By Tim Lambert
Ancient Ships
The earliest boats were dugout canoes. People lit a fire on a big log, then put it out and dug out the burned wood.
About 3,100 BC, the Egyptians invented the sailing boat. They were made of bundles of papyrus reeds tied together. They had simple square sails made of sheets of papyrus or, later, of linen. However, the sail could only be used when sailing in one direction. When travelling against the wind, the boat had to be rowed.
About 2,700 BC, the Egyptians began using wooden ships for trade by sea. Early ships were steered by a long oar.
The Ancient Greeks built ships called triremes. They had three rows of oars. Two rows poked out of portholes. The third row was on the top deck. Ships were armed with a ram at the prow. (To try and ram enemy ships).
The earliest ships used large stones as anchors. The anchor as we know it was invented by the Ancient Greeks.
Roman ships had a single main mast, which carried a rectangular sail, although some ships also had small sails at the bow and stern. Roman ships did not have rudders. Instead, they were steered by oars. The Romans also built lighthouses to aid shipping.
In the 2nd century, the lateen sail was invented in the Mediterranean. A lateen sail is a triangular sail. A lateen sail can be adjusted to catch wind from different angles. Lateen sails made ships more manoeuvrable.
Medieval Ships
The Vikings built long and slender ships called longboats for raiding. Longboats could be up to 23 meters long. For trade, they built shorter and broader ships called knorrs. The Vikings also built a type of little rowing boat with 4 oars called a faering and a boat with 6 oars called a sexaering, which were used for fishing. Viking ships were clinker-built i.e. they were made with overlapping planks. They had a single square sail and up to 50 oars.
During the Middle Ages, several useful inventions were made at sea. By the 12th century, Europeans had learned to use a compass. Also, in the 12th century, Europeans invented the rudder. (The Chinese independently invented it centuries before.) Rudders made ships much easier to steer. Furthermore, Medieval shipbuilding became more advanced, and by the 15th century, ships were made with three masts.
In the 2nd century, the lateen sail was invented in the Mediterranean. A lateen sail is a triangular sail. A lateen sail can be adjusted to catch wind from different angles. Lateen sails made ships more manoeuvrable. In the Middle Ages, lateen sails were introduced into Europe. They were added to ships with square sails, making them more efficient vessels.
On 23 September 1338, the English and the French fought a naval battle. Records say that an English ship called The Cristofer had 3 cannons and a handgun. It was the first recorded time that a ship used guns in battle.
Ships in the Age of Discovery
In the 15th century, the Portuguese improved navigation. That enabled Europeans to sail farther than ever. Portuguese ships sailed around Africa and reached India by sea. Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic.
On 6 September 1522, a Spanish ship called the Vittorio reached Spain after sailing around the world, the first ship to do so.
Henry VIII’s ship, The Mary Rose, was launched in 1511. a new kind of warship. In the Middle Ages, battles at sea were like battles on land. On both ends of the ship were raised decks called castles from which archers could rain arrows on enemy sailors. Ships would then grapple, and sailors fought hand-to-hand. In the 15th century, guns were mounted on the top deck.
At the beginning of the 16th century, the design of ships changed. Before then, English ships were usually clinker-built i.e. they were built with overlapping planks. Then ships began to be carvel-built i.e. they were built with planks laid side by side. That allowed shipwrights to cut hatches called ports in the sides of the ship through which guns could be fired.
To navigate, Tudor sailors had a compass and they had books called rutters, which contained details of the shoreline, currents, make-up of the seabed etc. To measure depth, they used a lead weight on a rope with knots tied at intervals. At the bottom of the weight was a recess filled with tallow. It was used to bring up a sample of the seabed.
To measure speed, a log reel was used. A rope with knots tied at intervals was wound around a reel. One end was tied to a wooden board that was thrown into the sea. The rope was gradually unreeled, and using a sand timer, the sailors measured how many knots went out in an hour.
On 19 July 1545, the Mary Rose sank near Portsmouth while fighting the French. The ship was raised in 1982 and became a great museum.
In 1628, a Swedish ship, the Vasa, sank on its maiden voyage. Vasa was raised in 1961 and is now in a museum in Stockholm.
In the 17th century, the Dutch developed yachts as leisure vessels. They were introduced into England at the time of King Charles II. The first recorded yacht race in England was in 1661.
