Ships
- Since the end of the age of sail a ship has been any large buoyant watercraft. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on size and cargo or passenger capacity. Ships are used on lakes, seas, and rivers for a variety of activities, such as the transport of people or goods, fishing, entertainment,public safety, and warfare. Historically, a "ship" was a vessel with sails rigged in a specific manner.
- Ships and boats have developed alongside mankind. In armed conflict and in daily life they have become an integral part of modern commercial and military systems. Fishing boats are used by millions of fishermen throughout the world. Military forces operate vessels for combat and to transport and support forces ashore. Commercial vessels, nearly 35,000 in number, carried 7.4 billion tons of cargo in 2007
- Ships were a key in history's great explorations and scientific and technological development. Navigators such as Zheng He spread such inventions as the compass and gunpowder. Ships have been used for such purposes as colonization and the slave trade, and have served scientific, cultural, and humanitarian needs. After the 16th century, new crops that had come from and to the Americas via the European seafarers significantly contributed to the world's population growth.Maritime transport has shaped the world's economy into today's energy-intensive pattern.
Nomenclature
- Ships can usually be distinguished from boats based on size and the ship's ability to operate independently for extended periods. A commonly usedrule of thumb is that if one vessel can carry another, the larger of the two is a ship. Dinghies are carried on sailing yachts as small as 35 feet (10.67 m), clearly not ships; this rule of thumb is not foolproof.
- In the age of sail, a "ship" was a sailing vessel with at least three square-rigged masts and a full bowsprit; other types of vessel were also defined by their sailplan, e.g. barque, brigantine, etc.
- A number of large vessels are usually referred to as boats. Submarines are a prime example. Other types of large vessel which are traditionally called boats are the Great Lakes freighter, the riverboat, and theferryboat.[citation needed] Though large enough to carry their own boats and heavy cargoes, these vessels are designed for operation on inland or protected coastal waters.
- In most maritime traditions ships have individual names, and modern ships may belong to a ship class often named after its first ship. In English, a ship is traditionally referred to as "she", even if named after a man, but this is not universal usage; some journalistic style guides advise using "it",others advise "she" and "her".
History
- The first known vessels date back to the Neolithic Period, about 10,000 years ago, but could not be described as ships. The first navigators began to use animal skins or woven fabrics as sails. Affixed to the top of a pole set upright in a boat, these sails gave early ships range. This allowed men to explore widely, allowing, for example the settlement of Oceania about 3,000 years ago.By around 3000 BC, Ancient Egyptians knew how to assemble wooden planks into a hull.[9] They used woven straps to lash the planks together,and reeds or grass stuffed between the planks helped to seal the seams.[9][10] The Greek historian and geographer Agatharchides had documented ship-faring among the early Egyptians: "During the prosperous period of the Old Kingdom, between the 30th and 25th centuries B. C., the river-routes were kept in order, and Egyptian ships sailed theRed Sea as far as the myrrh-country." Sneferu's ancient cedar wood ship Praise of the Two Lands is the first reference recorded (2613 BCE) to a ship being referred to by name.The ancient Egyptians were perfectly at ease building sailboats. A remarkable example of their shipbuilding skills was the Khufu ship, a vessel 143 feet (44 m) in length entombed at the foot of the Great Pyramid of Giza around 2500 BC and found intact in 1954.It is known that ancient Nubia/Axum traded with India, and there is evidence that ships from Northeast Africa may have sailed back and forth between India/Sri Lanka and Nubia trading goods and even to Persia, Himyar and Rome. Aksum was known by theGreeks for having seaports for ships from Greece and Yemen.A panel found at Mohenjodaro, depicted a sailing craft. Vessels were of many types Their construction is vividly described in the Yukti Kalpa Taru, an ancient Indian text on shipbuilding. This treatise gives a technical exposition on the techniques of shipbuilding. It sets forth minute details about the various types of ships, their sizes, and the materials from which they were built. The Yukti Kalpa Taru sums up in a condensed form all the available information. The Yukti Kalpa Taru gives sufficient information and dates to prove that, in ancient times, Indian shipbuilders had a good knowledge of the materials which were used in building ships. In addition to describing the qualities of the different types of wood and their suitability for shipbuilding, the Yukti Kalpa Taru gives an elaborate classification of ships based on their size.By about 2000 BC, the Minoan civilization in Crete had evolved into a naval power exercising effective control of the sea in the easternMediterranean.The Phoenicians, the first to sail completely around Africa, and Greeks gradually mastered navigation at sea aboard triremes, exploring and colonizing the Mediterranean via ship. Around 340 BC, the Greek navigator Pytheas of Massalia ventured from Greece toWestern Europe and Great Britain. In the course of the 2nd century BC, Rome went on to destroy Carthage and subdue theHellenistic kingdoms of the eastern Mediterranean, achieving complete mastery of the inland sea, that they called Mare Nostrum. Themonsoon wind system of the Indian Ocean was first sailed by Greek navigator Eudoxus of Cyzicus in 118 BC. With 300 Greek ships a year sailing between Roman Empire and India, the annual trade may have reached 300,000 tons.In China, by the time of the Zhou Dynasty ship technologies such as stern mounted rudders were developed, and by the Han Dynasty, a well kept naval fleet was an integral part of the military. Ship technology advanced to the point where by the medieval period, water tight compartments were developed.The Swahili people had various extensive trading ports dotting the coast of medieval East Africa and Great Zimbabwe had extensive trading contacts with Central Africa, and likely also imported goods brought to Africa through the Southeast African shore trade of Kilwa in modern-day Tanzania.It is known by historians that at its height the Mali Empire built a large naval fleet under Emperor Mansa Musa in the late 13th and early 14th century.[ Arabic sources describe what some consider to be visits to the New World by a Mali fleet in 1311.[Before the introduction of the compass, celestial navigation was the main method for navigation at sea. In China, early versions of the magnetic compass were being developed and used in navigation between 1040 and 1117.[The true mariner's compass, using a pivoting needle in a dry box, was developed in Europe no later than 1300.
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