Development of Seagoing Vessels in the Ancient World

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Development of Seagoing Vessels in the Ancient World

Overview

The first seagoing vessels were developed by the Egyptians, followed by other peoples living on the Mediterranean Sea. These peoples developed seagoing vessels when they decided to venture out onto the seas in order to trade, conquer other lands, find new resources, and or simply to see what was beyond the next island. Seagoing travel was not possible until several inventions refined early shipbuilding techniques to make ships stronger and more seaworthy. From then on, commerce and contact expanded between the peoples of the Mediterranean, then throughout Europe and North Africa, and this commerce and contact eventually led to an exploration and understanding of the ancient world.

Background

The first vehicle to take to the water with a person aboard was probably a log, and the water crossed probably a river or a lake. Woven baskets lined with tar were sometimes used to carry food, clothing, and even babies across bodies of water. When desire and curiosity drove people to take longer trips on the water, they hollowed out logs and lashed them together. Early humans who lived where wood was scarce created usable craft by making sacks of animal skins, inflating them with air, then joining them together to make a raft. Clay pots were used the same way.

Waterborne vessels were used as early as 4000 b.c. From the remains of clay tablets and containers, historians know that the Mesopotamians (c. 3500-c. 500 b.c.) built boats of reeds coated with tar or of wood frames supported by inflated skins. These boats floated downstream and were used as floating stores from which food and goods were sold to people along the route. When they reached the end of the journey, the travelers took the boat apart, threw away the reeds, and sold the wood frames. They then loaded the skins onto pack animals and made their way back upstream on foot. These vehicles were used only on inland waterways, lakes, or rivers.

The earliest historical evidence of boats is from Egypt. From studying Egyptian art, scholars know that the early Egyptians built rafts from bundles of reeds that grew in abundance in the Nile Valley. These early boats were used only for transport along the Nile River. Archaeologists now have concrete evidence of early Egyptian boatbuilding techniques. In 2000, they excavated a boat at a royal burial site in Abydos, about 280 miles (450 km) south of Cairo. Other remains at the site indicate the boat was associated with pharaohs of the first dynasty, beginning about 3000 b.c. It is about 75 feet (25 m) long, 7-10 feet (about 2-3 m) wide at its widest, and less than 3 feet (1 m) deep, and appears to have been built from the outside in, rather than by a later technique of starting with an internal frame. It was made of thick wooden planks lashed together with rope fed through mortises. The boat-builders filled the seams between the planks with bundles of reeds to make the boat watertight. Judging by the length of the boat, it probably would have been propelled by as many as 30 rowers. Although experts believe it is an actual, rather than symbolic, boat, it was probably intended for use by a pharaoh in the afterlife.

Before any craft could be put out to sea, people had to design boats that could stand up to longer voyages on rougher water. The most important invention was a hull made of wood planking. The planked hull may have been a refinement of the dugout canoe, strengthened for sea travel with long planks of wood held snug against the sides of the dugout with reeds, cord, or twine. Wooden planks give a vessel stability and weight, and allow men to carry more goods and to propel the vehicle with oars. Two techniques of constructing wood-plank hulls developed in the first millennium b.c. Northern Europeans favored clinker construction, in which the hulls were built of overlapping timbers. In the Mediterranean, the boats were carvel-built; the planks in the hull were joined along their lengths to form a smooth surface.

The other important invention was a sail that allowed the boats to be propelled by wind. Sails could be made of fronds, woven reeds, or animal skins. Egyptians created the first-known examples of sails around 3000 b.c., first for traveling on the Nile and later for trips into the Mediterranean. Egyptian boats commonly featured oars in addition to sails, because they were traveling on the narrow channel of the Nile where winds were variable.

One motive for going to sea was to conquer other lands to acquire more territory or more power. Another motive was to obtain new sources for goods and to trade with nearby people and settlements for food, resources, and luxury items. The function of the ships determined their design. Long, narrow, rowed ships were used in warfare, because these ships needed speed and maneuverability, as well as room for carrying large numbers of fighting men. Vessels used for trading needed to have room for as much cargo as possible, but carried a small crew, so they had round bottoms. Trading ships were also taller than warships to prevent high seas from swamping the cargo.

