Water
It was the invention of the rudder by the Chinese in the 1st century BC that gave more precise directional control to boats. Three hundred years later the Arabs and Romans developed fore and aft rigging to enable boats to sail across the wind. The Chinese again, in 1090, contributed the magnetic compass, which was so crucial to accurate marine navigation.
Later, such as in the fleet of Richard the Lionheart in the 12th century, sail came to be used more frequently. And when, between 1400 and 1500, three-masted ships were developed in western Europe, the era of global sea travel and exploration could begin in earnest.
Britain's Royal Navy began with Henry VIII's twin-deck warship, the Great Harry. It was this sea power that underpinnned the building of the British Empire. Nevertheless, English ships were generally inferior to their Spanish and Dutch competitors until the early 19th century.
Once iron and steam came into common use on land it was only a matter of time before the two would be used in sea-going vessels. In 1783, Frenchman Jouffroy d'Abbans constructed the first paddle-driven steamboat, and 24 years later the Clermont was designed by US engineer and inventor Robert Fulton to sail between New York and Albany.
In 1836, Francis Pettit Smith patented the screw propeller in the UK. This used the Archimedes screw principle – that a screw turned in water would push the fluid along the length of the spiral screw. Two years later, Isambard Kingdom Brunel produced his Great Western steamship, which journeyed from Bristol to New York. And in 1845, he designed the first large iron screw propeller ship, the Great Britain.
By the start of the 20th century, though, engineers were experimenting with another, more modern, form of power: diesel. The French ship Petit-Pierre was the first to be powered by these new engines.
Today, everything from hovercrafts to huge ships and oil rigs use much of the same technology. A Queen Mary 2 is planned to be the largest ocean liner ever built, more than 30 metres longer than the height of Empire State Building and with a displacement of 150,000 tonnes.
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