Sail
OARS, SAILS AND GUNS: THE ENGLISH AND WAR AT SEA, c.1200–c.1500 Part I
The warships in the North in 12th century obtained the second mast. On the mast, which stands nearer to the bow with the small inclination forward, was fastened the sail, which made possible for vessel to sail in the crosswind. On such vessels had a large enough deck they could transport horses. By Ian Friel This is a survey which…
Most Recent
ISLAMIC DESIGN – Boats and Ships
The Hariri Ship, the first known picture of an Arab sailing vessel. The traditional boats of the Gulf are obviously neither Islamic in any way nor are they elements of Gulf architecture. However, they seem to me to have so much in common with traditional Gulf architecture and the way…
TRAITTÉ DE LA CONSTRUCTION DES GALÈRES – BLUEPRINT
The original drawings of this galley are from Traitté de la construction des galères a French book written in 1691, although the drawings you hold in this product are completely original. For more information about the galley you can consult the wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Galley). Below you can find a brief…
The First Boats
The design of the earliest boats is open to debate. They could have been dugout canoes, bark canoes, or animal skin boats. Dugouts were made from a single log. A large hollow area was burned and carved out of a tree trunk permitting a passenger to be seated. Planks added…
CELESTIAL NAVIGATION
Navigation as we know it today was first practiced by Phoenician and Greek seafarers, beginning after the sixth century BCE. They navigated in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean in much the same way as Arabs, but had the advantage of sailing in an enclosed sea where land is never…
THE PTOLEMIES SUPPORT EXPLORATION
Greek Trading Ship Ptolemy, who had accompanied Alexander all the way to the Indus River and back, took up Alexander’s idea of an expedition to Arabia. During his reign (323–285 B.C.), he sponsored an expedition under an admiral Philo, who sailed down along the Africa side of the Arabian Sea.…
16TH TO 18TH CENTURY CHEBEC
The name “Chebec” comes for the Arabian and means “runner”. All the other spellings mean the same; they are phonetically transcriptions in various languages (for example the “x” was the old Spanish equivalent of the modern “jota”). Chebecs originated in North Africa, in the late 16th or 17th century they…