Reading Task 4

The Making of the Ship

(a) EVOLUTION

The earliest and simplest means of water carriage employed by man consisted of the rafts of floating logs, which have doubtless been used since the dawn of the human race for carrying men and their property.

This early and crude form was supplemented by the "dug-out," found in all parts of the world, and made from the hollowed-out trunk of a tree. Later followed various forms of the canoe; often a mere framework of bone or wooden ribs covered with hides or tree-bark. This led to the conventional built-up boat, however, remained of the open or undecked type.

Decked craft are of unknown antiquity; but it is certain that the ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans all possessed ships of this class, capable of transporting large numbers of men, that these vessels were composed of keels, frames and beams, and had decks and planking secured by fastenings of metal or wood, and that they were also fitted with the conventional appliances for rowing, sailing, steering and anchoring.

In B.C. 350 the Greeks are known to have possessed a navy and dockyards, and from this time forward, through­out the Mediterranean, great progress was made in maritime affairs with regard to the transportation by ships both of men and goods.

The Phoenicians were the first to construct warships (of the "galley" type) about 900 B.C., propulsion being effected by two banks of oars. The Greeks later em­ployed oars arranged in several banks, and rising in tiers one above the other, a type which existed among the Mediterranean nations for ships (both of War and State) until well into the middle ages.

The later merchant ships of the Western Mediterranean nations in general did not differ greatly from the war­ships of the time, although there seems to be more dis­tinction of this kind among those of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Source: SHIPS & SHIPPING: A HANDBOOK OF POPULAR NAUTICAL INFORMATION; WITH NUMEROUS DIAGRAMS PLANS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 1903

What is the most important element of the text above?