Very little is known about the ship which brought the Pilgrims to New England. No name is given in Bradford’s History Of Plimoth Plantation, nor in the other early accounts. The first mention occurred in … Continue reading
After several experiments with fitting steam engines in boats, the first steamboats appeared between 1800 and 1815. Driven by paddlewheels, they were used for towing barges on rivers and canals, and also as harbor tugs. … Continue reading
The three voyages of Captain James Cook (1768-71, 1772-75, and 1776-79) mapped the Pacific Ocean from Cape Horn to Australia, from the Antarctic to Alaska. Helped by accurate new clockwork time- keepers to measure the … Continue reading
By the eighteenth century, the world’s richest cargoes were carried by the big armed merchantmen of the Dutch , English, and French East India companies. Trading with India and the Far East, the East Indiamen … Continue reading
Established by the mid-seventeenth century as the most powerful type of sailing battleship, the ship of the line remained supreme until the coming of steam and armor plate in the late 1850s. Ships of the … Continue reading
By 1588, when the Spanish armada sailed against England, the latest type of warship had yet to be proved in battle. The last big sea battle, at Lepanto in the Mediterranean in 1571, had been … Continue reading
Until the reign of king Henry VIII of England (1509-47), warships were mainly troop transports, which captured enemy ships by closing and boarding. But Henry VIII ordered the building of carrack-type warships armed with batteries … Continue reading
Christopher Columbus changed the history of the world when he crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 1492 and discovered the islands of the West Indies. He was trying to find a westward maritime route to the … Continue reading
For nearly 800 years, European ships kept the clinker-built hull of overlapping lanks and square sail known to the Vikings. By the thirteenth century the stern and bow has been built up into “castle” structures, … Continue reading
For over 250 years, between about 800 and 1070, the wonderful longships of Scandinavia carried Viking warriors and traders to every country in northwest Europe, into the Mediterranean, down the great rivers of Russia to … Continue reading