a snap shot of life in the infamous pirate stronghold and haven of Port Royal, Jamaica.

This documentary covers the activities of The Port Royal Project, a joint program of the Nautical Archaeology Program of Texas A&M University, in cooperation with the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) and the Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT) to excavate the undersea site of Port Royal which sank into the sea following an earthquake in 1692.

The Lost Cities of Aquatica

"The deep sea has more history in it than all the museums of the world–combined." ~ Robert Ballard

Today on Far Future Horizons we go in search of the lost cities and lost civilizations that litter the undersea realm of Aquatica. Our modern day landscapes are littered with the remains of ancient superstructures. Now, cutting edge archaeology is beginning to reveal that this century's most exciting discoveries actually lie at the bottom of the ocean.

Sunken Ruins of Cleopatra's Palace

Copyright National Geographic Society

Cleopatra's palace sank long ago into the Mediterranean sea, but in the not to distant future visitors to Alexandria, Egypt, may eventually view the remnants of the palace via the world's first underwater museum. In a few years, you may be able to see Alexandria the way it once was deep beneath the sea. The areas of classical Alexandria that contained the ancient world's biggest library along with Cleopatra's palace have sunk beneath the waves, but now it looks as if the United Nations may step in and help Egypt show off these structures in a unique underwater museum.

If built, the museum could display treasures and monuments of her palace, which once stood on an island in one of the largest human-made bays in the world before it was submerged by earthquake in the fourth century A.D.

Copyright National Geographic Society

Until then we present for your viewing pleasure the following National Geographic documentary “Sunken Ruins of Cleopatra's Palace”.  

1421: The Year When China Nearly Discovered America and the World

History tells us that the America continent was discovered by Christopher Columbus on October 12, 1492. But, a nascent naval power had the ability to discover and colonize this new world some seventy years before.

The year 1421 could have been a pivotal year in world history and would make a magnificent point of divergence in many an alternate history novel. 1421 could have been the year when Ming dynasty China could have set into motion a series of events that would have led the Chinese to discovery the Americas some seventy years before Christopher Columbus, circumnavigate the globe and transform Imperial China from merely a regional power into a major naval superpower of global extent on which the Sun would never have set. Instead China chose to abrogate its appointment with destiny and retreated into a long period of isolationism. The conquest of the world and control of the oceans were left to the countries of a Europe just awaking from a long period of intellectual slumber. Eventually the new emerging maritime powers of Europe found their way to the shores of the Dragon’s lair and were in due course to carve the carcass of this impotent giant between themselves.

Lincoln's Secret Weapon

Battle of the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (Merrimack)

Today on Far Future Horizons we present an episode from the acclaimed PBS series NOVA that tells the story of a naval battle fought during the American Civil War that was to change the face of naval warfare forever.

The Battle of Hampton Roads, often referred to as either the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack (or Merrimac) or the Battle of Ironclads, was the most noted and arguably most important naval battle of the American Civil War from the standpoint of the development of navies. It was fought over two days, March 8^th –9th, 1862, in Hampton Roads, a roadstead in Virginia where the Elizabeth and Nansemond Rivers meet the James River just before it enters Chesapeake Bay. The battle was a part of the effort of the Confederacy to break the Union blockade, which had cut off Virginia's largest cities, Norfolk and Richmond, from international trade.

Ancient Superships

Today on Far Future Horizons we are proud to present another episode of the acclaimed History Channel documentary series Ancient Discoveries – Superships.

Extraordinary sailing vessels are examined, including the Khufu funeral ship in Egypt made entirely without metal nails; and a warship that could hold 7000 crewmen. Ancient Discoveries - Superships is a very good documentary which is very well written and very well presented; this documentary is guaranteed to provide the viewer with significant knowledge regarding shipping and shipbuilding in antiquity.

Ancient Discoveries - Chinese Super Ships

Today on Far Future Horizons we present another exciting episode of the History Channel’s acclaimed documentary series “Ancient Discoveries” where we will meet the master shipbuilders of Imperial China.


These master shipbuilders of the Far East created the most deadly warships of ancient times in their quest for supremacy of the seas.

This installment of Ancient Discoveries uncovers the extraordinary ingenuity of the ancient engineers whose innovations would take shipbuilding to new heights and create some of the largest and most fearsome navies of the ancient world. Could this very same ancient Chinese naval technology have transformed China into a nascent naval power with the ability to discover and colonize the new world some seventy years before Christopher Columbus set sail into the unknown and discovered America?

The Quest for Noah's Flood

Today on Far Future Horizons we join famed oceanographer, explorer and Titanic discoverer, Dr. Robert Ballard, as he embarks on a fascinating voyage to the Black Sea.  

Here he will try to separate history from the legend of a catastrophic flood to solve an ancient mystery that will take us on a quest to uncover the true story of Noah’s flood.