Sailing Vessels

Sailing vessels harness the energy of the wind to propel their hulls through the water. They catch the wind in sheets of cloth or fiber, called sails, suspended from wooden or metal poles called masts. The invention of the sail revolutionized the ship and dominated the course of ship construction until the 19th century.

A. Earliest Sailing Vessels

The earliest representation of a ship under sail appears on an Egyptian vase from about 3500 bc. Early Egyptian sailing vessels consisted of a wooden framework covered with papyrus reeds or wood lashed together with rope. Large trees did not grow in the region, so Egyptians imported timbers from nearby Lebanon or lashed small wood blocks together and secured them with pegs. The wood swelled when submerged, forming a nearly watertight seal. Smaller sailing vessels harnessed the wind with two sails. Larger Egyptian sailboats captured the wind with a single square sail and were steered with two steering oars mounted on the stern.

Maritime historians know a good deal about ships of this period because the Egyptians sometimes buried pharaohs with ships to transport them in the afterlife. One such funeral ship was unearthed in 1954 during excavation of the Great Pyramid of Giza. This ship was constructed for the pharaoh Khufu, also called Cheops, around 2600 bc. Remarkably well preserved, it was constructed from wood planks and timbers and measures approximately 38 m (125 ft) long. Historians learned a great deal about Egyptian shipbuilding techniques from this vessel, which has come to be known as the Cheops ship.

Phoenician Cargo Ship
Considered the best shipbuilders of the time, the Phoenicians designed boats that depended more on wind than on manpower. Phoenician ships could carry more cargo than galley ships, which needed room for oars and rowers.

The most able shipbuilders of ancient times were the Phoenicians. They constructed merchant vessels capable of carrying large cargoes between the colonies that rimmed the Mediterranean Sea, such as Carthage in North Africa and Cádiz in Spain. Phoenician merchants built hulls from sturdy wood planks and partially covered them with a platform, or deck, that protected the crew and cargo from weather and ocean spray. Merchant ship design steadily improved, enabling the Phoenicians to navigate beyond the Mediterranean Sea as far as the British Isles and the Canary Islands.

B. Galleys

Competition for dominance in maritime trade between the Phoenicians and the neighboring Greeks led to frequent skirmishes at sea. Finding their merchant vessels clumsy and unresponsive in battle, the Phoenicians developed the war galley, an oared vessel that could maneuver and attack when there was little or no wind to drive the sails. The Phoenicians built the galley from wood planks or blocks and equipped it with one or two removable masts. They traveled under sail power on long hauls between ports but lowered the mast and sail and switched to oar power for battles. Oars permitted warriors to easily maneuver the ship within arrow-shooting or javelin-tossing range of enemy ships and just as easily retreat when enemies threatened them. Galleys proved versatile enough for use in both trade and war.

Phoenician Merchant Galley
The Phoenicians were the most able shipbuilders and sailors of the ancient Mediterranean world. Merchant ships, such as the one pictured here, enabled them to trade throughout the Mediterranean Sea.

In the 9th century bc the Greeks armed the galley with a ram, a sharp spike that extended forward of the ship below the waterline. Encased in bronze, the ram could be driven into an enemy vessel to disable or sink it. This addition transformed the galley into a weapon, not just a carrier of warriors who fought at sea.

Shipbuilders soon learned that galleys capable of generating short bursts of speed could catch and ram opponents more effectively. They constructed longer ships or reconfigured the designs of smaller ships to accommodate more oarsmen. The penteconter, or fifty-oared galley (25 oars per side), became the most popular choice for naval warfare. It allowed for about 1 m (3 ft) of space for each oarsman, featured decks at the stern and bow, and measured about 30 to 38 m (100 to 125 ft) in length.

1. Biremes

Experience soon proved that longer ships posed a new set of problems: They were weaker structurally, more difficult to maneuver, and presented a larger target to any enemy ship with a ram. In the 8th century bc Mediterranean shipbuilders eliminated these problems with the bireme, a war galley built to accommodate two levels, or banks, of oarsmen. Oarsmen on the lower level rowed oars from ports cut into the side of the vessel, while those above rowed from the deck. This arrangement allowed more men to power the bireme without lengthening the ship.

