History

Sailing has been around for millions of years, usually known as a major source of transport between long or short distances. Sail boats were used from the simplest materials but the most used supply was wood and the plainest piece of cloth was used to catch the wind, which enabled the boat to travel across the water. The kind of ship used in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea had a sail called a lateen, which made it easy to handle but slow and too light. In the Atlantic, a square sail was used. This made the ship very fast but much harder to maneuver. These were the 2 main types of sail ships, until the age of Exploration was a turning point in the history of sailing & the world. The 2 ships were combined and the caravel was built, which made the ship fast & easy to sail. This ensured longer expeditions to new regions of the world, which were now being discovered by Explorers such as Vasco de Gama. Sailing was very hard back then and they didn't have modern instruments like nowadays and mainly relied on the sun & stars to guide them and their crew too. Sailors on board were usually prisoners presumably being sent to their death by falling over the edge of the world, as people thought the world was flat. Sailors suffered from horrible diseases, such as, scurvy, which is lack of vitamin C and typhoid, due to foul water. Also huge storms were bound to happen which could easily drown soldiers and destroy ships. In the end, many crews found new areas of the world and this proved that the developments of sailing really helped the development of the world.