Ship facts for kids

A ship is a large watercraft that travels on oceans and other deep waterways. Ships carry passengers or goods. They also support special missions like defense, research, and fishing.

Historically, a "ship" was a sailing vessel with at least three square-rigged masts. It also had a full bowsprit. Ships are usually different from boats. This difference is based on their size, shape, how much they can carry, and tradition.

Ships have helped a lot with human travel and trade. They helped spread colonization and trade goods around the world. Ships have also been used for science, culture, and helping people. After the 15th century, new crops moved between the Americas and Europe by ship. This greatly helped the world population grow. Today, Ship transport moves most of the world's goods.

In 2016, there were over 49,000 merchant ships. These ships could carry almost 1.8 billion dead weight tons of cargo. About 28% were oil tankers. Another 43% were bulk carriers, and 13% were container ships.

The History of Ships

Early Ships and Their Journeys

The first ships used oars or the wind to move. Sometimes they used both.

Around 4000 BC, the Ancient Egyptians built wooden sail boats. By 1200 BC, the Phoenicians and Greeks started making bigger sailing ships. These ships were about 30 metres (100 feet) long. They could carry 90 to 180 tonnes of cargo. The Romans built even larger ships. Some could carry up to 1,000 people and 1,000 tonnes of cargo.

The 8th century saw the rise of the Vikings. They were famous for their "longships." These ships were mainly used for raiding other countries. But they were also used for trading. Longships had flat bottoms. This allowed them to travel in shallow rivers.

The Age of Sail: Famous Vessels

Sailing ships were used for thousands of years. They became very important in wars and trade from the 1500s to the 1800s. The Chinese admiral Zheng He led a fleet of 'treasure ships'. He made seven voyages across Asia to East Africa in the early 1400s. These ships were likely about 130 meters (450 feet) long and up to 50 meters (180 feet) wide. This made them twice the size of the largest European ships in the 1500s.

The largest and most successful fleet in the 1600s belonged to the Dutch. For trade and transport, the Dutch often used a special kind of trading ship called a flute (fluit in Dutch). People and cargo continued to travel on sailing ships until the 1920s.

Copy of the ship Mayflower

Some famous ships from this time include:

• Niña, Pinta, Santa Maria - These were Christopher Columbus' ships.
• The Mayflower - This ship carried the Pilgrims to Massachusetts.
• Queen Anne's Revenge - This was the ship of the pirate Blackbeard.
• HMS Bounty - Captain Bligh's ship. It was the site of a very famous mutiny.
• USS Constitution - This was the most powerful ship in the early United States Navy.
• HMS Victory - Admiral Horatio Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar.

The Age of Steam: New Power for Ships

In the 19th century, steamships were invented. These ships used steam power to move.

At one time, the steamships Titanic, Olympic, and Britannic were the largest ships in the world. The Titanic sank on her first trip after hitting an iceberg. This made it one of the most famous shipwrecks ever. The Olympic was almost identical to the Titanic. It sailed before the Titanic and was used until the 1930s. It had a very successful career as both a passenger liner and a warship in World War I.

The Britannic was the largest of these three sister ships. It was meant to be even grander than the Titanic. But before its first trip, World War I began. It was turned into a hospital ship. During its time as a hospital ship, it sank. No one is sure if it was hit by a mine or a torpedo. The Titanic rests at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean, near Nova Scotia. The Britannic lies in the Aegean Sea, off the island of Kea.

Modern Ships and Their Uses

After World War II, ships with diesel engines became very common. In the late 20th century, passenger airliners started replacing passenger ships for long journeys. Cargo ships also became much bigger. The main types are container ships, which carry mostly manufactured goods, and bulk carriers, which include oil tankers.

The World's Largest Ship

The world's largest ship is the Prelude, owned by Shell. It was built on Geoje Island, South Korea. It is 488 meters long. Its inside space is larger than the total volume of four big aircraft carriers.