2. Triremes

The search for even greater power at sea resulted in the creation of the trireme, a galley with three banks of oarsmen. These very expensive vessels carried as many as 170 oarsmen and dominated the Mediterranean from the 6th century to the 4th century bc. Athens invested heavily in triremes and had the finest navy afloat at the start of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 bc), a struggle for power between Athens and Sparta. Athens’s naval dominance proved temporary, however. In 404 bc incompetent Athenian admirals lost the fleet and the war. The problem with oared vessels was they could not carry sufficient food or water to sustain their crews long at sea. So the admirals ordered the galleys beached and sent the crew ashore for food and water. While the crew was away, Spartans attacked and destroyed the once mighty Athenian fleet.

3. Roman Galleys

By the time ancient Rome rose to power, the trireme had lost its position as the dominant war vessel. Dionysius the Elder, the aristocratic ruler of Sicily, built a navy of about 300 vessels that featured quadriremes and quinqueremes. Historians doubt that these ships had four and five banks of oarsmen, as their names suggest. Instead, it is believed four to five men worked together to row each oar. These ships often carried 100 fighting men and either a stone-throwing catapult to attack port towns or bowed catapults that fired darts or stones. The Roman navy also came to rely on Liburnian galleys, small, two-level ships known for their speed.

Roman Warship
Long banks of oars propelled the Roman warship swiftly through the water and into battle. Roman cargo ships featured the same distinctive square sails, but warships often had additional protective coverings to shield them from fire and missiles.

The navy protected Roman merchant ships from enemies and pirates. The sophisticated merchant ships were large, high-sided vessels with two or three masts that flew square sails. Many measured 500 tons, and historians theorize that special ships used to transport Egyptian grain to Roman territories exceeded 1,000 tons. No examples of the grain transports have been recovered, however. Roman galleys and merchant ships dominated the Mediterranean until the Western Empire broke up in the 5th century ad.

4. Dromons

As the Western Roman Empire fell to Germanic tribes and its own internal problems, the Roman Empire in the east, called the Byzantine Empire, flourished. The Byzantine navy transported soldiers and supplies to help recover the Western Empire. The navy relied on fast galleys called dromons, or racers, to accompany and protect the supply ships. Early dromons had a single bank of oarsmen, but Byzantine shipbuilders later incorporated a second level for oarsmen.

C. Lateen-Rigged Ships

In the 7th and 8th centuries ad, Arabs, inspired by their new religion, Islam, repeatedly attacked Byzantine ports. Substantial changes in ship construction began to appear in the eastern Mediterranean, due in part, historians suspect, to exposure to Arab ships and seafarers. One such change was the adoption of lateen sails, previously used on Roman coastal vessels, but later seen on Arab sailing ships called dhows. Triangular in shape, lateen sails enabled a vessel to sail almost directly into the wind—a feat not possible with square sails. Byzantine dromons appeared with Arab-influenced lateen rigging by the 6th century, and by the 9th century the square sail had all but disappeared in the Mediterranean and farther south.

Shipbuilding techniques also changed in this period. Instead of building with the traditional shell-first construction, in which the builder joins planks tightly with fasteners to form the ship’s hull, shipwrights began building a skeletal framework first, then fixing the planking to the frame. Evidence from an 11th century shipwreck found in present-day Serçe Liman, Turkey, exemplifies the typical changes. This small coastal freighter supported two masts carrying lateen sails, and the frame was clearly constructed first.

D. Junks

In China and other areas of Asia, shipbuilders had developed an entirely different, and many argue superior, sailing ship. The junk was a wooden, ocean-going vessel recognized for the ingenuity with which it was developed and its remarkable seaworthiness. The flat-bottomed craft was assembled on a bed of sandbags, which settled and shifted as they adjusted to suit the craft’s growing weight. Junks have high sterns and square bows, and most carried four or more masts that sported sails made of fiber and later, of small pieces of cloth. The sails were stiffened with bamboo battens to improve their efficiency. Asian shipwrights made innovative use of bulkheads to strengthen the hull. These partitions also created a number of watertight compartments that enabled merchants to carry liquid cargo. Instead of using side oars for steering, junks had a hinged plate at the stern called a rudder, a technological innovation not regularly seen in European ships until about the 12th century.

Chinese Fishing Boat
A Chinese junk fishes in the harbor near Hong Kong. Junks have covered decks, lugsails, and long rudders, but no keel. Their compartmentalized hulls increase stability on the open ocean.

