How long have ships been around

The Chinese junks were used as transport and fighting ships, and were in use long before western ships that included such features. These masted sailing ships were used as trade vessels, by explorers, to transport cargo, and as battleships. Previously, yachts had been used by the Dutch navy. After Charles II used a yacht, they became vessels that were known to transport important persons.

Steamships used a combination of wind and steam power to move. The ocean going liners were also driven by a propeller instead of sails like many earlier ships. Other similar boats featured paddle wheels on each side and were called paddle steamers. Paddle steamers were mainly used for transport on rivers. The boats were designed to float on cushions of air and the engine was designed to blow air into these cushions providing both propulsion and lift.

The ship was designed to carry the containers stacked on the deck. Modern cargo ships can normally hold up to one thousand containers at a time. Cruise ships featured shops, restaurants, and other types of recreation. Privacy Policy Terms of Use Sitemap. Viking Yachts Okean Yachts Valhalla Boatworks Two Oceans He used the same stone tools; had no jewelry and hunting was limited to small animals.

But around 50 Kya, there is evidence of a HUGE change: artefacts found around burial sites become much more sophisticated. They include: art jewelry and drawings , advanced tools needles and nets and long-distance weapons bows and arrows.

This progress is attributed to mutations which allowed the use of language and abstract thought. Homo Sapiens truly became Modern Man. Homo Sapiens undoubtedly improved upon the crude rafts of Homo Erectus. On this page, we consider boats which existed before metal tools were developped and cities arose.

More specifically, before wood planks allowed the construction of large ships for war and commerce around 3,BCE. Evidence of the nature of these early boats comes from unearthed remains, petroglyphs and other drawings - starting around 10, BCE 12 Kya. To this we can add boats that are in use today but could have been constructed with stone-age tools. Boats types fall into several categories depending on the materials and tools used in their construction: Rafts using bamboo, logs or reeds Dug-out canoes Leather boats Prehistoric Rafts Anything that floats can be lashed together to make a raft and serve as a boat.

Only primitive cutting tools are required. Bamboo, wood logs and reeds have all been used as raw materials, tied together with vines or palm fibers. Early rafts served as fishing platforms, allowed transportation across bodies of water and even formed floating islands for villages. Raft propulsion is achieved by pushing with poles, pulling with ropes or paddling. When floating down rivers, the current does all the work. Later, sails will be added to reduce effort going downwind; but rafts have no keel or shape to keep them moving in a straight line, so steering is always difficult.

Nothing remains of these early boats - which have long since rotted away - but watercraft still in use today in remote areas provide examples of what early boats must have looked like. Below, click on images to enlarge!

Use the arrows to move to new images. Primitive Log Raft First Mariners Project Flores to Timor on Hominid Raft In some areas, the primitive log raft evolved into more elaborate versions with a tapered shape and an odd number of curved logs often held together with sharpened hardwood pins.

Examples below are from India around Chennai and medieval Japan. Tamil Boat, Kattumaram India Primitive rafts with modern materials Boy on styrofoam raft in Manila Bay Guardian Gaza fisherman floating on plastic bottles Times of Israel Aug Kon-Tiki Raft Thor Heyerdahl In , a Norwegian expedition sailed miles accross the Pacific on a Balsa log raft built with primitive materials and techniques, showing that ancient craft were capable of long distance ocean crossings.

But now, synthetic ropes are used and the ends are often curled up by steam. The rafts are used for fishing, ferrying and, more recently, " Ecotourism ". They were used in areas where wood was scarce, like Egypt and Iraq, before efficient wood-working tools were developped. Petroglyphs from the Mesolithic period Azerbaijan, 12, - 7, BCE show large reed boats and remains of a year old reed boat were found in Kuwait. Nowadays, the most primitive examples are the one-man boats made from banana stalks used on Lake Baringo.

The most complex are found on Lake Titicaca on the border of Peru and Bolivia. Here large boats made up of millions of Totora reeds can support as many as 60 people. Reed boats are still used in Peru and Ethiopia.

Fire can also serve to hollow out the core. Suitable tools appear around 12, years ago Mesolithic period and one can assume that canoes of some form would be developped shortly therafter; but more precise chronology must rely on the discovery of datable artefacts.

The oldest boat found so far is the 3 meter wood canoe shown below, constructed around 8, BCE [ Wikipedia ]. On the low end, ships designed for the grain trade might carry 75 tons. Some of the bigger grain vessels carried as much as tons. These were the workhorses of the fleet, plying regular routes from North Africa and Gaul France with loads of wheat or barley. Then there were the bigger ships, loaded with perhaps amphorae of olive oil.

Their size and cargo has been confirmed by the many wrecks found in shallow waters. One ship that floundered off Gaul in the C1st BC, was feet long with an estimated capacity of tons. Roman 10,amphorae carriers, ladened with tons, were the largest ships afloat. One of the biggest of all Roman monsters was Caligula's Giant Ship. Remains found during the excavation for Rome's international airport suggest a length of perhaps metres ft and a beam of about It was 6 decks high, displacing around tons, and carrying a crew of Some of these Roman vessels remained the largest thing on the Mediterranean for many centuries, until they were overtaken by the bigger vessels in the Middle Ages.

It was the Vikings who assumed the mantle of the world's master mariners. They were able to conquer land as well as water with their light, graceful and manoeuvrable vessels, which they carried over small necks of dry land to get to the sea beyond. With their shallow draft, Viking ships could reach speeds of between 5—10 kn. The top speed of a longship under favorable conditions was around 15 kn. One replica longship covered nautical miles km in a single day.

We are familiar with the great voyages of discovery of Christopher Columbus, beginning in —93, and Vasco da Gama, who carried out two expeditions from Compare them to the fleet of somebody we hear much less about, the much earlier Chinese Explorer Zheng He, in the years According to some accounts, the great treasure ships of Zheng's armada had nine masts on foot m decks. They were candidates for the largest wooden ships ever built. By they reached Africa's Swahili coast, with a side trip to Mecca.

In medieval times, the speed of a ship was strictly governed by its dimensions. It could rarely if ever exceed its hull speed.

In knots that came to 1. So the hull speed of a vessel 50 feet long would be 9. Generally, however, sailing vessels would keep to a top speed of around kn. Some went faster, depending on how they were built and the setting of the sails and the quality of the crew. The list of the longest wooden ships includes such behemoths as Henry V's flagship Grace Dieu, completed in , measuring Over the next years vessels did not become vastly bigger.

At Bigger still was the 69 m ft HMS Victory, built in