For thousands of years humans have relied on boats as a means of
transportation. Most historians believe that it was the ancient Greeks that
first began exploring the ocean more than ten thousand years ago. Boats provided the Greeks with the easiest and most cost effective way of transporting goods. The hilly and rocky terrain
of the land didn’t make road transportation at all convenient.
The first written record of boats was evident in early clay tablets from Egypt, which were written more than six thousand years ago. The river Nile was frequently used a means of traveling and for the transportation of goods. Whilst many of the Egyptian boats closely resemble modern day rowboats, some were far larger (up to 300 feet in length) and were predominantly used for transporting cargo. The larger vessels were in fact much larger than any of the wooden boats that we see in the 17th and 18th centuries.
All boats are designed and manufactured with a certain purpose in mind. Ancient warships were designed to be large maneuverable vessels that could accommodate many soldiers, and travel at fast speeds. This design gave birth to narrow and long ships that were powered by many rows of oars. Some of these Greek warships were up to 120 feet long and needed 160+ oarsmen to power them along.
As is true today, Cargo ships of the time were designed and built
to transport as much cargo as possible with the least amount of crew. As time went on, cargo boats became higher and rounder. This enabled them to carry more cargo and it
also ensured that the higher decks were positioned above the waterline. Such
cargo ships were able to travel at speeds of up to three knots, which enabled
them cover distances of around fifty nautical miles each day.
In ancient times boating was predominantly used for commercial purposes and as a means of getting people from a to b. Today boating has become big business in the tourism industry. More and more of us are taking our holidays on the open ocean, whether it be by taking a pleasure cruise or by hiring a private chartered boat or luxury yacht.