Ships' Hulls Since Cheops: An Engineer's View

Abstract

The article reviews the development of ship's hull design from 2500 BC to the present day from the engineer's viewpoint. The basic strength requirements are established, and the methods of building in wood adopted by the Egyptians, Greeks, Vikings and by our forerunners are reviewed. An account is given of how ingenious builders wrestled with a severely limiting material with widely differing jointing techniques and varying degrees of success down the years.The introduction of iron, closely followed by steel, liberated the designer from material constraints, leading to a sudden growth in ship capacity after centuries of limitation. The changes in working conditions following the introduction of the new materials, the later replacement of riveting by welding and the introduction of automation are discussed briefly, and some social aspects of the recent changes in technology are touched upon.