By the 9th century, Chinese junks regularly plied coastal and open waters of China, Japan, and Southeast Asia, and by the 15th century, junks regularly traveled as far as East Africa. Among the junk’s most famous accomplishments were the journeys of Chinese explorer Zheng He, who, between 1405 and 1433, made seven voyages across the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea, and the Red Sea commanding a fleet of about 200 junks. A kindred vessel was the lorcha, which had a European style hull but was rigged with the sails of a junk.

E. Viking Ships

In northern Europe, Scandinavian shipbuilders had been practicing a unique construction technique since the 4th century bc. They constructed a vessel by laying a wooden backbone, or a keel, then attaching successive overlapping strakes (planks) until a hull was formed. After finishing the hull, the Scandinavians inserted a skeletal framework to strengthen and support the vessel. This building method, called lapstrake, is unique in that each run of planking overlaps the one below it. Shipwrights used iron fasteners, or clinch bolts, to hold the double thickness of planking together. From the word clinch, this form of building also became known as clinker building.

Viking Ship
This Viking ship, on display at the Viking Museum in Oslo, Norway, is an example of lapstrake construction. In Viking ships of the 9th century and later, external planks were overlapped and lashed to the ship’s frame, producing a strong, flexible hull.

By the 8th century ad, Nordic peoples called Vikings regularly traveled in clinker-built vessels designed for trade, transport, and warfare. Viking longships with 80 oars or more and a single removable mast with a square sail carried warriors into battle. The sailors lowered and stored the mast when traveling under oar power. Longships had a shallow draft, a design that enabled Vikings to navigate rivers and streams. This design permitted them to take many inland settlements by surprise because the inhabitants did not expect an attack from the water.

The Viking ship had no deck and offered its crew little protection from the wind and water. Nonetheless, the Vikings traveled great distances in their ships. They traded and raided along the northern seas, founded Dublin in Ireland, conquered much of England, invaded France, and descended the rivers of eastern Europe as far as Kiev and Constantinople. Norse Vikings led by Leif Eriksson sailed west to Greenland, Iceland, and Vinland (probably present-day Newfoundland and Labrador) in North America.

Historians know a good deal about these ships because the Vikings, like the ancient Egyptians, sometimes buried important members of their communities with ships. In 1904 archaeologists found the remains of an early 9th-century ship while excavating a Viking burial mound located on a farm near Oslo, Norway. The ship, which has come to be known as the Oseberg ship for the farm on which it was found, has a 22-m (71-ft) clinker-built hull with an elegantly curved bow and stern. It had a single mast and accommodated 30 oars. The ancient shipwright had used baleen, or whalebone lashings, to fix wooden supports to the hull.

The similarly constructed Gokstad ship was discovered in a burial mound in Norway in 1880. Built about 850, this ship had a single mast that supported a square sail. It was 24 m (78 ft) long, with a breadth, or beam, of about 5 m (17 ft), and it was steered with a steering oar controlled by a wood bar called a tiller. In 1893 enthusiasts built a replica of the Gokstad ship and sailed it from Bergen, Norway, to New York, New York. Similar replicas have crossed the Atlantic Ocean several times.

F. Cog

In the 11th century the Viking’s stronghold in northern Europe began to slip. As their reign of terror subsided, maritime trade resumed in northern Europe, and with it arose the need for sailing vessels capable of transporting large cargoes. By the 13th century the cog had taken its place as the major cargo vessel in northern Europe. Developed over many centuries, the cog was clinker-built like Viking ships. It had a flat bottom, high sides, and a large carrying capacity. The flat bottom was constructed of planks fit edge-to-edge. As the sides of the hull rose, the planks overlapped each other in clinker-building fashion. Cogs had one tall mast that carried a single, square sail, and elevated decks at the bow and stern. The raised structures at the bow, called the forecastle, and the stern, called the sterncastle, permitted sailors to hurl stones or spears and to shoot arrows downward at other ships. The cog’s steering system consisted of an innovative rudder, attached like a hinge at the center of the stern and controlled by a tiller. This revolutionary control system remains the standard on ships to this day.

From the 13th to the 15th century, the cog dominated trade between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea ports of the Hanseatic League, an alliance of merchants and cities in northern Europe. Until 1962 almost all of what maritime historians knew of cogs came from the official seals of Hanseatic towns and their coins. Archaeologists excavated a 14th-century cog in Bremen, Germany, in 1962. The ship measured 23 m (77 ft) and could carry 130 tons of cargo. In the 15th century the cog gave way to the hulk, a similarly constructed large sailing vessel characterized by a single mast and a rounded bow and stern.

