 Necho II constructed warships, including questionably triremes.At some point between 610 and before 594 BC, Necho reputedly commissioned an expedition of Phoenicians, who it is said in three years sailed from the Red Sea around Africa back to the mouth of the Nile; and would thereby be the first completion of the Cape Route.Herodotus' account was handed down to him by oral tradition, but is seen as potentially credible because he stated with disbelief that the Phoenicians ""as they sailed on a westerly course round the southern end of Libya (Africa), they had the sun on their right""—to northward of them ("The Histories" 4.42).