Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 1).djvu/21



Introductory—The first attempt to float, by means of a hollowed log and raft—The Ark—Boats of skin—Earliest boats or ships—Their form—Mode of construction—Names of ships—Decorations—Launching, &c.—Master—Mate—Boatswain—St. Paul's ship—Rig and sails—Undergirders—Anchors and cables—Decks—Nautical instruments—Mariner's compass—Speed of ancient ships.

It is my intention to write a History of Merchant Shipping; I am not aware that there exists any work of the kind contemplated. No doubt everything relating to the vessels of ancient times has been published in one form or another, as also an account of all that is known of the maritime commerce of the Middle Ages; but this information is widely scattered, and frequently so diffused among other matters of a very different description, that considerable research is necessary to ascertain where it is to be found. I desire to remedy this inconvenience, and to furnish from those fragmentary materials a consecutive, though necessarily a condensed, account of the Merchant Shipping, Ancient and Modern, of those nations which at different periods have carried on an extensive over-sea commerce. I shall also presume