A boat is designed to float on water and can be used for transportation, recreation, sports, fishing, military use, and rescue operations. Humans have been using boats since the dawn of time, when they were simply rafts made of logs and reeds tied together. They have been an important mode of transportation and exploration throughout history. For centuries, they have also been used for military purposes. Boats can be propelled by humans (via oars or paddles), wind (via sails), or one or more engines. Some of the first ships were propelled by up to 300 oarsmen.
Interesting facts about Boats:
Canoes, kayaks, paddleboats, dinghies, and rowboats are some of the smaller boats used by humans today. Boats are typically intended for use on inland waterways such as lakes, rivers, and bays.
Cargo ships, cruise ships, military ships, yachts, and sailboats are examples of larger boats, also known as ships. Ships are typically built to travel on seas and oceans.
There are 37 references to ships and one reference to a boat in the King James Bible’s Old Testament.
Native Americans used to carve boats from the inside of logs. These were the first canoes.
Pesse canoes are the oldest boats discovered by archaeologists. The oldest boat discovered is thought to be between 7,000 and 10,000 years old.
There is evidence from ancient references that boats were used 900,000 years ago and during prehistoric times.
Steamboats were popular for transporting people and goods along rivers over a century ago.
A boat’s hull is the main body of the vessel, excluding the sail, motor, and oars.
The port side refers to the boat’s left side.
The right side of the boat is referred to as the starboard side.
The bow is the boat’s front, and the stern is the boat’s back.
The beam of a boat is its width at its widest point from starboard to port side.
Today, approximately 18 million recreational boats are owned by Americans.
Houseboats are boats where people live. On the inside, these boats are very similar to houses built on land, and many aren’t used for transportation at all – they stay in one place all year.
Motor boats’ engines have propellers that can be inboard or outboard.
Ferries are boats that transport cars and people across lakes and rivers. Some can only carry a few cars, while others can carry hundreds.
Many films about life on a boat or ship have been made, including The Titanic, The Perfect Storm, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Poseidon Adventure.
Boats are built to be extremely strong, but some still sink when they collide with other boats or objects. In 1987, the passenger ferry Dona Paz collided with an oil tanker, killing 4,375 people. In 1912, the Titanic, a ship thought to be unsinkable, collided with an iceberg and sank. When the ship went down, 1517 people died.
