Ship
**Historical Development of Ships**:
– Shipping historically cheaper, safer, and faster than land transport.
– Roman reliance on sailing ships for grain trade.
– Development of Chinese junk rigs.
– Influence of Austronesian sailors on sailing technologies.
– Early use of ships in sea crossings, coastal voyages, river, and lake transport.
– European developments like the circumnavigation by Magellan and Elcano.
**Types of Ships**:
– Classification of ships into high-speed craft, offshore oil vessels, fishing vessels, harbor work craft, and dry cargo ships.
– Inland vessels for freshwater shipping on lakes, rivers, and canals.
– Categories of merchant ships including fishing vessels, cargo ships, passenger ships, and special-purpose ships.
– Warships like aircraft carriers, battleships, and submarines.
– Special purpose vessels like weather ships for meteorological observations.
**Ship Components and Nomenclature**:
– Main parts of a ship including funnel, stern, propeller, rudder, deck, etc.
– Ship prefixes for identification.
– Legal definitions of ships.
– Distinction between ships and boats.
– Early Chinese ship developments and Mediterranean shipbuilding history.
**Commercial Aspects of Ships**:
– Maritime trade driven by shipping companies.
– Royal Navy’s involvement in banning the slave trade.
– Impact of the industrial revolution on ship design.
– Different types of fishing vessels and their global presence.
– Top ten marine capture species and modern fishing methods.
**Modernization and Specialization of Ships**:
– Development of specialized ships for firefighting, rescue, and research.
– Evolution of ship designs during the industrial revolution.
– Modern commercial vessels powered by diesel or gas turbine engines.
– Cargo ships for transporting dry and liquid cargo.
– Passenger ships catering to various needs from ferries to cruise ships.
A ship is a large vessel that travels the world's oceans and other navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished from boats, based on size, shape, load capacity and purpose. Ships have supported exploration, trade, warfare, migration, colonization, and science. Ship transport is responsible for the largest portion of world commerce.
General characteristics | |
---|---|
Tonnage | Greater than 500 DWT |
Propulsion | steam turbine (fossil fuel, nuclear), diesel, gas turbine, sterling, steam (reciprocating) |
Sail plan | For sailing ships – two or more masts,[citation needed] variety of sail plans |
The word ship has meant, depending on the era and the context, either just a large vessel or specifically a ship-rigged sailing ship with three or more masts, each of which is square-rigged.
As of 2016, there were more than 49,000 merchant ships, totaling almost 1.8 billion deadweight tons. Of these 28% were oil tankers, 43% were bulk carriers, and 13% were container ships.
The earliest historical evidence of boats is found in Egypt during the 4th millennium BCE.