The Southern centre, situated in the Mediterranean, and originally from Phœnicia, is marked in red. There too, shipbuilding developed along an East-West line. Although it may not be certified, from the nautical standpoint or with the data at hand, that the Southern centre was under the influence of Asia, it can be observed, however, that many forms and processes of construction noted in old engravings are still found in the Arab, Indian and Chinese vessels.
Hence it follows that it is all the more necessary to carry on our investigations in that direction because the old methods of propulsion and of steering have been relatively well preserved in Asia rather than in Europe.
There is no doubt that relations in connection with this subject will be found between the Southern centre and a part of Asia.
Shipbuilding, which came to us from the Baltic Sea, was first put to use for fishing, that undoubted cradle of every great maritime race. The gradual growth of this industry widened the field of action and favored trade as it did in the Flanders. Hence, there will be no cause for astonishment in finding that the oldest memories of Holland in reference to shipbuilding are those of the herring fishery.
The birth of the cog, for example, is due to the rise of this kind of fishing; then this type of vessel led to that of the “Egmonderpink”, and afterward to that of the “Bom”, which will very soon have disappeared and of which it may be said that it will have formed the last vestige of the “Cog”.
The whole evolution of the ship is founded, furthermore, on tradition. This, however, did not lie alone in servile imitation of all that our ancestors had turned out, but in yielding to new demands which the special conditions of the period brought with them.
The evolution of the ship, like that of its size, has been gradual. So the ships of antiquity were smaller than those of the Middle Ages, and these in their turn were smaller than the vessels of modern times.
Neither the compass, the adoption of the rudder nor even the invention of gunpowder were able to bring about sudden changes in naval architecture. It was only gradually, and through improvements in artillery, that ships became heavier; so that at the beginning of our war for independence the distinction had begun to be made between war vessels and merchantmen, which until then had both been equally used for military purposes.
It was after the discovery of America and of the route to the East Indies, two events of the greatest importance for the evolution of the peoples of Europe, that the commerce of the world left the Mediterranean and moved toward the North Sea. Then it was that our country woke up and soon surpassed all others in shipbuilding. The Netherlands then carried naval construction back toward the Baltic.
France also borrowed from us the elements of shipbuilding. The province of Holland was at the head of this branch of construction from 1500 to 1700; France then took Holland’s place and, from the middle of the XVIIIth century, had its own separate construction. It was the keen French mind which guided all countries in the systematic construction of ships.