History of ships and boats

First boats include rafts, skin, hide and bark boats, kayaks, and dugouts.

Mesopotamian sailors invent sails.

Ancient Egyptians make the first boats from wooden planks.

Vikings invent clinker building.

The central rudder starts to replace the "steerboard."

Most large ships are wooden-built and sail powered, and include cogs, carracks, galleys, and galleons.

First iron-hulled boat is built (in England).

Marquis d'Abbans(1751-1832) builds the first steamboat.

Regular "packet shipping" services are established, sailing to timetables. Fast clipper ships set sailing records

Wealthy people enjoy the romantic, luxurious age of ocean travel onboard liners such as the Maurentania, Lusitania, and Aquitania.