Paragraph on “How did man learn to sail?” complete paragraph for Class 9, Class 10, Class 11 and Class 12

How did man learn to sail?

Before man learned to sail he had to discover the principle of flotation and   this is probably did by accident. Noticing how fallen pieces of trees floated in rivers and lakes, primitive man experimented by holding onto logs and discovered that they could support his weight and remain afloat. He developed this ‘floating vehicle’ by tying logs of wood together with vines, bundling reeds together, inflating skins of animals or carving out the pulp of a tree trunk and cutting it in half to make a dugout or canoe.

But then the need for some form of power to propel his new – found craft resulted in man developing a crude sail – a piece of skin or other natural material, usually square- shaped, which he attached to a rough upright pole, and hoisted above his  craft. The pole was held in position amidships (in the middle of the boat) by plaited raw hide ropes. It is known that ancient Cretans built boats such as this as early as 3000 BC. Although this allowed them to communicate and trade with other countries in the Mediterranean, the shape of the sail they used meant that they could only sail before the wind, that is with the wind behind them.

It was not until the ninth century after Christ that the triangular lateen sail against the wind, that is heading towards the winds at such an angle that the boat is still pushed along by it. This  was a wonderful achievement as boats could then be made to travel much faster because more control was possible over the direction in which sailor wanted to sail.