The romance of the ship; the story of her origin and evolution . mprovement, but in the course of time,as he advances towards complete development, he seeksto harness the wind which sometimes impedes, sometimesaccelerates, his movement through the water. The skinof one of the animals that he has killed might be em-ployed in a new way, and so, hoisting it up, supportedonly by one paddle whilst steering with the other, hefinds as he goes against the stream that the favourablewind, bellying out his skin-sail, increases his rate ofprogress beyond anything he had previously contem-plated. He is abl
The romance of the ship; the story of her origin and evolution . mprovement, but in the course of time,as he advances towards complete development, he seeksto harness the wind which sometimes impedes, sometimesaccelerates, his movement through the water. The skinof one of the animals that he has killed might be em-ployed in a new way, and so, hoisting it up, supportedonly by one paddle whilst steering with the other, hefinds as he goes against the stream that the favourablewind, bellying out his skin-sail, increases his rate ofprogress beyond anything he had previously contem-plated. He is able to sit at the bottom of his boatwithout doing any work, whilst the little ship carrieshim on quietly to his home further up the river, wherethe banks are closer together and the water shoalsmore gently, where he can beach his craft easily for thenight. As time goes on a spar is used exclusively for themast, and instead of the chance skin one specially pre-pared for the purposes of a sail, and cut to suitableshape, will be adopted. Some day, too, this mans 22. b/3 H.§ b£ a O rtfS bJO g bi) •ii 2 w) li c S (V o 1^ t/: O THE FIRST SHIPS OF THE NILE descendants will learn the art of tacking, of going againstthe wind. The tree-trunk will be improved in manyways, including size and shape of the primitive hull,but these changes are for those who shall come he has done much—he has brought into beingthat great and wonderful thing the sailing craft. Thatis enough for one lifetime. Surely it must have been on some such lines as thesethat the earliest navigator proceeded to free himself fromthe limitations in which he first found himself. Fromthis stage we shall, however, rarely be compelled to argueupon mere theory, but from actual facts before us weshall be able, with perhaps a few breaks where the chainof evidence is not complete, to show, step by step, thecontinuity of mans struggle to evolve first from wood,then from iron, and finally from steel, the ideal shipth
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