Old-time sailors define a boat as a vessel capable of being carried aboard a ship. Many large vessels, however, are also called boats: tug boats, ferry boats, fireboats, and so forth. In the most general sense a boat is a comparatively small, often open vessel propelled by oars, paddles, sails, or a motor and designed and outfitted for any number of functions--from the simple short-haul transport a rowboat provides, to the highly specialized activities of a Coast Guard rescue boat. This article deals with small boats and yachts, both power and sail, and with special small boat types such as the \Tcanoe\t. The history of larger vessels, both sail- and engine-powered, as well as modern construction methods will be found under \Tship\t. Separate articles describe special types of craft (for example, \Tbarge\t; \Tgondola\t; \TPT boat\t). \Tnaval vessels\t treats the development of ships used for war as well as modern naval ship types. EARLY BOAT DEVELOPMENT Anthropologists assume that hollowed-out logs were the earliest form of boat. Indeed, many societies still use this type, often with sails and a stabilizing outrigger--a spar-attached length of wood riding parallel to the length of the boat. The famous Malay outrigger sailing canoe is an example of such a boat. Other early types of boat construction included vessels made of tied bundles of reeds or grass, known to have been used in Sardinia, India, Egypt, and Mexico, on Lake Titicaca in South America, and by early American settlers in California. Another primitive form of boat construction, animal skins stretched over a wooden frame, can still be seen in the Eskimo kayak and the Irish coracle (curragh). The Maine canoe, painted canvas over spruce ribs, was developed in the 1890s using the basic design of the North American Indian canoe, a vessel made of birch bark sewn over a wood framework. Today, high-strength plastics are used to make the same canoe shape. Although different societies developed similar types of boats, such conditions as the availability of tools and materials or the kinds of water to be traveled--as well as the requirements of fisherman or traders--were of great importance in the growth of maritime technology. American Indians, living mostly inland, never needed to use sails. Pacific islanders, surrounded by ocean, constructed sails from treebark mats or plaited strips of wood and were able to travel thousands of miles. They learned to navigate by weather signs, such as cloud banks over distant islands, and by the stars and ocean currents. Variations of multihulled boats, propelled by paddles and sails, were developed by the Micronesians and Polynesians. Micronesian outriggers, and those of Ceylon and Malaya, were extremely fast. Many Tahitian craft measured 20 m (65 ft) or more--as long as a large modern power cruiser. (One canoe that Capt. James Cook measured on his visit to Tahiti in 1769 was longer than his own ship, the Endeavour.) Pacific islanders cut planks with adzes and used lashings of a rope made from vegetable fibers and a caulking of breadfruit sap to hold their boats together. Ancient Egyptian carvings reveal that the stones used to build the pyramids were transported by boat. Egyptian wall painters and pottery makers depicted sail and paddle boats on their ceramics. By perhaps 3000 BC, Egyptian sailors were voyaging as far as Crete, a round-trip of about 950 km (about 600 mi). They brought back cedar wood, for Egypt even then possessed few trees from which to construct boats. Egyptian nautical development occurred along with the invention of woven cloth for sails and twisted rope for rigging. A modern sailor, looking at rope made thousands of years ago and preserved in the dry air of the pharaohs' tombs, might well be amazed to realize that this ancient rope is constructed in a way still used today--three strands in a right-hand twist. Paddles, oars, and single large sails were early forms of propulsion. At least one ancient method of arranging mast, spar, and sail, the lateen rig--a triangular sail set obliquely on a short mast--can still be seen on many Mediterranean and Middle Eastern craft. Although Cretan and Phoenician mariners have left far fewer permanent records than did the Egyptians, historical evidence of long and difficult voyages made by these civilizations indicates a high level of seamanship and, presumably, a well-developed knowledge of boat building. The vessels known from Greek and Roman times belong rather to the ship category and are therefore discussed there. The northern European path of nautical development, meanwhile, had been along different lines. The Scandinavians made open boats, both of hollowed out logs and planked lumber, long before the Roman conquest of Britain. The Nydam boat, now preserved at Kiel, was about 25 m (82 ft) long and is made of planks fitted clinker style (each plank overlapping the one beneath it), rather than carvel-built, with the planks fitted edge to edge. There are 14 pairs of oars and a rudder, but no sail. Coins found near the Nydam boat date it as between AD 69 and 217. Scandinavian boats began using sails only about AD 