[...]... in the center, carrying a large, rectangular sail The prow was low The prow is the part of the ship that projects forward from the stem the curved piece of timber at the forward end of the ship that is an extension of the keel and to which the sides of the ship are attached The stern— exploration the rearmost part of the ship—was high, to allow the steersman a clear view of what lay ahead of the. .. of the others and there were two large steering oars near the stern, one on each side of the hull This construction made the ship highly maneuverable in small spaces At sea, when the wind was from the stern, the ship carried a square sail on a mast at the stern The mast was removed when the sail was not in use Merchant ships were wider than warships and they did not use oars—they were not galleys They... rowers The illustration below shows an Egyptian merchant ship from Discovering the Earth about 1250 Exploration b.c.e., but this tried-and-true design remained in use for DTE -Exploration- 001-egypt.ai in the picture was the same size as the ones a long time, and the ship 06/17/2009 © Infobase Publishing The type of ship used by the Egyptians on the Red Sea in about 1250 b.c.e The thick rope between the. .. further advance At either end of the ship the keel is joined to posts at the stem and stern These posts rise to the top of the hull and in ancient ship designs they often continued higher, ending as carved symbols or ornaments The stem post strengthened the ship’s bow and in later designs it provided support for the bowsprit—a pole that extended forward from the prow of a sailing ship and to which the. .. halfway between the bow and stern, but on the central strut of the frame to the outrigger, so it was on one side of the boat The large, triangular sail was attached to a yard, the lower end of which fitted exploration into a socket close to the bow, and the bottom edge of the sail was attached to a boom Both the yard and boom were bamboo poles This arrangement held the sail almost flat The amount of... to the wind by rolling it around the boom The illustration om page 7 shows a traditional proa with its sail set, seen head-on, from the side, and in plan view The proa always sailed with the outrigger on the windward side, so when it was necessary to reverse direction the crew would turn the proa until its stern was into the wind, then raise the yard from its socket, carry it to the opposite end of the. .. it into the identical socket at that end The bow and stern had then reversed positions and with appropriate adjustments to the sail, the proa was ready to sail in the return direction The Times reporter may have underestimated the skill required to sail a proa at full speed in a strong wind As the wind pushed the boat from the side, the crew would balance it by moving onto the frame between the hull... drilled Down to the sea in ships through it attached by another rope to the stern The current swept the crate along, pulling the boat behind it, while the stone dragging in the rear held the boat on a straight course Some of these “drifters” were able to carry heavy loads Large stone sculptures traveled the Nile on riverboats The larger of these vessels were seaworthy, at least in fine weather, and could... stability to the ship—and rudder The chapter also describes the voyages made by the Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl (1914–2002) Egyptians on thE nilE Throughout their long history, Egyptians have depended on the River Nile, and their civilization grew up along its shores Every year snows melting in the mountains far to the south fed water into the two branches of the river, the White Nile and the Blue... When the sail was not in use it was detached from the mast and stowed away The mast was then unstepped and laid on the deck with its top resting on a support at the stern Over the centuries the position of the mast gradually moved toward the stern until, by about 1500 b.c.e., it was approximately in the center of the boat Egyptian sails were rectangular and very large At first they were taller than they . time, and the ship in the picture was the same size as the ones © Infobase Publishing Discovering the Earth Exploration DTE -Exploration- 001-egypt.ai 06/17/2009 The type of ship used by the Egyptians. sail with the single outrigger on the windward side the side exposed to the wind—and the main hull on the lee side the side sheltered from the wind. e outrigger’s weight pre- vents the craft. marooned on the Hawaiian Islands, but they had all either died or settled there. Cook’s party was the first to reach the Hawaiian Islands and return home from them. Cook named these islands the Sandwich