CATALOGUE OF THE WATERCRAFT COLLECTION 

 IN THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



COMPILED AND EDITED BY 



CARL W. MITMAN. 

 Curator^ Divisions of Mineral and Mechanical Technology. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Few problems with which man has had to deal are of greater 

 consequence to his well being and material development than aquatic 

 transportation. Primitive man had forced upon him the necessity 

 of obtaining food and covering from the animals which inhabit the 

 waters; consequently, one of his earliest efforts was to secure the 

 means of floatation whereby the possibilities of supplying his needs 

 were immeasurably increased. 



As progress in civilization developed the requirements of inter- 

 course among peoples separated by gulfs, seas, and oceans led to 

 advancement in naval architecture, while the' predatory habits of 

 mankind have wielded no small influence in producing forms of boats 

 and vessels, even among savage or semicivilized tribes, most suitable 

 for easy and swift passage through the water. Thus the demands of 

 commerce, or the requirements of the sea rover, or of nations, in 

 securing means of offense and defense, have resulted in carrying the 

 art of naval architecture to the remarkable efficiency which has been 

 attained in recent years. A comparison of the productions of savage 

 or semicivilized men with the vessels constructed during recent cen- 

 turies or more remote periods, in accordance with the most advanced 

 ideas of the leading peoples of the earth, affords material for a most 

 interesting study of the progress of the human mind in a particular 

 direction. 



It may be accounted as a remarkable fact that there exists to-day, 

 contemporaneously with the floating palaces which cross oceans and 

 almost annihilate space and time, the crudest and most primitive 

 devices for floatation which probably have ever been used by man. 

 Much of this disparity may be accounted for by the influence of 

 environment, or by the varying requirements of individuals and 

 localities. At the same time, as will be mentioned elsewhere, inter- 

 course among nations has tended not only to modify and improve 



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