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| August 2009 |
| Billie Silvey |
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| A History of Ships |
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| People have always been drawn to water. Most settlements have been located on coastlines or along rivers. Water is important for transportation and trade. Fresh water is necessary for growing crops. And the fish and seafood of both salt and fresh water provide food.
Rafts and dugout canoes were probably the first vessels to take advantage of the buoyant property of water to carry people and goods. Attaching a sail to catch the wind reduced the need for muscle power in poling or rowing. The Egyptians sailed down the Nile by hoisting a large rectangular sail, but they had to row back up, because the wind always blows from north to south in Egypt, and the current flows from south to north. Small model boats like the one above were buried with important Egyptians for any trips they might need to take in the afterlife. . |
| By the fifth century B.C., the small, swift Greek trireme dominated the Mediterranean after defeating the larger but slower fleet of the Persian Navy at Salamis. Triremes were powered by two sails and three rows of oars. Planking on the hull was secured by mortice and tenon. |
| The Vikings or Norsemen from Scandinavia were the next great naval power, with their longships with menacing dragon's head prows. The hull was clinker-built, with overlapping planks. The Vikings were brutal fighters, terrorizing the people of northern Europe during the Dark Ages from 500-1000 A.D. |
| Beginning in the 16th century, warships and traders were constructed with carvel (edge-to-edge) planking. It was an age of worldwide trade made possible by such inventions as the cross-stave, sundial and astrolabe. By the 17th and 18th centuries, trading companies like the Dutch and English East India ran fleets of large ships capable of carrying large cargoes, fighting off pirates and accommodating wealthy business people in comfort. |
| In the 15th century, caravels were used by early Spanish and Portuguese explorers to carry gold, tobacco and coffee from the New World to the Old. Two of Columbus's ships were caravels. |
| By the 19th century, increased competition led to the need for speed. Clipper ships are fast sailing ships, especially ones with raking, or sloping, bows and masts. They were widely used for exploration and trading until the 1880s, when they were replaced by steamships. |
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| The Phoenicians were the greatest seafarers of the ancient world. They used two types of ships--squat, single-sail round boats for passengers and for trade with Egypt, and a longer galley propelled by oars with a sharp battering ram for a bow. Ramming enemy ships was the way early naval battles were fought. |