Over the centuries of navigation, mankind has come up with many inventions that make it easier to move around the water, navigation and increase the safety of sea travel. Let's consider which, according to 2yachts, inventions have become key and brought maximum benefit to mariners, which are no longer used, and which - are still successfully used by yachtsmen.
With the invention of the compass in the 3rd century during the reign of the Chinese Song dynasty, the course of history has changed and the Age of Great Geographical Discoveries was approached. This device was used by the Chinese for orientation when moving through the deserts and looked like a convex spoon mounted on a carefully polished copper plate so that it could rotate around the axis of its convex base. Chinese ships were equipped with special floating compasses, in which the needle was made of an artificial magnet. Later, in the 12th century, such a nautical compass was borrowed from the Chinese by the Arabs, who a century later passed on the invention to European sailors. The Europeans used a magnetized needle attached to a piece of wood and floating in a vessel of water. The very word "compass", most likely, comes from the English compass, which meant "circle" in the 13-14 centuries.
The first ships with sails were created by people around the 5th millennium BC. This is evidenced by painted discs of ancient Mesopotamia, found on the territory of modern Kuwait. These were simple sailing boats on which the ancient Egyptians sailed along the Nile. They were built from reeds, and the rectangular sail was created from papyrus. The contribution of many ancient civilizations (including the Egyptians, Greeks) to the development of navigation is invaluable, and with them the theory and practice of sailing on the seas was significantly enriched. The Polynesians made canoes hollowed out of wood with attached balancer floats, on which they explored the surrounding islands. And from twigs, fastened in a special way, the Polynesians made navigation maps, encrypting in them information about the location of the islands, currents and wave conditions in a particular region. And the Vikings moved both under oars and under sail, reaching the shores of North America and the northern islands in the Atlantic. And it was the Europeans who managed to take the lead in the development of navigation technologies in the era of "Great Geographical Discoveries".
With the increasing importance of navigation in the life of ancient civilizations, designers sought to create innovations that improve the characteristics of ships. The steering paddle is an invention that predates the more significant invention, the rudder blade attached to the stern. In theory, it was only an enlarged oar, allowing more efficient control of the ship. On Viking ships, only steering oars were used, and small ships (such as, for example, English skiffs) are still equipped with only this type of control. The rudder is believed to have been invented in China around the 1st century AD, during the Han Dynasty. However, Western civilization reached this invention only after a millennium.
Navigation by the stars is a way to navigate the sea during a period when the land is not visible or it is completely dark. This method consists in measuring angles by celestial bodies and the horizon, as well as accurately fixing the time of measurements to determine the coordinates of the ship and keep the ship on course. The first evidence of the use of human genius and the application of astronavigation dates back to the 10th century BC, when Homer described them in the legendary Odyssey. In this work, the nymph Calypso advises keeping Odyssey on the left side of the constellation Ursa Major in order for him to observe some other constellations to determine the location of the vessel.
The wooden keel that runs along the entire bottom of the ship was invented by the Vikings - fearless northern sailors. Since their drakkars were equipped with rectangular sails, the ships were blown away when they were sailing steeply to the wind. The keel made it possible to make the ships more stable, increase the speed and reduce this displacement. The first keels were relatively small and did not greatly increase the draft of the ships. But modern keels can sink very deep into the water, preventing movement in shallow water. The keel greatly increases the stability of modern ships and keeps yachts from capsizing by lowering the center of gravity. And racing yacht models are even equipped with swinging keels, if necessary, deviating to the left or right, giving the boats a restoring moment when heeling.
The oblique, or Latin, sail is one of the most significant breakthroughs in the history of navigation. Such a sail was attached by the head to the inclined rail and the lower end reached the deck. The Latin sail passed as if "along the wind", and the driving force arose due to the pressure difference between the convex and concave parts - just like the lift at the wing of an airplane. Using such a sail, you can go steeply to the wind in zigzags, changing the tack - this is its main advantage over rectangular sails, which give traction power only in full courses. The place, as well as the time of the invention of the Latin sail, is unknown, however, some historians claim that the Greeks already walked under them in the 1st century BC. Other historians believe that they invented it during the period of the Roman Empire, in the 1-2 centuries BC. The ancient sailors of Polynesia also invented their own kind of oblique sail, it was mastless and in design was very different from those used by the sailors of the Mediterranean. It was the oblique sail that contributed to the onset of the era of the great geographical discoveries.
Karakka was the name of the type of ship that made the first round the world trip. It was made by a Spanish expedition for 4 years, during which its captain changed. Fernand Magellan led the voyage around the world since 1519, but died in the Philippines in 1521. Later, the only surviving ship of the five was led by Juan Sebastian Elcano, who brought her back in 1522. Karakkas were 3 or 4 masted vessels intended for commercial purposes and facilitated long voyages. It was with their help that the European colonial expansion was carried out during the Great Geographical Discoveries.
The invention of the emergency beacon has greatly improved the safety of sea travel. This is one of the most important devices on all kinds of yachts. The radio beacon transmits an emergency signal to the Cospas-Sarsat satellite search and rescue system, created by international forces to locate the location of wrecked ships, aircraft and other objects. While the beacon can be manually triggered, there is also a automatic emergency response function. When the vessel begins to collect water or is already sinking at depth, the barometric device cuts the pin holding the shutter of the protective container closed and the radio beacon is pushed out and activated from contact with water. As soon as the signal is received by the emergency services, they are obliged to respond to it with all their might to help the detection and rescue of survivors.