Early Ships and Seafaring: Water Transport Beyond Europe

by Seán McGrail

Overview

In this book, Professor McGrail's study of European water transport is extended to Egypt, Arabia, India, South-east Asia, China, Australia, Oceania and the Americas. Each chapter presents a picture of ancient boatbuilding and seafaring that is as accurate and as comprehensive as it is now possible to achieve. The early rafts and boats of those regions were, as in Europe, hand-built from natural materials and were propelled and steered by human muscle or wind power. This volume ranges in time from the Prehistoric period to today when a number of such traditional craft continue to be built.

In Egypt, not only have accounts, models and illustrations of ancient rafts and boats survived, but also a number of early vessels have been excavated some dated as early as the 3rd Millennium BC. In regions such as the Americas, on the other hand, where few ancient craft have been excavated, we are able to draw on accounts and illustrations compiled, from the 16th century AD onwards, by European seamen and explorers. In most regions of the world a variety of water transport has been built, limited only by the raw materials available. On the island of Tasmania, however, an early rise in sea levels cut contacts with Australia, leaving Tasmanians with simple types of Stone Age water transport that survived in use until Europeans discovered them.

Worldwide, much remains to be learnt about early water transport by excavation, and by ethnographic studies of those traditional rafts and boats that have survived.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781399019460
Publisher:	Pen and Sword
Publication date:	02/22/2024
Pages:	232
Sales rank:	967,978
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x (d)

About the Author

Professor Seán McGrail served in the Royal Navy as a seaman officer from 1946 to 1968; from 1952 he flew as a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm. He graduated with a BA at the University of Bristol in 1971, and in 1978 gained a Ph.D. at University College, London with a thesis on The Logboats of England and Wales. In 1988 he was awarded a D.Sc. by the University of Oxford.

Professor McGrail was Chief Archaeologist at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich from 1974 to 1986, and Professor of Maritime Archaeology in the Institute of Archaeology, Oxford from 1986 to 1993. From 1993-2021 he has been Visiting Professor at the University of Southampton. He passed away in 2021.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables vii

Preface x

Chapter 1 Egypt 1

Water Transport 3

Propulsion and Steering 13

Seafaring 16

Pilotage and Navigation 21

Chapter 2 Arabia 24

Water Transport Before 2nd Millennium BC 26

Water Transport in the 2nd and 1st Millennium BC 28

Water Transport in the 1st and 2nd Millennium AD 34

Seafaring and Navigation 38

Chapter 3 India 46

European Contacts with India 48

Water Transport 50

Propulsion and Steering 71

The 'Periplus Maris Erythraei' 72

Seafaring 73

Pilotage and Navigation 75

Chapter 4 Australia 78

Earliest Sea Passages 78

Migration Routes 80

Navigation 81

Water Transport 82

Seafaring 87

Chapter 5 South-East Asia 90

Austronesian Migrations 91

Early Maritime Contacts 92

Water Transport 93

Changes in Planked Boat- and Ship-building 100

Propulsion and Steering 102

South-East Asian and Chinese Shipbuilding 103

Chapter 6 China 105

Chinese Coastal Waters 106

Northern and Southern Ship Types 107

Early Water Transport 108

Later Water Transport 116

Pilotage and Navigation 127

Chapter 7 Oceania 129

The Oceanic Migration 129

Water Transport 133

Propulsion and Steering 144

Ocean-Going Craft 148

Passages Under Sail 151

Navigation 153

Chapter 8 The Americans 160

First Settlement 160

Subsequent Settlements? 163

Water Transport 164

America's Earliest Water Transport? 189

American Achievements 192

Chapter 9 In Conclusion 194

Early Water Transport 194

Building Traditions 195

Range of Boat Types 195

Future Research 196

Further Reading 200

Glossary 204

Index 217

Editorial Reviews

"This volume should prove valuable to both the general reader and the student of archaeology in general… [with] a diffuse approach to its subject in offering concise regional summaries."

The Society for Nautical Research