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GV EXTERIOR Replica of Sinbad's ship on beach of Sur, Oman
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SV Workmen putting final touches to ship (3 shots)
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GV & SV Workmen putting up bunting on deck (2 shots)
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GV Dancers and singers on boat in sea (2 shots)
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SV Musicians near Sinbad's ship on shore (2 shots)
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CU & GV Young girl watches and people keep dancing as chain on men lowers Sinbad's hip into water (3 shots)
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GV Sohar moored in water (3 shots)
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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Irish explorer Tim Severin will set sail in November from Oman aboard the replica of an early Arab trading vessel. Tim Severin and his crew of historians and marine scientists will re-live the adventures of the legendary Sinbad and Sailor on an eight-month voyage to China. The expedition traces the ago-old sea route of the Arabs to the Orient. Their vessel, a wooden ship, held together only by coconut rope, will be guided on the 6,000 mile (10,000 kms) journey by the stars, in the manner of the early Arab deep sea navigators.

SYNOPSIS: The Sohar could have been Sinbad's ship. Built from wood hand-picked in the forests of India, the hull was painstakingly fashioned from hand-shaped planks laid edge to edge with tolerances of less than half a millimetre (1/64. inch).

The Sohar was launched on Thursday (28 August) -- with a celebration. It's all part of the festivities surrounding Oman's tenth National Day (18 November), the date the expedition will set sail from Sur, near the ancient town of Sohar, where Sinbad was reputed to have lived.

Ship builders and traders throughout the ages have lived in Sur and for the launch, they turned musician. Everyone became involved in the Sinbad project, and each contributed his knowledge of the wisdom of the ancient Arab traders.

The Sohar was finally roped own the beach, like thousands of years before. There the vessel awaits the tide to take her out into the sea. Tim Severin and his crew will ride the monsoon winds along the coast of India, across the Bay of Bengal and finally from Singapore through the South China Sea to Hong Kong. They will navigate by ancient, charts, a chain of tablets strung on a cond and the wisdom of the old Arab astronomers. But until the tide rises and the sails billow, Sur and the shipbuilders keep celebrating.