Bored of Studies - www.boredofstudies.

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Mafaz Mahroof
The historical developments in the design and construction
of ocean going vessels-summary
Primitive societies used canoes made with skin for water transport. However, about
3000BC some societies began to construct wooden ships. This became the most
common material used in ship building until the nineteenth century. Early vessels, for
example, in Indonesia (around 1500AD) were made of bamboo.
Metals were used in some very early ships for example, the Viking longboats have
been found with fittings made of wrought iron and bronze.
Also, fittings such as anchors, keels, rudders and canons were routinely constructed of
iron and bronze in the middle ages. Rigging also used metal parts. A wreck of the
eighteenth century HMS Pandora, off the coast of Queensland, has found artefacts of
wrought iron, bronze and cast iron as well as lead, tin copper, silver, gold and brass.
Copper and brass sheathing was also sometimes also used in wooden ships in order to
protect the wood from attack by marine organisms. This is due to the fact that copper
is poisonous to living organisms.
Around 1500 AD the development of iron nails made it possible to connect the ships
wooden planks frames. This made the hull stronger and less flexible. However, the
nails rusted badly.
As good shipbuilding wood became scarce and iron became more readily available,
ships were increasingly constructed from iron. By early 1800s composite ships were
being built using wood and iron as part of the ship materials. The first ship to be made
of all iron was the British ship Vulcan, a passenger carrying barge, launched in 1818.
After this more than 90% of ships in the United Kingdom were made of iron by 1870.
Although iron needed constant maintenance to prevent rusting, iron ships did have
advantages over wooden ships. Iron could be produced as sheets or beams, shaped
more easily than wood and joined by welding. Iron ships were stronger, safer, more
economical and easier to repair than wooden ships. Iron ships could also carry more
cargo because they could be built longer and with less bulky framework, leaving more
room inside. This led to bigger profits made by merchant ships of the day as they were
able to carry larger loads.
It was also an advantage to build warships out of steel. Once navies started to use
guns that fired shells instead of cannon balls, it would be a disadvantage to use
wooden ships since on impact these shells would set the ships alight.
By late 1800s shipbuilder had already begun to use steel alloys. Steel gave them even
more advantage because of it being lighter than iron. The Titanic was one of the many
ships at this time that was constructed of steel.
During the twentieth-century there has been a progressive improvement in steel
alloys, incorporating aluminium, chromium, titanium and zinc. Modern steels are
lighter, stronger and more corrosion-resistant that earlier steels.