G. Carrack

By the end of the 15th century, both the cog and the hulk had lost their popularity to the carrack. Probably first built on the Atlantic coast of Europe, the carrack blended elements of Mediterranean and northern European ship design. The shipwright first built a skeletal frame, to which he fixed planks edge-to-edge and caulked between them to form a smooth finish. Planked hulls with this type of construction, called carvel-built, contrast with the overlapping planked hulls of clinker-built ships. The carrack sported two, and later three, masts. The fore and main masts carried square sails; the after, or mizzen, mast carried a lateen sail. Sail area, and therefore ship speed, was increased by flying topsails above the main sails. The elevated forecastle and sterncastle housed the crew and passengers and protected them from rough weather.

Carracks were commonly used for trade and war in the Mediterranean and northern seas. In 1510 King Henry VIII of England built the 32-m (105-ft) battle carrack Mary Rose and equipped the ship with what was then state-of-the-art artillery. On previous ships, fighters stood on elevated decks to fire cannons and other weapons down onto the decks of enemy ships. Mary Rose featured gun ports with hinged lids on each side. During battle, fighters opened the lids, rolled out the cannons, and fired at the enemy ship’s hull instead of its deck.

Though convenient, gun ports also proved vulnerable. If the gun ports were cut too close to the waterline, water could pour into the ship and sink it if it listed to one side. The Mary Rose, which sank in 1545, probably met this fate. Attempts to salvage the cannons and other valuables onboard proved more or less futile. The ship was forgotten until the 1970s, when marine archaeologists found it on the ocean bottom and began to bring its thousands of artifacts to the surface. The ship itself was raised in 1982.

H. Caravel

Fishing vessels called caravels first appeared in Spain and Portugal in the 13th century. These small, seaworthy sailing ships proved so agile and reliable that almost every European seafaring nation had adopted them by the end of the 15th century. Caravels carried cargo of all kinds throughout the Mediterranean, Atlantic, and Indian oceans and became a favorite of Portuguese and Spanish explorers.

Caravels were carvel-built—that is, constructed frame-first and covered with planks fitted flush to one another. They carried three or even four masts with lateen sails. The ships sailed into the wind well, were fast, and had a shallow draft that made them suitable for coastal as well as ocean travel. Caravels averaged a manageable 23 m (75 ft) in length and could be rowed if necessary.

During the 15th and 16th centuries, hundreds of caravels sailed along the west coast of Africa and to the Americas. In the early to mid-15th century, Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal sponsored voyages along the African coast that relied upon caravels. Famous explorer Christopher Columbus sailed caravels on his voyages of exploration under the flag of Spain in 1492. He rerigged the Niña, his favorite, with square sails on his voyage west to better use the following winds. Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias sailed caravels on his voyage around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa in 1488. Vasco da Gama also used them to sail across the Indian Ocean to establish Portuguese colonies in Asia in 1498.

By the end of the 16th century, the caravel’s popularity had declined significantly. As European nations stepped up efforts to transport goods pillaged from faraway lands, demand for larger, more heavily armed ships increased. Efforts to enlarge the caravel proved unsuccessful—longer and wider versions did not sail as well as their smaller counterparts.

I. Galleon

The 15th-century exploits of the great explorers earned riches and power for the seafaring nations of Europe. Spain devoted much of its new wealth to building a corps of battleships to accompany and protect merchant ships, laden with treasures collected in the Americas, against piracy. Toward this end, Spanish shipwrights developed the galleon, a modified, enlarged version of the carrack that became the premier ocean-going ship of the 16th and 17th centuries. Although developed as a warship, the galleon proved to be a fast and able sailer with a large cargo capacity. Most European nations adopted them to carry the treasures of Asia and the Americas back to Europe.

Vasa Warship
Salvaged from the Baltic Sea in 1961, the Swedish warship Vasa is the only intact 17th-century ship in the world. It sank on its maiden voyage in 1628. Now completely restored, the ship is on display at the Vasa Museum in Stockholm, Sweden.

In galleons, the hull is longer and slimmer than in carracks. A high sterncastle and long beak at the bow give the hull a crescent shape. Excellent sailers, galleons carried three masts and flew square sails on the fore and main masts and a lateen sail on the mizzen. Some galleons had a fourth mast, which carried a lateen sail called a second, or bonaventure mizzen. The typical galleon was heavily armed, having two decks with cannons and several smaller decks that served as fighting platforms. These included a half-deck, a smaller quarterdeck, and a poop deck (a partial deck aft of the main mast).

