View Blog

This was an eyewitness account in 300AD by a Roman writer, Minucius Felix:-

"Then our party came to a place where several small boats, having been drawn up on the shore, rested above ground on oaken rollers so as to prevent them  rotting.

There we saw a group of small boys, who were eagerly competing with one another in a game of ducks and drakes. This is what it is all about: you choose a well-rounded shell from the sea shore - one that has been rubbed smooth by the pounding of the waves - and holding it horizontally in your fingers whilst stooping as low to the ground as you can get, you send it spinning across the water. Once thrown, it should either skim the surface of the sea, gliding smoothly along, or conversely shave the tops of the waves, only to resurface time and time again.

Amongst the boys, the one whose shell has gone the farthest and skipped the most declares himself the winner."

Please note that this account does not appear anywhere else on the web.