Save Our Ships Ships Across Time: an Overview
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20000450 THC SOS2.qxd 9/15/00 1:11 PM Page 1 The History Channel® Table of Contents Lesson I. .3 Save Our Ships Ships Across Time: An Overview Lesson II. .8 Maritime history is an important and exciting part of our past, but it is often Merchant Ships and the Slave Trade neglected in the classroom. Teachers, historians, and maritime experts have worked together to create this manual, providing educators with materials to Lesson III. incorporate the history of ships and other water crafts into a variety of courses. .10 Why not create a special unit with the art, social studies, and science teachers Navigating the Seas working together to study clipper ships? Or use the story of the Amistad as a case study on slavery and the slave trade? Maritime history provides a dramatic Glossary . .12 window through which to examine the evolution of steam power, or the development of the China Trade, and fits easily into existing national Resources . .13 standards. You can use this manual as an intro d u c t o ry ove rv i ew or as separate lesson p l a n s . Either way, the subject matter can grab your students’ i n t e rest and help you generate the spark of learning that is so intrinsic to effe c t i ve t e a ch i n g. The pres e rv a t i o n of our maritime heritage is an important part of Save Our His t o r y, The History Channel Credits The History Channel’s national campaign dedicated to historic pres e rv a t i o n and hi s t o r y educat i on . We encourage you and your students to visit maritime mus e u m s or take electronic field trips via the Internet to the web sites we’ve rec om m e n d e d . Editor Libby Haight O’Connell, Ph.D. The History Channel has worked with Mystic Se a p o rt , in Mys t i c , Business Manager Beth Marian, M.Ed. Connecticut, on this project, and is a proud partner of Amistad America. Refer Writers Louise P. Maxwell, Ph.D. to our list of Resources to find their web sites – they have a wealth of information that your students will enjoy. Jessica Rosenberg Graphic Designer Scott Russo We love fee d b a ck . Please let us know how you are using this material and how your students res p on d . You can e-mail us at sa ve h i s t o ry @ ae t n . c o m, or fax us at Creative Services Debra L. Volz 21 2 - 5 5 1 - 1 5 4 0 . Coordinator Business Coordinator Lourdes Melendez-Gamez Libby H.O’Connell, Ph.D. Historian-in-Residence,The History Channel 1 S a ve our Ships S a ve our Ships 2 20000450 THC SOS2.qxd 9/15/00 1:11 PM Page 3 To The Teacher and goods across vast oceans and seas. Over time, in 1862, th e y shot at each other for more than two Am e ri ca’s maritime history provides a cri t i ca l co u n t r ies increa s i n g l y relied on ships for trade and for hours without ever piercing the armor of the other. foundation for understanding the settlement and wa r . Ships car r ied passengers and car g o , de fe n d e d The use of iron and steel in shipbuilding cle a r ly development of the North American continent tr ade rou t e s , and battled enemy ships. As countrie s changed the cha r acter of naval warfa re . over the past five centuries. co mpeted for dominance of the seas, th e y cons t a n t l y wo r ked to improve their ships. This has meant that Du ring the 20th century, t e ch n o l o g i ca l The activities in this manual are designed to give over the yea r s , ships have changed a lot, be c om i n g im p r ovements have continued to change not onl y students a general overview of the evolution of fa s t e r , sa fe r , and more efficient. Yet despite these the nature of naval warfa r e, but also the ways in ships and their ch a n g i n g, yet steady, role in cha n g e s , ships today still function in many of the wh i c h people and goods are tran s p o r ted across the Am e ri can and Wo rld history. M a ny of the same ways that they did hundreds of years ago, se a s . Tod a y, ships are cons t r ucted from all kinds of extended activities offer opportunities for pl a ying a role in tran s p o rt a t i on , com m e r ce and war. Viking Longship syn t h e ti c ma t e ri a l s , like glass-rei n f o r ced plastic, interdisciplinary instruction, encompassing math, making trav el and tran s p o rt a t i o n faster and easier. science, art and language arts, as well as history. Building Ships ot h e r , mo r e sophi s t i c ated design cal led car avel, th e y Powering Ships This manual is directed toward students in grades As soon as humans discover ed that they could float st a r ted with a strong hull and then laid the planks five through eight, but the lessons presented here on the water by binding together reeds or logs or by over it, si d e - b y - s i d e . The best-known clinker ships In addition to improvements in the way that ships may be adjusted for use with students either above fi l ling animal skins with air, th e y began building we r e Viking long s h i p s . Viking long s h i p s , wh i c h ar e cons t ru c t e d , th e r e also have been big advances in or below these target grade levels. bo a t s . But none of these boats were ships—an ap p e a r ed in the 8th century in Denmark, No rw ay, the way that ships are powe re d , that is, ho w ships are im p o r tant point to rem e m b e r , since many people and Swe d e n , be c ame the most important ships of mo ved forwa rd . Until about 1500 C.E., ships were Project Objectives co nfuse the terms “bo a t ” and “sh i p. ” Ships are larger the open seas. These longships were used to car r y pro p e ll e d by a comb i n a t i o n of oars and sails. Th e By studying the evolution of ships and their role in in size than boats, and thus are capable of Viking warriors across Europe and to No rt h Eg yptians used a single, sq u a r e sail to propel their American history, students will develop their skills tra n s p o r ting more people and car g o. For the ver y Ame ri c a and could be rowed by groups of oarsmen sh i p s , and this was the onl y sail that was used for of chronological thinking and historical analysis, first boats, built as early as 6300 B.C . E . , pe o p l e on each side or sailed by a single, sq u a r e sail. ma n y yea r s . Chinese ju n k s and Arab ships call e d and will understand cause-and-effect relationships. ho ll o wed out tree s , but because these “du g - o u t s ” dh ow s , me a nw h i l e , used more an g u l a r sa i l s , wh i c h over - t u r ned easily, th e y were not ver y good for In the late 15th century, Eu r opean shipbuilders Eu r opean merchant ships finally adopted in the National Standards car r ying passengers or car g o. Ancient Egypt i a n s , ab a n d o ned clinkers for cara ve l s . The cara v el was a M i d dle Ag e s . By the seventeenth century, The activities in this manual support the follow i n g who were the worl d’s first great shipbuilders, fa i r ly small ship, with a rounded bow and a square Eu r opean ships were employing a varie t y of sails of s t a n d a rd s : the Na t i onal St a n d a rds for History c on s t ructed boats around 3400 B. C . E . out of st e r n. Its curved hull caused it to sit higher in the d i f fe rent shapes and size s . E ven after the de veloped by the Nat i o nal Center for History in the pa p y rus ree d s , wh i c h grew beside the Nile River .