Galleons fulfilled many famous missions. They were the principal fighting ships of the Spanish Armada of 1588. The small merchant galleon Mayflower brought the Pilgrims to America in 1620. The beautiful Swedish galleon Vasa, built by Dutch shipwrights for the King of Sweden, sank tragically on its maiden voyage in Stockholm harbor in 1628. A wind blew Vasa onto its side, allowing water to pour through the open gun ports. The ship lay in the mud at the bottom of the harbor until the 1960s, when it was resurrected and meticulously restored. Today the Vasa is the only surviving galleon and Stockholm's most popular public exhibit.

J. East Indiamen

In the 17th and 18th centuries the East India companies of western Europe devoted themselves to exploiting the wealth of South and Southeast Asia. Their home governments granted them the exclusive rights to import goods, such as spices, silks, precious stones, and arts and crafts, from India, Japan, China, Indonesia, and the Malay Peninsula. The most successful of these companies reaped immense profits, year after year, for more than two centuries.

East India companies carried riches between Asia and western Europe in ships called East Indiamen. These huge, three-masted merchant ships measured 800 tons or more and were armed with cannons on two gun decks to protect their valuable cargoes from piracy. In many cases, East Indiamen served as monuments to the power and riches of the companies that owned them and the countries from which they hailed. The massive ships were decorated with ornate, gilded carvings, and the interiors boasted luxurious wood and fabric finishes.

K. Ships of the Line

Sail-powered naval warfare climaxed from 1650 to 1840. During this period, ships carried heavy artillery to destroy their opponents—as many as 100 cannons, most placed in gun ports on the sides of the vessel. To accommodate the cannons, which could fire only straight out to the side of the vessel, warships fell into position in long orderly lines. The enemy usually lined up in the same formation and battle commenced, broadside against broadside.

This battle configuration earned the warships powerful enough to fight on the front lines of battle the name ships of the line. From the 17th century, British warships were rated in six classes, according to the number of guns they carried. Ships of the line claimed the highest ratings. First-rate ships had three gun decks with over 100 guns. Third-rate battleships with 60 guns or more were typically the lowest-rated vessels used as ships of the line by the British navy. In rare cases, fourth-rate ships, which had between 40 and 60 guns, served as ships of the line. Other navies used similar rating systems.

Ships of the line increased in size and firepower during the years that they were popular. In the mid-17th century the largest ships of the line reached 1,500 tons. By 1750 ships of 2,000 tons or more were common, and by 1800 ships of the line usually exceeded 2,500 tons. The hulls of these massive warships were often reinforced with double-layered oak planks up to 46 cm (18 in) thick. Such construction required unprecedented amounts of wood. For example, about 2,500 mature oak trees were used to build HMS Victory, Britain’s flagship at the famous Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. This superlative ship featured 32 km (20 mi) of rope and had a crew of 850 sailors and marines.

Like the East Indiamen merchant ships, ships of the line often served as monuments to the powers that built them. In many cases, no cost was spared in their construction. They were highly decorated with woodcarvings and featured officers’ quarters designed for comfort and elegance. Such luxuries were not extended to all the sailors, however. Most of the crew slept in hammocks suspended from beams on the gun decks.

L. Frigates, Sloops, and Brigs

In the 17th and 18th centuries, naval powers rated their battleships according to firepower. Fifth-rate and sixth-rate ships had fewer than 40 guns and were not considered powerful enough to fight in the front lines of battle. Classed as frigates, these ships were used to support ships of the line. They performed reconnaissance work, protected their own country’s merchant ships, and attacked the merchant ships of enemy nations.

Old Ironsides
Commissioned in 1798, the Constitution fought in 1803 and 1804 in the Tripolitan War (1801-1805). During a famous battle with the British warship Guerrière in the War of 1812, a cannon shell bounced off the hull of the Constitution, earning the ship the nickname “Old Ironsides.” The commemorative poem “Old Ironsides” by Oliver Wendell Holmes later saved the ship from dismantling. It is still in commission, the oldest warship in any navy.

