The evidence of the foreign pottery found on Bates's Island in Marsa Matruh confirms the arrival around 1400 B.C. of visiting ships from abroad. However the very small size of the island itself and the unvarying shallowness of the water in the harbour and in the neighbouring lagoons must indicate severe limitations on the size of these vessels. Such limitations compare favourably with the evidence from Dor and Gebeil/ Byblos on the Near Eastern coast.