The Prelude will collect natural gas off the coast of Australia. Then, it will turn the gas into a liquid. When natural gas becomes liquid, it takes up 600 times less space. Smaller tankers will then take this liquid gas to buyers. The Prelude does the job of turning gas into liquid and storing it temporarily. This work is usually done on land. Shell believes this makes the ship worth its huge cost.

The shipyard that built the Prelude also builds many other structures for the oil industry. It employs 30,000 workers.

Parts of a Ship

Here are some names for different parts of a ship:

• Amidships - This is near the middle of the ship.
• Bow - This is the very front of the ship.
• Stern - This is the back of the ship.
• Aft - This means in the direction of the stern (the back).
• Astern - This means behind the ship.
• Starboard - This is the right side of the ship when you are looking forward.
• Port - This is the left side of the ship when you are looking forward.
• Bridge - This is the room where the ship is controlled.
• Cabin - This is a room where a crew member lives.
• Decks - These are the floors of the ship.
• Galley - This is the kitchen on a ship.
• Hold - This is an area inside the ship used to carry goods.
• Hull - This is the main body of the ship.
• Keel - This is a strong beam running from the stern to the bow at the bottom.
• Mast - This is a central pole on which sails are hung.
• Brig - These are prison cells on the ship.

Different Kinds of Ships

An oil supertanker.

Here are some common types of ships:

• Bulk carrier - A very large ship used for carrying heavy cargo like grain or ore.
• Catamaran - A ship with two separate hulls (main bodies).
• Cruise ship - A large passenger ship that takes people on holidays or vacations.
• Ferry - A passenger ship that often carries vehicles as well as people across water.
• Supertanker - A very large ship usually used for carrying oil.
• Warship - A ship built for fighting wars.
  • Aircraft carrier - A warship that carries aircraft.
  • Battleship - A large, heavily armed warship.
  • PT boat - A small, fast warship.
  • Submarine - A special boat that can travel underwater.

Images for kids

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  Fijian voyaging outrigger boat with a crab claw sail

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  One of the sailing trimarans depicted in Borobudur temple, c. 8th century AD in Java, Indonesia

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  Egyptian sailing ship, c. 1422–1411 BC

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  A Roman ship carved on the face of the "Ship Sarcophagus", c. 2nd century AD

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  Replica of Magellan's Victoria. Ferdinand Magellan led the first expedition that circumnavigated the globe in 1519–1522.

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  Painting of the Battle of Trafalgar by Auguste Mayer.

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  Italian full-rigged ship Amerigo Vespucci in New York Harbor

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  RMS Titanic departs from Southampton. Her sinking led to tighter safety regulations

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  Colombo Express, one of the largest container ships in the world, owned and operated by Hapag-Lloyd of Germany

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  Ship carrying containers in Gadiara (West Bengal, India)

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  Passenger ship of Köln-Düsseldorfer on the river Rhine

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  Hurma, Hans and Voima at the Lake Saimaa in the harbour of Imatra, Finland, at a heritage ship meeting in 2009

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  Two modern container ships in San Francisco

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  Albatun Dos, a tuna boat at work near Victoria, Seychelles

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  The weather ship MS Polarfront at sea.

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  American aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman and a replenishment ship

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  A ship's hull endures harsh conditions at sea, as illustrated by this reefer ship in bad weather.

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  A ship's engine room

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  The rudder and propeller on a newly built ferry

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  Aerial view of the German battleship Schlesien, showing a 39° wake, characteristic of vessels passing through water.

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  MS Freedom of the Seas under construction in a shipyard in Turku.

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  A ship launching at the Northern Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland

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  Able seaman using a needlegun scaler on a mooring winch.

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  Workers drag steel plate ashore from beached ships in Chittagong, Bangladesh

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  The tanker Exxon Valdez spilled 10,800,000 US gallons (8,993,000 imp gal; 40,880,000 L) of oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound.

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  A cargo ship pumps ballast water over the side

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  Exhaust stack on a container ship.

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  Ship breaking near Chittagong, Bangladesh

See also

In Spanish: Barco para niños