Impact

The Egyptians put to sea as early as the third millennium b.c., sailing larger wooden versions of their reed boats. Most of their voyages were to Crete, and the boats built by the Minoans of Crete used Egyptian boatbuilding techniques. The Minoans were the first truly seafaring people. By around 2000 b.c., they had war galleys (vessels propelled primarily by oars) driven by many oarsmen on each side of the hull. The ships were probably built of planking, an Egyptian technique.

Phoenician seafarers dominated the eastern Mediterranean for about three centuries, beginning from about 1100 b.c. They knew Egyptian shipbuilding techniques and copied Minoan styles. Their galleys were long and narrow with high stern posts and low bows to which a heavy, pointed ram was attached. The ships were rowed by two tiers of oarsmen and controlled by a single steering oar and a single pole mast with a square sail.

The early Greek ships were long and narrow, with several tiers of oarsmen. The first ships were called penteconters and had about 25 oarsmen on each side of the ship. Penteconters were used in exploring and for communicating with outlying colonies. They were also used for raiding, and carried soldiers who then went ashore or boarded other ships to fight an enemy. As the Greeks spread commerce, they eventually needed protection at sea. The first galley built primarily for fighting was the unireme (from the Latin word remus, meaning "oar"). In the eighth century b.c., the Greeks developed the bireme, a ship with two banks of oars (the number of banks is the number of rowers on each oar or bank of oars, not the number of layers of oarsmen).

As Greek power increased in the sixth and fifth century b.c., they developed their most effective ancient warship, the trireme. The trireme had a single mast with a broad, rectangular sail that could be furled, and was manned by about 200 officers, seaman, and oarsmen. It had three tiers of oarsmen on each side of the boat, up to 85 a side. The deck was open in the center, only partially covering the area below to give rowers air and space. Triremes were graceful, maneuverable, and fast. Their main armament was a ram covered with bronze, which was designed to pierce the hulls of enemy warships. The triremes of the Athenian fleet defeated the Persians at Salamis in 480 b.c. and continued as the backbone of the Greek fleet from that time. Although effective in warfare, they had little room for provisions and usually put into shore at night to take on fresh supplies. In spite of this, they helped to create the Athenian Empire, spread Greek culture around the Mediterranean, and establish Greek colonies in Italy, North Africa, and western Turkey.

Triremes reached their highest point of development in the fifth century b.c. From that time, ships with ever-increasing numbers of banks were built. In the middle of the fourth century, the Athenians built quadriremes (four banks), followed by quinqueremes (five banks). Late in the fourth century and early in the third, the rulers of Macedonia built 18-banked ships crewed by 1,800 men. Rulers in Egypt built ships with 20 and 30 banks, but Ptolemy III topped them all with a 40-bank ship which would have required 4,000 rowers, if it had actually put to sea.

When the breakup of the empire of Alexander the Great in the late fourth century b.c. ended Greek naval domination, sea power developed in other parts of the Mediterranean. By about 300 b.c., Carthage, a Phoenician city on the north coast of Africa, became the foremost naval power in the area. Also at this time, the city-state of Rome began to expand south through Italy. When Rome collided with Carthage, the result was the First Punic War, which began in 264 b.c. Rome was not a naval power, but the conflict with Carthage convinced the Romans that they needed a navy. Using shipbuilders from defeated Greek city-states and knowledge they gained from Carthage, the Romans built a fleet of triremes and quinqueremes. Although these early ships were large, the Romans later developed the liburnian, a light, fast unireme with two banks of oars, which they used for escorting merchant ships and fighting pirates. Liburnians eventually became the most common form of Roman warship. The Romans defeated the Carthaginians in 184 b.c., taking control of the Mediterranean Sea and dominating it for several centuries.

The development of vessels that could travel the oceans made possible the dissemination of cultures, knowledge, and goods between the peoples of the Mediterranean, then Europe and North Africa and eventually led to man's exploration and understanding of the world. The conflicts that resulted from this were essential, if unhappy, steps in the evolution of the ancient world.

LYNDALL BAKER LANDAUER