Not quite sure where to post this, but doubtless Jenny will move it if necessary... A thousand years ago, ships were used for trade, to the best of my knowledge. At what point did they become used for national defence, attack and general control of the local seas? When did the divide between merchant shipping and maritime defence occur, and which countries were first? Finally, and this is really my main question, when did the idea of travelling the seas and visiting other countries purely for pleasurable recreation really take off, and in which countries did it take off in a big way first? I would not be surprised to read that in Phoenecia or Ancient Greece there was some degree of maritime travel for pleasure, but I am thinking of the conscious organisation of voyaging for pleasure as an actual industry.
I know that this is a big topic, and one that really needs researching. I could do it myself, but being ridiculously busy anyway, and knowing how much some of you know about all this, I prefer just to ask the experts!...
This message has been edited. Last edited by: DorianGreyed,
Posts: 3424 | Location: Marple Cheshire UK | Registered: 06-04-02
Surely the Vikings used boats/ships for defense well before that. The Greeks certainly had specialised military boats. I would venture to guess that boats were used for control of the waterways as soon as boats were invented.
Cleopatra certainly had a pleasure boat. Messing around in boats has always been used for pleasure I expect, at least for as long as there have been boats to mess around in.
As an industry, it would probably occur after the industrial revolution. Probably the 1800s. Kings and queens have probably boated for pleasure if located near water.
Posts: 1359 | Location: Schrodengersville, neither here nor there | Registered: 09-05-03
quote:Originally posted by Ritzmar: Not quite sure where to post this, but doubtless Jenny will move it if necessary... A thousand years ago, ships were used for trade, to the best of my knowledge. At what point did they become used for national defence, attack and general control of the local seas? When did the divide between merchant shipping and maritime defence occur, and which countries were first? Finally, and this is really my main question, when did the idea of travelling the seas and visiting other countries purely for pleasurable recreation really take off, and in which countries did it take off in a big way first? I would not be surprised to read that in Phoenecia or Ancient Greece there was some degree of maritime travel for pleasure, but I am thinking of the conscious organisation of voyaging for pleasure as an actual industry.
I know that this is a big topic, and one that really needs researching. I could do it myself, but being ridiculously busy anyway, and knowing how much some of you know about all this, I prefer just to ask the experts!...
In Classical antiquity, some Greek city-states maintained fleets of ships specialized for war, designed and built for the purpose of fighting, and useless for trade. Socrates served as an oarsman on such a ship. I don't know of earlier such specialization, but I have little doubt that this is a deficiency in my knowledge, not an indication that there was no earlier specialization in ship design and use.
Boating for pleasure is an expensive pastime. Any time there has been a great concentration of wealth, you'll find examples of boating for pleasure. As a general business proposition, as today's cruise lines, it had to wait for a widespread high standard of living.
It is interesting to me to note that while the Greeks and Romans maintained fleets of ships designed to fight against other ships, the Vikings, the great naval power of the 9th and 10th centuries, did not. The few naval battles of the viking era were fought in sheltered waters, with ships actually tied or chained together, and men fighting hand-to-hand. Otherwise, their ships served mainly to carry armies (or smaller bodies of men) to the scenes of land battles.
In the 1500s, the Spanish attempted to invade England, using ships purely for transport. The English defended themselves by using ships to fight against ships, and were able to scatter the Spanish armada before it could complete its mission. The decisiveness of that victory resulted in the evolution of naval warfare since. During the Napoleanic wars, there were no real attempts to put an army onto a hostile shore. England, being an island nation, when they wished to fight the French, landed their army in Portugal, which was friendly to them, and fought their way through Spain into France.
By the 20th century, navies had all but forgotten how to land large numbers of men on a beach at all. During the D-Day invasion, and in order to land on islands defended by the Japanese in the Pacific, the US Navy had to depend on the Coast Gaurd to provide pilots for the landing craft that actually put men on the beaches.
Alan Moore
Posts: 2012 | Location: USA | Registered: 10-05-03
Notinmyname, Sherasi, Jenny & AMoore, very many thanks for all the interesting information and the links. It will be a couple of days before I can settle down to mull it all over, but I will do so with pleasure as soon as I can...thanks again!...
Posts: 3424 | Location: Marple Cheshire UK | Registered: 06-04-02
