Jack Goldstein - 101 Amazing Facts about Ships and Boats

Title Page

101 AMAZING FACTS ABOUT SHIPS AND BOATS

Jack Goldstein

Publisher Information

Published in 2014 by

Andrews UK Limited

www.andrewsuk.com

The right of Jack Goldstein to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998

Copyright 2014 Jack Goldstein

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any person who does so may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

All facts contained within this book have been researched from reputable sources. If any information is found to be false, please contact the publishers, who will be happy to make corrections for future editions.

Introduction

Do you know how many cannons a Tudor ship could carry? How many people go missing from cruise ships every year? What is a hawsehole? And why are submarines painted black? This fantastic quick-read eBook features 101 amazing facts about ships and boats, split into categories such as famous ships, seafaring terminology, naval ship classes and many more. So if you want to know what the fastest ship in the world is, or who made the deepest solo dive in a submarine, then this is the book for you. Find the information you want, fast!

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General Facts

1. The key difference today between a boat and a ship is size. Although there are no specific rules, ships are generally larger. It is often said that a ship can carry a boat, but a boat cannot carry a ship!
2. Historically however, there was a specific definition for a ship - any sailing vessel with at least three square-rigged masts and a full bowspirit (a bowspirit is a long pole at the front of the ship to allow the fore-mast to be secured further forward).
3. Technically, a yacht is a pleasure boat and doesnt count as a ship - despite some being extremely large and luxurious!
4. Ships are referred to as she rather than it . The exact reason has been lost to history, however one folk tale says it is because ships would be named in honour of the women sailors had left behind at home. Another legend is that a Portuguese king once said like a woman, they take much powder and paint to keep them looking good!
5. The first known water-faring vessels we know of date back 10,000 years, however they cant really be called ships, being more akin to rafts. It wasnt until around 6,000 years ago that we believe ships resembled something like those from the last few hundred years - with hulls made from wood and sails made of animal skin.
6. One survey from 2004 estimated that there were more than four million commercial fishing vessels in use around the world at the time.
7. One unusual and interesting type of vessel is the hovercraft, invented in Britain during the 1950s. These craft travel on a layer of air (usually contained by a skirt) and can cross water, land, mud, swamp, ice and pretty much any other type of terrain. Interestingly, Hovercraft is actually a trademark owned by vehicle manufacturer Westland, and therefore other companies used different names to describe vessels which you most likely call hovercraft!
8. The Tudor era is seen as an age of great progress in terms of warships. Prior to this era, merchant ships would be borrowed from owners of cargo routes. However, Henry VII began to buy ships specifically designed and built to give Britain supremacy on the seas. By the end of the reign of Henry VIII, ships could carry 80 cannons (20 heavy, 60 light) along with 200 sailors, 185 soldiers and 30 gunners.
9. During this time, sailors were given fairly dull rations to survive on, as food storage technology wasnt exactly advanced! Your average sailor would survive on half a kilo of ships biscuit (a basic cracker made from flour, water and salt) every day along with a small portion of salted pork or beef. However, they would be given 10 pints of beer every day to wash it down with!
10. The period from the 16 th to the 19 th century is known as the Age of Sail. It was the ongoing development of ships and seafaring technology which led to the exploration of the globe, and the settlement of almost every continent on the globe by European migrants. The Golden Age of Sail specifically refers to the period during the 19 th century just before the advent of steam ships, when world trade relied on the speed and reliability of tea clippers and tall ships.

USS Missouri

Famous Ships - Part 1

1. Santa Maria - the largest of the three ships taking part in Christopher Columbuss first voyage, in which he discovered the Bahamas and Cuba.
2. HMS Victory - Lord Nelsons flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar
3. Bismarck - destroyed the HMS Hood, pride of the British Navy, leading to almost the entire British fleet searching for her in an act of revenge.
4. RMS Titanic - Passenger liner which sank in the North Atlantic in 1912 on her maiden voyage.
5. SS Great Britain - designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, she was the longest passenger ship of her age and the first steamer to cross the Atlantic.
6. Cutty Sark - One of the most advanced and fastest sailing ships of all time; one of the last tea clippers ever to be built.
7. Royal Yacht Britannia - the former royal yacht of Queen Elizabeth II; her majesty famously wept at the ships decommissioning ceremony.
8. Mary Rose - the pride of King Henry VIIIs Tudor navy, seeing action over 33 years in various wars.
9. Rainbow Warrior - the former flagship of Greenpeace, sunk by French agents after they discovered the campaign group had planned to be used to interfere with a nuclear test in the Pacific Ocean.
10. Queen Annes Revenge - Blackbeards flagship vessel; originally named La Concorde, he captured it in 1717, adding cannons and using it to further his illegal gains.

Cutty Sark

Cruise Ships

1. The famous cruise ship the QE2 burned 100 gallons of fuel every single mile, and would use 400 tonnes of it every single day!
2. Many cruise ships that operate in the Indian Ocean - especially those that sail close to Somalia - are equipped with weaponry to deal with potential pirate attacks. One interesting form of defence is a sonic cannon - a device that fires a disorientating blast of sound up to 300 metres away and can leave an attacker permanently deaf!
3. Some retired citizens have decided to live out the rest of their lives on a cruise ship - the cost of permanently living at sea is comparable to that of a nursing home and yet the facilities are usually better, and the ships have their own specialist medical care teams... when you look at it that way, the idea doesnt seem so crazy!
4. A large number of cruise ships are registered to countries that you wouldnt necessarily expect - for instance Panama or Liberia. One reason for this is that in general the employment laws on the ship come from the country in which it is registered. This means that cruise companies can skirt around those pesky minimum wage and limited working hours rules!
5. Around 20 people a year go missing from cruise ships. It is thought that some people take their own lives, but many disappearances are unexplained. Sadly, a large number are not discovered or reported until the cruise ends and baggage is left unclaimed, meaning there is little to no chance of ever discovering what happened.