Man upon the sea : or, a history of maritime adventure, exploration, and discovery, from the earliest ages to the present time ... . abled them to carry. It has been aptlyremarked that this first step was the greatest of all,— for thetransition from the hollow tree to the ship-of-the-line is not sodifficult as the transition from nonentity to the hollow tree. MAN UPON THE SEA. 27 The first object for obtaining motion upon the water mustevidently have been to enable the navigator to cross a river,—notto ascend or descend it; as it is apparent he would not seek themeans of following or stemming
Man upon the sea : or, a history of maritime adventure, exploration, and discovery, from the earliest ages to the present time ... . abled them to carry. It has been aptlyremarked that this first step was the greatest of all,— for thetransition from the hollow tree to the ship-of-the-line is not sodifficult as the transition from nonentity to the hollow tree. MAN UPON THE SEA. 27 The first object for obtaining motion upon the water mustevidently have been to enable the navigator to cross a river,—notto ascend or descend it; as it is apparent he would not seek themeans of following or stemming its current while the samepurpose could be more easily served by walking along the is not difficult to suppose that the oar was suggested by thelegs of a frog or the fins of a fish. The early navigator, seatedin his hollow tree, might at first seek to propel himself with hishands, and might then artificially lengthen them by a pieceof wood fashioned in imitation of the hand and arm,—a longpole terminating in a thin flat blade. Here was the origin ofthe modern row-boat, one of the most graceful inventions of From the oar to the ruddef the transition was easy, for theoar is in itself a rudder, and was for a long time used as must have been observed at an early day that a canoe inmotion was diverted from its direct course by plunging an oarinto the water and suffering it to remain there. It must havebeen observed, too, that an oar in or towards the stern was moreeffective in giving a new direction to the canoe than an oar inany other place. It was a natural suggestion of prudence, then,to assign this duty to one particular oarsman, and to place himaltogether at the stern. The sail is not so easily accounted for. An ancient traditionrelates that a fisherman and his sweetheart, allured from theshore in the hope of discovering an island, and surprised by atempest, were in imminent danger of destruction. Their only oar 28 MAN UPON THE SEA. was wrenched from
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