The Shipwreck.
The ship of Tyre is depicted as setting out fully loaded, only to meet a strong east wind and be sunk, with all her merchandise, her crew, her traders, and her guards, with the result that those ashore bewail her passing.
“The ships of Tarshish were your caravans for your merchandise.”
Instead of camels, the ‘ships of the desert', Tyre used seagoing ships for carrying their merchandise. It has been suggested that the name ‘ships of Tarshish' refers to a type of refinery ship, or an ore-carrier, but it more probably refers to large long distance vessels which could go even as far as Tarshish.