History of Ship

Humans have tended to live near water, and it is natural to make use of things that float. Logs or bundles of reeds can be lashed together to form rafts; hollow trunks can be improved to become dugout canoes. Once the principle of a watertight hull is understood, animal hides or the bark of trees can be attached to a framework of bamboo or wicker to make a simple coracle.

Boats of all these kinds have been made by technologically primitive communities, and many continue to be made into the 20th century.

If planks are added to raise the edges of a dugout canoe, with wooden struts to hold them in place, the primitive boatbuilder is already on the way towards the only design of wooden boat capable of being built on a large scale. This consists of a keel to which a ribbed frame is attached - much as animal ribs curve outwards from a backbone.

Planks are attached to these ribs. They either overlap (clinker-built) or are fastened edge-to-edge (carvel-built). These remain the basic designs for large boats and ships until the gradual introduction of metal hulls in the 19th century.

Egypt and Mesopotamia: from 3000 BC

Both the earliest civilizations, the Egyptian and the Mesopotamian, make extensive use of boats for transport on the Nile, Euphrates and Tigris. The Nile in particular provides a superbly predictable thoroughfare, for the wind always blows from north to south and the current always flows from south to north. Egyptian boats sail upstream, hoisting a large rectangular sail, and then are rowed back down the river.

Phoenician design: from 1100 BC

The Phoenician fleet contains two markedly different designs of ship. A squat and tubby sailing vessel, rounded at both ends, is used for carrying goods and passengers. A longer boat, also rounded at the stern but with a sharp battering ram for a bow, is for war; this warship is a galley, propelled by oars, making possible bursts of speed and rapid manoeuvres.

The first Roman navy: 260-255 BC
During the opening skirmishes of the first Punic War the Romans capture a Carthaginian warship which has run aground. It is of a kind only recently introduced in Mediterranean navies. As a quinquereme, with five banks of oars (rowed by 300 oarsmen), it is larger and heavier than the triremes which have been the standard ship of Greek warfare. Since victory at sea involves ramming other ships, the extra size is important.

Rowing into battle: for 2000 years

The main ingredients of naval warfare remain essentially the same throughout the classical and medieval centuries. Long, narrow ships, powered by banks of oarsmen, circle each other attempting either to ram the enemy or to grapple a ship so that marines can board it and slaughter the crew. Such encounters continue until 1571, when the battle of Lepanto is the last great engagement between warships propelled by oars.

Longships: 7th - 11th century

A swift design of boat powered by oars is developed in northwest Europe, from the 5th century onwards, when the Germanic tribes begin raiding by sea. It is best known, in a later form, as the Viking longship.This type of boat features already in the 7th century in the Sutton Hoo ship burial. The shape of the Sutton Hoo ship is known only from the traces left by its timbers in the earth, but a smaller boat of similar kind was found at Nydam in Schleswig in 1863. More elaborate longships of the 9th century survive in excellent preservation from two Norwegian ship burials, excavated at Gokstad in 1880 and at Oseberg in 1903.

The Chinese junk: 12th century - 15th century

The design of the Chinese junk (a western word from the Malayan djong, meaning 'boat') is perfected during the later part of the Song dynasty, when the loss of the northern empire increases the importance of overseas trade. A merchant fleet, and a navy to defend it, become essential. The resulting junk is an ideal craft for the South China seas.

Multiple masts and sails: 15th century

The humble European cargo ship - slow, tubby and propelled by a single sail, as opposed to the sleek lines of a galley with its crew of oarsmen - has changed little in design since the ships of the Phoenicians. In 1400 such a vessel still has a single mast in the centre of the ship. And it still carries a single sail, in most cases a rectangle of canvas set square against the mast.

Carracks, galleons and galleys: 16th century

The largest European sailing ship of the 15th century is the Spanish carrack, easily outdoing the caravel in tonnage (more than 1000 tons compared to an average of 250 for the caravel). The carrack becomes the standard vessel of Atlantic trade and adventure in the mid-16th century, until an important modification is made to its design.

East Indiamen: 17th - 18th century

The great value of trade from India and the East Indies prompts the various East India companies - and particularly those of England and Holland - to invest in magnificent ocean-going merchant ships. They need to be capacious to store the cargo; they need to be strong and well-armed to fight off pirates or even the ships of rival companies; and they need to be comfortable for their captains and for important passengers, busy making fortunes in the east.

Wilkinson's iron boat: 1787

In 1787 an unusual barge is launched on the Severn in Shropshire. John Wilkinson's successful manufacture of cannon, mortars and shells has been presenting him with transport problems. There are as yet no railways; the roads are almost impassable for such heavy items in bulk; wooden barges can be fragile.

The Laird brothers: 1832-1839

The most extensive contribution to the development of iron steamships takes place in a Liverpool shipyard in the 1830s. It is owned by the Laird family.

In the early 1830s John Laird designs two paddle steamers which are sent from Liverpool in pieces to be assembled on site - in 1833 the Lady Lansdowne travels to Dublin, in 1834 the John Randolph goes to Savannah in the USA. But in 1832 John's younger brother Macgregor has designed an iron paddle steamer, the Alburkah, which is capable of making its own way to its destination - in this case to the Niger river in west Africa, where the Lairds hope to trade. Macgregor Laird takes personal charge of the expedition.