Early frigates were light and fast. They carried three masts and could maneuver well in the close quarters of battle. Galley frigates were outfitted with oars as well as sails, making them even more agile in battle. They also cost less to build and maintain than their giant, heavily armed counterparts. These strengths appealed to the Congress of the United States, which created the United States Navy in 1794 and authorized the construction of six frigates. The United States, the Constitution and the President were armed with 44 guns, while the Constellation, the Chesapeake, and the Congress each had 36 guns, but two were soon upgraded to 38 guns. The Constitution, launched in 1797, earned the nickname Old Ironsides in 1812 for repelling the cannon balls fired by the British frigate Guerrière. Today berthed in Boston, Massachusetts, the Constitution is the oldest ship in the U.S. Navy and the oldest warship afloat.

Several types of smaller battleships also commonly operated in naval warfare in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. The sloop (or corvette, the French equivalent) ranked below the frigate in firepower. Sloops had two masts, carried about 100 men, and were armed with 18 or fewer guns. Sloops ran down privateers, privately owned, armed vessels that preyed on merchant ships.

The brig also saw military action. Two-masted with several square sails, brigs served in many European navies of the 18th century. In the United States the brig Niagara became famous for its part in the defeat of the British at the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813.

M. Clippers

In the middle of the 18th century, speed surpassed cargo capacity as the most important feature for merchant ships. Speed was especially valued by traders engaged in the lucrative Atlantic slave trade and the Chinese opium and tea trades. Traders had to outrun pirates and warships, so speed won shipping contracts at higher rates per ton of cargo carried. These conditions necessitated the development of clippers, fast sailing ships probably named for the time they clipped from standard passages between ports.

Clipper Ship Star Flyer
Considered by many to be the most beautiful ships ever afloat, clipper ships dominated transoceanic trade routes in the mid-19th century. Named for the time they clipped from standard passages between ports, clippers hauled tea from China and wool from Australia at record speed, sometimes achieving speeds as fast as 22 knots. Modern clippers are used primarily for recreational yachting. The Star Flyer was built in 1991. Its more than 3,300 sq m (36,000 sq ft) of sail propel the 110-m (360-ft) ship through the water at an average speed of 17 knots.

The term clipper ship is sometimes used as a synonym for any fast ship, but true clipper ships have distinct features designed for speed. True clippers began to appear in the late 1840s. A clipper has a long, sleek hull with a sharp bow and an overhanging stern to reduce contact with the water, thereby reducing drag. It typically has three tall masts that fly as many as five sails each. Later clippers, such as the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, England, were built with iron frames covered with wood planks.

The clippers revolutionized long-distance shipping. The 1,700-ton Flying Cloud made the 29,000-km (18,000-mi) passage from New York City, New York, to San Francisco, California, in only 89 days. The American clipper Oriental sailed from New York City to Hong Kong in a record 81 days. From 1849 the Chinese tea trade attracted clippers, as did the California gold rush. Prospectors wanted to travel from the East coast to California as quickly as possible. To this day, clippers are revered as some of the most beautiful ships in history.

N. Last Days of Sail

Sailing ships of the later 19th century underwent dramatic changes. Hulls were built of iron and later, steel. Steel also replaced wood in masts, and shipbuilders turned to wire and chain instead of rope made from hemp. The new materials enabled the construction of huge sailing ships, such as the German-built Preussen (1902), a five-masted steel ship over 120 m (400 ft) long. Preussen carried 47 sails that had a total area of 4,650 square meters (5,560 square yards). Some of these vessels carried auxiliary steam engines with propellers. The largest merchant sailing vessel ever built, the 128-m (419-ft) France II, carried two steam engines.
The efficiency and growing reliability of steam-powered vessels hastened the end of the age of sail. Steamships edged out sailing ships in the Chinese tea trade following the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, and in the South American nitrate trade when the Panama Canal opened in 1914. The use of U-boats in World War I (1914-1918) to attack merchant ships created a need for military escorts, but sailing ships were vulnerable and not well suited to sail in closely formed convoys.

One of the last remaining uses for sailing ships was transoceanic mail delivery. Called packet boats after the British nickname for the mail dispatch, mail ships were built for speed. They carried mail to overseas locations, usually under the control of the home country. Britain ran post office packet ships on regular runs in the early 19th century. But by the mid-19th century, the British were contracting with private firms, such as the Cunard Line and the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, to deliver mail in steamships.

The surviving great sailing ships found roles as training ships for navies, and several still serve in this capacity today. They can often be seen together at maritime festivals and other gatherings of tall ships. Today the legacy of the great sailing ships lives on in the competitive and leisure-time activity of modern sailing.