| Show i Floating Log Bore His Weight So Man Developed a Curiosity 1 I I I I g. g r S 4 c j 1 Prepared by b National Geographic Society Washington D. D C. C C. V NV Service What an eventful day when man first found that a float float- floatIng Ing lag log would bear his weight What trial and error what wreck and tragedy intervened even before the first dugout or raft with clumsy sails of skins or plaited grass actu actu- actually actually ally oIly put to sea and finally reached a neighboring shore safely Imagine the daring sailors' sailors return from that first of all voyages Shouting fellow tribesmen crowd about as 81 they beach their craft excited over the strange fruits and weapons the dusky Argonauts have brought back and raze gaze curl curi I I I I I at the lone woman captive snatched from her coral beach shel shel- shelter shelter ter as 81 the Invaders retreated to the sea Till then that distant shore its peak dimly visible only on clear days had been a region of mystery 1 now they had landed upon it had tasted its it dangers and delights Let us return for tor more wealth the excited urge Nay brothers reply the sailors The winds are evil and the waves run high We must make a bigger raft and take more fighting men for tor yonder they have mighty warriors to give us battle batlle Contrast pirate pistol and cutlass hand to sea lighting technique with the World war Battle Dattle of Jut Jut- Jutland Jutland land when armored giants hurled tons toni of roje at each other with like rapidity over leagues league of ot Inte I g g blue blu water Man Ian ZM ta R F r Fighting tn the water wat r perhaps had less to with the development of ships that tha did mans man's peacetime pursuits Mr hi restless urge always alway to find flod and see Ie new lands and to gain wealth by barter with faraway peo peo- people people pie for salt amber and slaves One primitive craft in use to this day is the Polynesian catamaran Anyone who has lived in the Philip Philip- Philippines Philippines pines or cruised the waters of ot the South Pacific know this outrigger sailing salling canoe and its old age use in island inter traffic Aboard this catamaran long cent cen centuries cen- cen tunes ago dusky adventurers from Asiatic coasts guided only by stars the night flight of birds or instinct sailed for tor countless watery miles mU s out into the Pacific Hawaii Easter Island and New Zealand were all colonized by these daring sailors There is 11 some somo evidence that a few of them even reached the coasts of Mexico and South America pt Ecy-pt Started It II Though history records no famous voyages made by Egyptian a. a tors it was from early Egypt that shipbuilding ideas spread to Phoe Phoe- Phoenicia Phoenicia nicia Greece and later to Rome Rome- even through the Red Bed sea to the Orient The Chinese Junk bears a strong resemblance to pictures of ot ancient Egyptian craft especially in the shape of f the hull Although sea sea- seagoing seagoing going ships grew up in the early Chinese used the com corn pass Their Junks trading between Canton and the Persian gulf gull in the Third century had magnetic iron needles also their Junks junk used a rudder mounted on the sternpost Beyond the Junk however Chinese progressed little On I canals rivers and along coasts myriad Junks and sampans sampan continue i to haul much ot of Chinas China's colossal do do- domestic domestic commerce I Phoenicia today is a forgotten I land Yet merchants m of Tyre cor cornered the world trade of ot their day They sent dried fruit and wine to I Ithe the then remote British isles and brought back tin and cloth They are even believed to have sailed around Africa centuries before Vasco da Gems Gama Vikings bold sailors in their day ravaged the coasts of ot Gaul and Spain In their stout oaken vessels centuries before Columbus was ws born Living on dried and such web little grain as they could carry they thel later explored the northwest Allan tic about 1000 A. A D. D ilcI Leif Leit Ericsson L to North America voyaged aged through L Lio lor io seas In each passing century after altex Egypt supplied a pattern for sea seagoing seagoing going merchant craft tint first the sea farces ot of one nation then of ot another made Improvements Columbus Columbus' flagship for tor example was a mod modern modern modera ern era boat compared with Leif Leif's open long ship His crew had bet bet- better ter quarters bigger water wates Old as a. water transportation but bul still modern This Th l li i is t a ga a n water transport on n nhe he the Tigris Ti rl river which goes forward by twirling in a circle Slightly round about perhaps but bul it il gets ge there herel casks more dried meats better arms and clothes and better navi- navi gatlon charts and instruments human Powerhouse The Venetian galley ganey was the fight fighting ing lag craft when Christian allies un under der del Don John of Austria defeated the Turks at the Battle of ot Lepanto in 1571 In that battle larger ves yes vessels sets ads carried 40 cannon caMon and catapults for throwing stones Power came from gal gal- galey galley al ley ey slaves chained to their long lon sweeps weeps and whipped savagely upon their naked backs to make them pull hard in steady rhythm In Greek and Roman galleys oars were arranged in two or more tiers tier The Venetians abolished this IY system tern tem installing all oars oar on the same I level The rowers cowers however sat on two or three different levels with the benches inclined in in such uch a ar r- r N I 4 I I r L- L 1 I I I If 1 I it il floats float its it's i a tI boat With Wih canvas unfurled Miami bath bah bathing ing girls girl take Ink advantage of oj both bOlh wind rind and waves wave in a new sport porI surf r railing sailing ailing way as to leave each mans man's motions free tree from interference ce b ty Iy y the others The oars of ot each group of two or three rowers projected through the same opening or rowlock The high bench was nearest the center of ot the vessel and its occupant pulled the longest oar sometimes oar sometimes meas meas- measuring measuring nearly 50 SO feet in length The galleys themselves were about feet teet long I We look now at models of the tiny caravels of ot Columbus and end are amazed that in craft so 0 trail he be j I i I dared so much We might set his hi I whole fleet the Pinta Nina and I 1 Santa Maria upon the decks deck of ot I Ithe the new Queen Mary and still have room to drill a regiment of ot I try Yet in their day these were stout little ships developed by man man I i after centuries of experience with I Egyptian Nile and coastal craft Chi Chinese nese Junks Phoenician traders Arab dhows and Roman galleys successive rungs of ot mans man's maritime ladder Caravels Seaworthy Despite their small size often less than tons caravels became fa famous fa- fa motis for seaworthiness on long lon voy voy- voyages voyages ages Vasco da Gama Game used one in rounding the Cape of Good Hope so did Magellan Opening the doors dOOl's of a new world worldwide wide wa era ra of exploration commerce wealth and empire the little cara cars caravel vel bows boWl into harbors pre pre- previously previous by whits hit mens men's ships and fled ed safely from unfriendly ly 11 shores easily escaping from front the canoes can s of warlike native tribes Among heroic pioneer navigators in this age aie of exciting discovery was Sir Francis Drake This English tag Eng lish sea hawk sailed around the globe In hi the Golden lUnd Hind at the end of the Sixteenth century and was the first Englishman to pass through the Strait of Magellan and to explore the west coasts of ot South and North America Drake scraped his ships ship's bottom hard by what wha t is now San Sac I Francisco bay crossed the Pacific to the East Indies and sailed home borne around aro the Cape of ot Good Hope Rich with spoils from Spanish ships I he reached England after an ab al absence sence of ot nearly three years I |
