Captain Soleiman is one of the last captains who used to have inter-continental travels on sail boats. "We sailed the routes that captains have sailed for more than twenty centuries. We brought dates and other goods from Iran and Iraq to UAE and Yemen. Persian carpets had a good market in east Africa from where we would bring Mangrove poles to Iran. Crew members had to be familiar with Persian, Arabic, Swahili, and Indian languages. Many sailors still have families in India and Africa."