Early Ship Design
Ships come in all shapes and sizes and usually fall into three categories:
commercial, fishing, and military. Ships date back to at least 60,000 years ago
when humans sailed from Southeast Asia to the island of New Guinea. These first
ships were very primitive. Not much changed in ship design for several millennia.
Egyptian Khufu Ships
A revolutionary type of ship design was developed in Egypt (early Mesopotamia)
around 3,000 BC. This was the first major phase of ship design. These first vessels
were made using planks of wood from papyrus trees and were connected together
with leather straps and treenails. These 43-meter-long ships called Khufu ships
sailed down the Nile River and used oars for steering through the water.