Ancient and Modern Ships, Part 1: Wooden Sailing Ships

This volume takes listeners on a sweeping tour of wooden shipbuilding, beginning with the earliest vessels ever recorded and moving forward to the age of Henry VIII. The author explains how fragmented and often unreliable ancient accounts make reconstruction a puzzle, yet the meticulous carvings of Egyptian craftsmen provide a rare, trustworthy window into some of the first seafaring crafts. By piecing together scarce drawings, archaeological finds and contemporary chronicles, the narrative reveals how maritime trade likely pre‑dated even the great pyramids and set the stage for later naval powers.

The handbook then follows the rise and fall of iconic Mediterranean fleets—Phoenician, Greek and Roman—while acknowledging the gaps left by missing illustrations and scant documentation. It turns to the Viking longships that dominated northern waters and to the gradual emergence of English warships and merchant vessels from the Norman Conquest onward. Richly illustrated and carefully footnoted, the work offers a clear, engaging picture of how wooden sailing ships evolved, shaping the course of human history.