Ships down through the ages have different methods of propulsion. From the back breaking Roman triremes down to today’s nuclear powered super carries ships use the latest technology to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible.

In the beginning man created the oar. He saw it was good and grunted. Sorry, I had to be a little silly. Other than rivers current the oar was the first means of making your boat do what you wanted. Man would have never developed the boat if he didn’t want to cross the water. As bodies of water to be crossed grew in size different means of propulsion were found.

Animal hides were fashioned into crude sails and then woven fabric took the place of animal fur. Sails were the dominate form of propulsion for the next few thousand of years. In reality human power remains the longest running form of propulsion in boat and ships.

Sails led to steam power, which is still used today. The method for making steam has changed from coal, to oil, to fuel oil, and finally nuclear. Other methods of modern propulsion include, diesel engines directly geared, diesels engines powering electrical generators, gas turbine through a MRG, and gas turbine to a generator.

Most systems of propulsion have special words to describe they parts of that system. Even the oar has names for its different parts. Sailing ships have different names for sails, masts, and ropes. Steam systems have different names for its different parts and so do todays diesels and gas turbines.

Sailing has the largest impact on a sailor’s vocabulary, splice the main brace, learning the ropes, before the mast, captains mast, and many more of these terms come directly from sailing. So, as you guessed it, it is time to learn the ropes of a sailing ship. Starting tomorrow you will learn what a mizzenmast is compared to a main mast.