Ship

I

Introduction

Ship, vessel that is buoyant in the water and used to transport people or cargo from one place to another via rivers, lakes, or oceans. Traditionally, ships were distinguished from boats by size—any buoyant vessel small enough to fit on board a ship was considered a boat. However, common usage has blurred the distinction between boats and ships, and today the difference between them is arbitrary.

From prehistoric craft made from animal skins stretched over wooden frames to nuclear-powered aircraft carriers that transport 5,000 people and 85 airplanes, ships have always reflected the values and technologies of the societies that built them. Ancient traders of the Mediterranean built swift-sailing ships with large cargo holds. Their warring successors added oars to increase maneuverability in battle. The Spanish and Portuguese built small, seaworthy craft to carry their best sailors to new lands, then huge merchant vessels to haul the newly claimed riches, and finally fleets of warships to protect their growing wealth. At the end of the 16th century, shipbuilders changed their focus to passenger service as they sought to accommodate the increasing number of people immigrating to Australia and the Americas. They shifted from sail power to steam power and built ships that crossed the ocean in about one-fourth the time of their predecessors. When the jet airplane drastically reduced ship travel in the 20th century, shipbuilders again focused on the transport of cargo, turning out large tankers, the most massive ships ever afloat.

Despite their seemingly endless variety, all ships share a few basic elements. All ships have a main body, or hull, capable of displacing an amount of water equal to or greater than its own weight and the weight of its cargo. At the front end of the hull is the bow (or prow), and at the rear end is the stern. A ship’s size is expressed in terms of the dimensions of its hull—that is, its length, breadth, and volume in tons (calculated by dividing the cubic footage of the hull by 100). All ships also have a steering system and a propulsion system—that is, a device or system of devices that moves them through the water. Like ships themselves, hulls, propulsion systems, and steering systems grew more complex through time.

II

The Earliest Ships

Historians surmise that the earliest ships appeared around 16,000 bc in Europe, and perhaps earlier in Asia and Africa. Little archaeological evidence for these prehistoric vessels survives because they were made from perishable materials. Prehistoric drawings illustrate that reindeer hunters of central and western Europe made hulls of animal skins sewn together around a birch wood frame, and archaeologists have discovered vessels made from skin and reindeer antlers dating from 9000 bc. Seal hunters plied the frigid waters of the northern Atlantic in boats constructed from sealskin stretched over frames of wood or whalebone. Ancient peoples used coracles, round, skin-covered vessels with wicker frames, to fish the lakes and rivers of what are now Ireland and Wales. Larger but similarly constructed currachs could sail the open waters of northern Europe. Hunters and fishers all over the world constructed similar hulls from birch bark, balsa wood, papyrus, ox hide, and other local materials.

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The skin boat was followed by the dugout, a simple hull made from a hollowed out tree trunk. The oldest known dugout dates from about 6000 bc and was discovered in what is now The Netherlands. Technical advances in dugout design appeared shortly thereafter. Ancient boat builders hollowed through the stern of the vessel, then inserted a separate piece of wood, called a transom, to make the craft watertight. They widened dugouts by splitting the hollowed trunk and inserting a plank between the two pieces. They lashed planks to the sides to gain additional height. Many ancient shipwrights embellished their craft with animal heads, beginning the long tradition of decorating and distinguishing a vessel with a figurehead.

III

Sailing Vessels

Sailing vessels harness the energy of the wind to propel their hulls through the water. They catch the wind in sheets of cloth or fiber, called sails, suspended from wooden or metal poles called masts. The invention of the sail revolutionized the ship and dominated the course of ship construction until the 19th century.

A

Earliest Sailing Vessels

The earliest representation of a ship under sail appears on an Egyptian vase from about 3500 bc. Early Egyptian sailing vessels consisted of a wooden framework covered with papyrus reeds or wood lashed together with rope. Large trees did not grow in the region, so Egyptians imported timbers from nearby Lebanon or lashed small wood blocks together and secured them with pegs. The wood swelled when submerged, forming a nearly watertight seal. Smaller sailing vessels harnessed the wind with two sails. Larger Egyptian sailboats captured the wind with a single square sail and were steered with two steering oars mounted on the stern.

Maritime historians know a good deal about ships of this period because the Egyptians sometimes buried pharaohs with ships to transport them in the afterlife. One such funeral ship was unearthed in 1954 during excavation of the Great Pyramid of Giza. This ship was constructed for the pharaoh Khufu, also called Cheops, around 2600 bc. Remarkably well preserved, it was constructed from wood planks and timbers and measures approximately 38 m (125 ft) long. Historians learned a great deal about Egyptian shipbuilding techniques from this vessel, which has come to be known as the Cheops ship.

The most able shipbuilders of ancient times were the Phoenicians. They constructed merchant vessels capable of carrying large cargoes between the colonies that rimmed the Mediterranean Sea, such as Carthage in North Africa and Cádiz in Spain. Phoenician merchants built hulls from sturdy wood planks and partially covered them with a platform, or deck, that protected the crew and cargo from weather and ocean spray. Merchant ship design steadily improved, enabling the Phoenicians to navigate beyond the Mediterranean Sea as far as the British Isles and the Canary Islands.

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