Sail - TheHistoryFiles.com

The Baltic 1721–90

Russian Baltic Galley of 1720 When the Great Northern War ended in 1721, Russia had emerged as a major regional naval power. British and Danish naval forces cruised to counter the Russian sailing fleet, which was protected by new fortifications of Kronstadt on the island of Kotlin (1723). However, the general poverty of maritime resources, […]

Ancient Galley, Piracy, Sail

The Evolution of the Roman Imperial Fleets

D. B. Saddington Introduction Like the ancient Israelis, who felt concern for those “who went down to the sea in ships” (Ps 107.23), the Romans, especially by comparison with the Greeks, have often been regarded as reluctant seafarers. Before the Battle of Actium Plutarch (Ant. 64) has a centurion adjure Antony, as Shakespeare puts […]

Sail, Trade

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 to the sides to keep […]

Military, Naval, Sail

THE KIEVAN RUS AND THEIR WARSHIPS

From earliest times the life of the Slavs has been connected with water. Like most ancient peoples, the Slavs built settlements near rivers and lakes. Fishing provided an important food source and waterways became main transportation arteries. Even in a rough-hewn boat it was easier and safer to travel long distances than it was to […]

Cog, Medieval, Sail

The Nef as Ship

Nef is an old term for a type of boat, originally referring a largish sort of Knarr or “Halfskip” (which was a double ended sort of canoe shape, about 2.5 to 3 times as long as wide, and used by Northern European travellers and trades for exploration and cargo). A fully rigged medieval sailing merchantman […]

Sail, Trade

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. Philo did not discover any […]

China, Piracy, Sail

WARFARE AT SEA – CHINA

SOUTH-EAST ASIAN EXPLORATION Ming Chinas brief flirtation with overseas expansion provides unequivocal evidence of the remarkable competence of Chinese shipwrights, navigators and sailors. Chinese mariners had long traded in the same waters without official sanction, but seafarers ranked low in the Confucian social hierarchy and received little attention from court historians and chroniclers. The inset […]

Ancient Trader, Sail

Weather and Sea around Sicily

Ancient Sicily is the boundary mark between the eastern and central Mediterranean. This boundary is not, however, a meteorological one, for, all round Sicily, winds generally blow from the west, becoming more and more regular during the sailing season, and blowing from west to northwest or even north between Sicily and Crete, from spring to […]

Military, Naval, Sail

Website: Jewel of Muscat

Jewel of Muscat After completing her voyage last year, the Jewel of Muscat ship is currently being prepared for its move to a maritime museum in Singapore.In the meantime, there continues to be widespread interest in the historic project. The second TV documentary about the ship has been completed, and will be broadcast on the […]

Military, Naval, Sail