Trireme Trust

The Trireme Trust was a British charity founded in 1982 by John Morrison and John Coates to reconstruct an ancient Athenian trireme and test theories of its design and performance. The result, Olympias, was built in Greece between 1985 and 1987 and commissioned into the Hellenic Navy; sea trials from 1987 with about 170 volunteer rowers in three banks measured speed, turning, and crew endurance, achieving short bursts near 9 knots. The project is a landmark of experimental maritime archaeology and reshaped scholarship on classical oared warships.