Page 348 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

sailing ships 1649

What prudent merchant will hazard his fortunes in any
new branch of commerce when he knows not that his
plans may be rendered unlawful before they can be
executed? • James Madison (1751–1836)

sacred law traditions contain elements of jurisprudence steam-powered ships during the nineteenth century did
that would be recognizable to modern secular legal tra- sailing ships cease to be the dominant mode of fast long-
ditions. In other words, despite the fact that sacred law distance transportation. Sailing ships date at least to the
is held by believers to be divinely revealed, these sacred ancient Egyptians and Phoenicians, although people
law traditions all contain elements of what Harold J. probably used smaller sailing vessels earlier. Boats were
Berman (1993) called an integrative jurisprudence of pos- crafted from reeds, skins, and wood, the earliest form of
itive law (the rules established by the law maker), cus- wooden boats being dugouts.
tomary law (the law in a historical and social dimension), Early sailing ships were built primarily of planks, with
and natural law (moral and ethical principles).Thus, the the planks either joined end to end by mortise-and-tenon
seeming dissonance between the various religious legal joinery or joined in an overlapping fashion (clinker con-
traditions, or between religious and secular law, may very struction) and fastened by dowels or nails. Sails were
well be overstated when considered in terms of common made out of woven cloth (cotton, flax, or hemp), al-
elements of integrative jurisprudence. though some early Egyptian sails were made from
papyrus fibers and other woven grasses. Many early sail-
Douglas B. Palmer
ing vessels were also outfitted with oars, which provided
See also Islamic Law; Religion and Government easier mobility and optional power when wind was
absent. Early ships were lateen (square rigged). These
methods provided more sail power but less maneuver-
Further Reading ability than modern rigging with triangular sails.
Berman, H.J. (1993). Faith and order:The reconciliation of law and reli-
gion. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans.
Derret, J.D.M. (1963). Introduction to modern Hindu law. Oxford, UK: Antiquity–400 CE
Oxford University Press. The last fifty years have brought a huge expansion in peo-
Edge, I. (1996). Islamic law and legal theory. New York: New York Uni-
versity Press. ple’s knowledge of sailing ships through the development
Hecht, N.S. et al. (Eds.). (1996). An introduction to the history and sources of underwater archaeology, allowing scholars to study the
of Jewish law. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press. remains of ships from all periods of history.The earliest
Helmholz, R.H. (1996). The spirit of classical canon law. Athens: Uni-
versity of Georgia Press. archaeological evidence for a water vessel is a birch pad-
Huntington, S.P. (1996). The clash of civilizations and the remaking of the dle found at a prehistoric campsite in England from
world order. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Kamali, M. (1989). Principles of Islamic jurisprudence. Cambridge, UK: about 6000 BCE.The earliest evidence for a sailing vessel
Islamic Texts Society. comes from a model sailing raft excavated in Chile.
Nanda, V., & Sinha, S. (1996). Hindu law and legal theory. New York: Rafts of logs bound together with a mast and sail were
New York University Press.
Neusner, J. (2002). The Halakah: Historical and religious perspectives. probably the earliest forms of prehistoric sailing water-
Leiden: Brill. craft. Skin boats, constructed of animal hides sewn
Winroth,A. (2000). The making of Gratian’s Decretum. Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press. together, were primarily found in northern cultures, par-
ticularly the Eskimo, Irish, and northern Russian. Eskimo
kayaks and umiaks (open Eskimo boats made of a
wooden frame covered with hide) were primarily rowed,
although some evidence indicates sail use. Large versions
Sailing Ships of the Irish curragh, constructed of ox hide, were sailed

and took early Irish travelers to the Hebrides, Shetland
uring most of human history the most efficient way Islands, and even to Iceland. Reed boats were used pri-
Dof conveying goods and people over great dis- marily in the South Pacific, in the Americas, and among
tances was by water, especially using wind power, har- the Marsh Arabs of southern Iraq. Dugout technology is
nessed by sails to propel a vessel. Not until the advent of ubiquitous through world cultures, but in the South