In 1761, John Harrison invented the marine chronometer, which greatly aided ships’ navigation. For the first time, a ship’s longitude could be accurately measured.
The first lightship, a floating lighthouse, was stationed in the Thames Estuary in 1732.
No one man invented the lifeboat. As so often happens with inventions, several men had a similar idea around the same time. But Lionel Lukin was a pioneer. He patented an unsinkable boat in 1785. The first purpose-built lifeboat was built in South Shields, England, in 1789 by Henry Greathead. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution was founded in 1824 by Sir William Hillary.
Before 1776, prisoners from Britain were sometimes transported to the North American colonies. However, in that year, the colonies rebelled, so the British government began to use old ships as prisons. They were called hulks. From 1787, prisoners were transported to Australia, but they were often held on hulks before being transported. During the Napoleonic Wars, French prisoners of war were also held on hulks. Hulks were abolished in 1857.
The famous ship USS Constitution was launched in 1797. It was made a museum in 1907.
Ships in the 19th Century
In the 19th century, transport at sea was revolutionised by the steamship. In 1807, Robert Fulton built the first commercially successful steamboat. By 1815, steamships were crossing the English Channel.
In 1819, the Savannah became the first steamship to cross the Atlantic. It used to take several weeks to cross the Atlantic, but in 1838, a steamship, the Sirius, made the journey in 19 days. In 1847, HMS Driver became the first steamship to sail around the world. However, steam did not completely replace sail until the end of the 19th century, when the steam turbine was first used on ships. In the 20th century, diesel engines replaced steam engines on ships.
A steam ship was first used in battle in 1824. The British sent an expedition to capture Rangoon, Burma. A steamship called the Diana fired rockets at the shore defences. The British landed men and captured the city.
The Industrial Revolution made it possible to build ships of iron rather than wood. Three great ships were designed by the famous engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel: the SS Great Western in 1837, the SS Great Britain in 1843 and the SS Great Eastern in 1858.
In the 19th century, war at sea was changed by exploding shells, by steam engines, and by iron ships. In 1860, Britain launched HMS Warrior, its first iron warship. Soon, the traditional gun deck on warships was replaced by turret guns on the top deck.
The first US ironclad ship, the Monitor, was launched on 30 January 1862. On 9 March 1862, during the American Civil War, two ironclads, the Monitor and the Merrimack, fought each other. It was the first battle between ironclad ships.
HMS Warrior 1860
In 1878, a Russian torpedo boat, Constantine, sank a Turkish ship, Intibah. It was the first ship to be sunk by torpedoes.
In the 19th century, clipper ships were built for speed. The famous ship, the Cutty Sark, was launched in 1869. She was a tea clipper bringing tea from Asia to Britain.
In the 19th century, ship owners sometimes overloaded ships with cargo, which was dangerous and often led to sinking. Samuel Plimsoll campaigned for ships to have a line painted on their side to show if they were overloaded and floating dangerously low in the water. A law of 1876 compelled ship owners to have such lines on their ships, saving many lives.
In the 19th century, steamships sailed across the Atlantic. On them, the rich travelled in luxury. Second-class passengers travelled in comfort, and third-class passengers (known as steerage passengers) travelled in spartan conditions. Most steerage passengers were emigrants hoping to make a new life in the USA.
Ships in the 20th Century
On 30 March 1923, RMS Laconia became the first passenger ship to sail around the world in one voyage.
The invention of radio saved lives at sea. In 1899, the first-ever radio distress signal was sent from East Goodwin Lightship when a ship ran aground on the Goodwin Sands, off the coast of Kent, England. A lighthouse on shore received the signal, and a lifeboat was summoned. Unfortunately, radio did not save the Titanic, which was launched in 1911. Sadly, it sank on its maiden voyage in 1912.
In the 1930s, some ships began to be equipped with radar. The first British ship to have radar was HMS Saltburn in 1936. The first US ship to have radar was USS New York in 1938.
In the 20th century, war at sea was changed by aircraft carriers. The first aircraft carrier was HMS Argus, which was launched in 1917. The first US aircraft carrier was the USS Langley, commissioned in 1922. The first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise, was launched on 24 September 1960.
In 1990, female sailors served at sea in the Royal Navy for the first time. They served on a ship called HMS Brilliant.
Last revised 2026