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| | The importance of shipping | | |  The first water transport was probably nothing more than a log used to cross a stream. That journey may have taken place during the Ice Age or much earlier when our ancestral hominids spread from Africa. During the historic period dating back to 5,000 BC, sails were already in use, the first illustrations of sailing ships are from Egypt, and seafarers began to venture into the sea. | | | | Some of them went in search of new lands and different peoples with whom they could trade. At first they must have kept to the coastline, moving along it slowly and fearfully, for by then they would have learnt that the sea was dangerous and capricious and can turn from calm to storm within a few hours. According to one story, in 609 BC a Phoenician ship left Suez, intending to keep the coast to starboard, and four years later arrived back in Egypt, having sailed right round Africa. But eventually curiosity triumphed over timidity and at some point seafarers set out for the horizon and kept going until, the familiar coast had disappeared. | | | | Despite the uncertainties and dangers involved, it soon became apparent that trading by sea had advantages over trading by land. Land traders had mountains ranges and deserts to contend with and had to go miles out of their way to avoid them: ships could go more or less in straight lines. And ships could carry more goods more cheaply than horses and camels.
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 | | | | | News Websites  NOAA Spill Tools A set of three free programs designed for oil spill planners and responders...
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