NAVAL SCIENCES. 



Plates VI. 1—32. 



I. HISTORY OF NAVIGATION. 



Navigation, or the art of crossing water, is so old that we know not 

 who was its inventor. We find its application in the mythical ages. It is 

 made use of by the poets, and every nation claims the invention of it as its 

 own. The Greeks ascribed it to their Minerva ; the Romans, to Neptune ; 

 the Chinese, to Hoang-Ti ; while, in fact, it is the social impulse of man, 

 his necessity, his desire of gain, to which we owe the art that brings 

 together the most distant parts of the world. In the first instance, pro- 

 bably, vessels were confined to rivers. It was not until a later period that 

 coasting voyages were attempted on the sea with rafts, which are now 

 used for the transportation of passengers and merchandise. The first 

 mention of a boat is found in Sanchoniathon, where Ausos hollows out 

 the branch of a tree with fire, and in this frail vessel commits himself to 

 the sea. 



1. Navigation of the Ancients. 



The desire to carry more than one or two persons in the same boat, led 

 to the construction of larger vessels. If we may credit Pliny and Pollux, the 

 first vessels of this kind were made of light wicker-work, and covered with 

 skins. The idea afterwards occurred of using bent wood instead of wicker- 

 work, and boards fitted to each other instead of skins. The boat was first 

 propelled by poles, and subsequently by oars (pi. 2, Jig. 16) ; the rudder 

 (Jig. 15) was invented by Typhis, the steersman of the Argo. The oldest 

 ships could sail in either direction, and had rudders at both ends. Sails 

 were invented by the Samothracians. The Greeks and Pliny ascribe them 

 to ^olus, Daedalus, and Icarus. The anchors were very unlike those of 

 the present day. In Homer's time, large stones were sunk in the water by 

 ropes in order to hold the ship. Anchors were invented at a later date in 

 Ancyra, the ancient Tectosagis. They at first consisted of large wooden 

 pipes, filled up with melted lead, and having a fluke at the lower end. 



The later form of the anchor (pi. 2, Jigs. 13, 14) seems to have been the 

 invention of Anacharsis the Scythian. Ballast was first introduced by 



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