Sailing ship
European sailing ships with predominantly square rigs became prevalent during the Age of Discovery (15th to 17th centuries), when they crossed oceans between continents and around the world.
The many steps of technological development of steamships during the 19th century provided slowly increasing competition for sailing ships—initially only on short routes where high prices could be charged.
By the time of the Age of Discovery—starting in the 15th century—square-rigged, multi-masted vessels were the norm and were guided by navigation techniques that included the magnetic compass and making sightings of the sun and stars that allowed transoceanic voyages.
The steamers of the early part of the century had very poor fuel efficiency and were suitable only for a small number of roles, such as towing sailing ships and providing short route passenger and mail services.
Ultimately the two large stepwise improvements in fuel efficiency of compound and then triple-expansion steam engines made the steamship, by the 1880s, able to compete in the vast majority of trades.
[8][9] Large Austronesian trading ships with as many as four sails were recorded by Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) scholars as the kunlun bo or K'un-lun po (崑崙舶, lit.
[10] Bas reliefs of large Javanese outriggers ships with various configurations of tanja sails are also found in the Borobudur temple, dating back to the 8th century CE.
[11][12]: 100 By the 10th century AD, the Song dynasty started building the first Chinese seafaring junks, which adopted several features of the K'un-lun po.
[14][15]: 22 [13]: 20–21 Junks in China were constructed from teak with pegs and nails; they featured watertight compartments and acquired center-mounted tillers and rudders.
[23] Between 1000 BC and 400 AD, the Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans developed ships that were powered by square sails, sometimes with oars to supplement their capabilities.
Starting in the 8th century in Denmark, Vikings were building clinker-constructed longships propelled by a single, square sail, when practical, and oars, when necessary.
[32] Nonetheless, such vessels reached India around Africa with Vasco da Gama,[33] the Americas with Christopher Columbus,[34] and around the world under Ferdinand Magellan.
The size of a ship required to carry a large number of cannon made oar-based propulsion impossible, and warships came to rely primarily on sails.
[7]: 33 Early examples were the schooners and brigantines, called Baltimore clippers, used for blockade running or as privateers in the War of 1812 and afterwards for smuggling opium or illegally transporting slaves.
Larger clippers, usually ship or barque rigged and with a different hull design, were built for the California trade (from east coast USA ports to San Francisco) after gold was discovered in 1848 – the associated shipbuilding boom lasted until 1854.
[42]: 9–10, 209 Other clippers worked on the Australian immigrant routes or, in smaller quantities, in any role where a fast passage secured higher rates of freight[a] or passenger fares.
[43] Since before the common era, a variety of coatings had been applied to hulls to counter this effect, including pitch, wax, tar, oil, sulfur and arsenic.
Iron-hulled sailing ships were mainly built from the 1870s to 1900, when steamships began to outpace them economically, due to their ability to keep a schedule regardless of the wind.
Even into the twentieth century, sailing ships could hold their own on transoceanic voyages such as Australia to Europe, since they did not require bunkerage for coal nor fresh water for steam, and they were faster than the early steamers, which usually could barely make 8 knots (15 km/h).
[49] The four-masted, iron-hulled ship, introduced in 1875 with the full-rigged County of Peebles, represented an especially efficient configuration that prolonged the competitiveness of sail against steam in the later part of the 19th century.
[53] In the 20th century, the DynaRig allowed central, automated control of all sails in a manner that obviates the need for sending crew aloft.
[52][54] In the 21st century, due to concern about climate change and the possibility of cost savings, companies explored using wind-power to reduce heavy fuel needs on large containerized cargo ships.
[36][obsolete source] By the nineteenth century, ships were built with reference to a half model, made from wooden layers that were pinned together.
Each layer could be scaled to the actual size of the vessel in order to lay out its hull structure, starting with the keel and leading to the ship's ribs.
[59] Until the mid-19th century all vessels' masts were made of wood formed from a single or several pieces of timber which typically consisted of the trunk of a conifer tree.
From the 16th century, vessels were often built of a size requiring masts taller and thicker than could be made from single tree trunks.
He additionally named such positions as, boatswains, gunners, carpenters, coopers, painters, tinkers, stewards, cooks and various boys as functions on the man-of-war.
[75] Dana spoke of the hardships of sail handling during high wind and rain or with ice covering the ship and its rigging.
[83][84] Passage planning begins with laying out a route along a chart, which comprises a series of courses between fixes—verifiable locations that confirm the actual track of the ship on the ocean.
In harbor, a sailing ship stood at anchor, unless it needed to be loaded or unloaded at a dock or pier, in which case it might be warped alongside or towed by a tug.