600. By the 3d century AD the Jutes, Angles, and Saxons were raiding across the North Sea to England. Still more centuries passed before the Vikings crossed the Atlantic to Iceland, Greenland, and America in open boats with woolen sails. Throughout the succeeding centuries, boat types and boat construction evolved slowly, sometimes spurred by occupations such as smuggling that required fast, maneuverable vessels, sometimes making rapid strides as new materials for sails and rope entered commerce. The basic carvel and clinker methods of constructing the hull were augmented by a variation on the carvel style, using two layers of planks set in opposing diagonal directions. Hull shapes were refined, and the addition of movable checkerboards, or leeboards attached to the sides of the boat, reduced sideway slippage. The development of fore-and-aft sails enabled a boat to sail "into the wind," if not directly, at least by making a series of slanting "tacks." By the late 19th century, almost every possible rowboat and sailboat design had been tried. It was not until the 1890s that the first gasoline engine-powered boat, fathered by the German inventors Gustav Daimler and Karl Benz, became commercially feasible. Eventually, power boats would outnumber sailboats by nine to one. SMALL BOAT TYPES In the 19th century each boat was made by hand, and ownership of a sailing yacht or other pleasure boat was restricted to the rich. The advent of aluminum and glass-reinforced plastic (fiberglass) as construction materials, however, introduced the advantages of mass production to the boat-building industry, and for the first time boat owning became a possibility for large numbers of people. As a result, the numbers of available boat styles, sizes, and types multiplied. Today the spectrum of small boat types begins with the smallest dinghies, prams (small ships' boats), and flat-bottom rowboats. Some can even fold to be carried overland and thus compete with a whole range of inflatable rubber boats, once used as emergency liferafts but now popular for rowing, outboarding, and even sailing. Boating enthusiasts also use houseboats (see \Thouseboat\t), canoes, racing shells, punts, and rubber or aluminum rafts. A houseboat is a broad-beamed vessel that furnishes the maximum living space. Although some are surprisingly fast and maneuverable, they are suited primarily to inland waters. Racing shells are long, narrow craft that are propelled by one to eight rowers using long oars known as sculls or sweeps. The punt is a shallow draft boat with blunt ends that is usually propelled by poling. Large rafts, which may be powered by small outboard motors, are popular for river excursions. Sailboats vary in size from light sailboards easily carried atop a car to cruising yachts--some only a little roomier than a station wagon--that can sail around the world. Such technical developments as aluminum masts and booms, stainless-steel rigging, nylon and dacron rope, and sails made of synthetic materials have further expanded the field of recreational boating by making it easier to handle boats under sail and to maintain them in dock. The once-laborious process of sail handling is now mechanized with electrically powered winches that hoist, lower, and control the sails. Many small racing boats are manufactured to conform to various class measurement rules. There are as many as 600 recognized classes. Along with the perfection of synthetic construction materials, the development of the outboard motor has created another major change in pleasure boating. The motor is light, comparatively inexpensive, and capable of being attached to a wide variety of craft, from simple rowboats to small cruising sailboats and catamarans. Boating competition has led to ever more powerful outboard engines (up to 200 hp in standard boats and reaching 900 hp in craft built for high-speed racing) and to increased reliability. The modified V-bottom hull, developed for offshore power-boat racing, is now the dominant hull design for fast open boats, cruisers, and sport-fishing boats. In addition to increasing the number of pleasure-boating enthusiasts, the outboard motor has become a significant source of marine mobility in remote frontier areas and on the waters of developing countries. The larger \Tmotorboat\t category includes cabin cruisers, ranging in size up to around 10 m (35 ft) and equipped with an inboard motor and living accommodations that often include bunks for up to six people, a galley (kitchen), and such other amenities as a shower. Some are outfitted for fishing, with a control station (called a flying bridge) built above the main cabin for better visibility. About 10 m, cabin cruisers are more properly called motor yachts; many carry such sophisticated navigational and power equipment that they can operate like large transocean ships. RECREATIONAL BOATING By the late 1980s, over 17 million recreational boats were registered with the U.S. Coast Guard. About 50 percent of the recreational boats in the United States are outboard powered, 12 percent have inboard motors, and about 9 percent are sail-powered boats. Thousands