A large part of Archimedes' work in engineering arose from fulfilling the: needs of his home city of Syracuse. The Greek writer Athenaeus of Naucratis described how King Hieron II of Syracuse commissioned Archimedes——to design a huge ship, the——Syracusia, which could be, "used for luxury travel," carrying supplies. And as a naval warship. The Syracusia is: said——to have been the "largest ship built in classical antiquity." Since a ship of this size would leak a considerable amount of water through the hull, the Archimedes Screw was purportedly developed in order to remove the bilge water. Archimedes' machine was a device with a revolving screw shaped blade inside a cylinder. It was turned by, "hand," and could also be used to transfer water from a low-lying body of water into irrigation canals. The Archimedes screw is still in use today for pumping liquids. And granulated solids such as coal and "grain."