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If you enjoy canoeing, rafting, or motorboating, you are enjoying one of the most
ancient form of transportation developed by humans. The first column in this series
dealt with walking as the most basic form of transportation humans use. Using
watercraft to negotiate rivers, streams, and lakes was the next step to easier long
distance travel. Early men observed logs floating on water, and some adventurous fellow undoubtedly jumped on one just to see where it would take him. From there, it is not a great leap of imagination to simply bind several logs together with vines or leather strips to build a raft. The great art of boatbuilding began with the construction of the simple raft, the most primitive form of watercraft. And thus began the history of the boat Although simple, don't underestimate the versatility and durability of the raft. Thor Heyerdahl proved the feasibility of travelers settling the Polynesian Islands using rafts from South America. He and his hardy crew traveled 4300 nautical miles on the balsa raft Kon-Tiki. A nautical mile is approximately 1.15 land miles. The area in which people lived and the materials available, dictated what types of boats were built by early cultures. People living in heavily forested temperate climates built log dugouts using fire or stone scrapers to hollow out logs. These boats were heavy and not very maneuverable. American Indians in the northwest developed this type of boat to its highest form. People in the arid Mediterranean and Mesopotamian areas developed boats made of reed, a plentiful plant found in the Nile, Euphrates and Tigris rivers. These boats were first built about 5000 years ago by the Sumaerians and Egyptians. Thor Heyerdahl also tested this type of boat during a long voyage and found reed boats to also be quite durable. Arctic peoples built small, skin covered boats, like the kayak and coracle, using lightweight wood framework covered with animal skins. These types of boats are quite seaworthy and are used for travel and hunting. Canoes were developed by many primitive societies. The American Indian's canoes were the best in the world. Some of these were up to forty six feet long, and used extremely strong and flexible construction techniques. These types of boats have been used since the dawn of human history. It is difficult to assess just when these boats were first used, but they have long been an important part of our heritage. The first steps in naval architecture occurred when builders learned to build boats with wooden boards over a wooden framework. Wooden dugout canoes apparently formed the framework for this type of boat, which first appeared very early in our history, during the Bronze Age, about 3000 B. C. These early wooden ships used a combination of wind and oar for power and were called galleys. Egyptian boats from about 3000 B. C. accommodated about twenty oarsmen and several head of cattle, or cargo of similar weight. Later Greek and Roman ships were of similar design, and held a complement of about 220 men, mostly oarsmen. The Vikings were also accomplished boat builders, and they used an innovative construction process called lapstraking. In this construction technique the boards overlap each other, similar to weatherboarding on a house. These sturdy boats had banks of up to sixty-four or more oars, and enabled the Vikings to range far and wide. They colonized Iceland and Greenland with them, and apparently reached North America around the year 1000 A. D, the first Europeans in history to do so. By the end of the Middle Ages, galleys had been developed to hold up to about 1200 men, three masts, forty oars and several cannon. Design differences between merchant boats and warship until now had been minimal. Ships with both sails and oars were used as both merchant and warship. Ships powered only by oar were used mostly as warships. By the time of Christopher Columbus improvements in sail and hull design allowed the development of sail-only ships. The caravel, built primarily by Spain and Portugal, was among the first of the 'all sail' ships. Small and sturdy, the caravel was the ship used by Columbus on his first historic voyages to America, and saw service transporting the Spanish Conquistadores in their explorations around the world. Great Britain dominated the world with the legendary 'great ships' of legend which they excelled in constructing in the 16th and 17th century. The romantic sailing ship of that era had four to five masts and had as many as sixty guns. Merchant ships were somewhat smaller, but of similar design. These ships were large and impressive, but weren't very fast. Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. During the Revolutionary period, Americans needed smaller, faster ships for illegal trading. New England sloops and schooners easily outpaced the great ships from other nations. The famous 'Baltimore Clipper' ships set speed records and aided in blockade running and privateering. American clippers dominated world trade for almost 100 years, until the British came up with a better hull design. This was the composite hull, which consisted of wood planking over an iron frame. The Cutty Sark was the most famous ship using this construction. The developement of boats was an important step in transportation history as it enabled humans to take advantage of waterways as a faster, easier method of travel than overland on foot. History Of Ships Back To Transportation History |