of law-enforcement officers of various jurisdictions administer U.S. waterways. The volunteer-staffed United States Power Squadrons teach boating to more than 50,000 adults a year in 400 locations across the country, and the Coast Guard auxiliary instructs an almost equal number. Hundreds of sailing schools, state and local boating education programs, and specialized schools provide beginning through advanced courses. As proof of the popularity of boating, one book--Chapman Piloting, Seamanship and Small Boat Handling, first published in 1917--has sold several million copies. Most of the thousands of boating enthusiasts simply enjoy spending recreational time on the water. A smaller group compete in the thousands of races held every year, and for the most important of these races, naval architects design craft incorporating the most advanced computer-generated shapes and the latest in experimental materials. In sailboating competition, catamarans and trimarans (improving on the Pacific Island multihulls) can approach speeds of 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph). While monohulls tend to dominate the sailboat world, Stars and Stripes, a catamaran, defeated the New Zealand monohull yacht New Zealand to win the 1988 \TAmerica's Cup\t--the most important sailing race. Sailboating competition is often a well-organized sport, especially at the 1,200 yacht clubs in the United States. A racer may start at the club level and advance to interclub, regional, and--in the United States--the North America Yacht Racing Union's national championships. On the world level the International Yacht Racing Union is the governing body. Men, women, and juniors compete at their own levels and in varying combinations. The pinnacle of small-craft sailing competition is the Olympic Games. Separate from clubs and regional associations are the organizations for boats of particular classes. These are known as one-designs because the boats in a given class are all of the same design and size, and they race without handicap or time allowance--that is, the first boat to cross the finish line is the winner. Some of the most popular of the hundreds of one-design classes are the Sunfish, Hobie Cats, Lasers, Stars, Snipes, and Lightnings. Some classes are commercially controlled, and others are run by the owners' organization. Handicap racing allows for boats of differing sizes and designs to race against one another, with time allowances based on a rating derived from a boat's measurements in conjunction with the finishing times. The first boat to the finish line is not necessarily the winner. Most ocean races are run on a handicap basis. Some of the best known are the Bermuda Race, the Honolulu Race, and the Southern Ocean Racing Conference, as well as the Chicago-to-Mackinac (Island) race on Lake Michigan and the Detroit-to-Mackinac race on Lake Huron. Distances range from 480 to 3,200 km (300 to 2,000 mi), and occasionally special races across the Atlantic and even around the world are held. Boats for these races range from 10 to 24 m (35 to 80 ft). Among the most famous American racing sailboats are Brilliant, the schooner that had the fastest elapsed time in the 1936 Bermuda Race (114 hr, 54 min, 32 sec; in corrected time, however, Brilliant placed second) and is still sailing out of Mystic seaport; Finisterre, the broad-beamed yawl that won the Bermuda Race three times in succession--in 1956, 1958, and 1960; and Courageous, the U.S. 12-meter boat that successfully defended the America's Cup in 1974 and 1977. Offshore powerboat racing is a special development, and a good proportion of the powerboat racing in American waters is done by professionals. A major power-boat competition in the United States is the Gold Cup series, dominated by high-powered hydroplanes that average 130 to 160 km/h (80 to 100 mph). Not nearly so fast, but involving a high level of seamanship, is the type of powerboat race called "Predicted Log Racing," where amateur skippers predict the time it will take their cruisers to cover a given route--taking into consideration winds, currents, and navigational hazards. John R. Whiting Bibliography: Anderson, Romola and R. C., The Sailing Ship: 6,000 Years of History (1963); Bartlett, Michael, and Fishman, Joanne A., eds., The Sailing Book (1982); Blandford, Percy, The Illustrated History of the Small Boat (1974); Bottomley, Tom, Boatman's Handbook, rev. ed. (1988); Chapman, Charles F., and Maloney, E. S., Chapman Piloting, Seamanship and Small Boat Handling, 56th ed. (1983); French, J., Electrics and Electronics for Small Craft, 3d ed. (1988); Greenhill, Basil, The Archaeology of the Boat (1976); Heyerdahl, Thor, Early Man and the Ocean (1978); Maloney, E. S., Chapman Piloting, Seamanship, and Small Boat Handling, 58th ed. (1987); Naranjo, Ralph J., Wind Shadow West (1983); Time-Life Books, The Boat (1975) and The Classic Boat (1977); Villiers, Alan, Men, Ships, and the Sea (1973); U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, Pleasure Boating and Seamanship (1978); Watts, Alan, Wind and Sailing Boats (1987); Whiting, John R., On Deck (1985).