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7510 BCE
The Pesse Canoe (the world's oldest known boat) was invented.
Carbon dating indicates that the boat is about 10,000 years old and was constructed during the early Mesolithic period. In 1955 the Pesse Canoe was found by a local farmer in the Netherlands during highway construction. -
4000 BCE
The Egyptians made the Papyrus Boats.
Papryus boats were used for hunting or crossing short paths of water using a pole or paddle. These boats were made of bundles of bound papyrus reeds, and were lashed together into a long thin hull form in the style of a slight crescent. This lifted the ends out of the water. -
300 BCE
Viking Longships were invented by the Norsemen. (Vikings)
Longships were fast, durable and capable of navigating through choppy seas and shallow rivers. They were also light enough to be carried over land. The ships gave the Vikings the ability to trade, make war, carry animals, and cross open oceans and at the same time provided sufficient protection and security for the crew. -
The first submarine was invented.
British mathematician William Bourne made some of the earliest known plans for a submarine around 1578, but the world's first working prototype was built by Cornelius Drebbel, a Dutch polymath and inventor in the employ of the British King James I. -
The first Steamboat was the Clermont created by Robert Fulton.
The Clermont led to increased exploration and settlement by opening up two-way river transportation. The Clermont started the first profitable venture in steam navigation, carrying paying passengers between Albany and New York City. -
The first Hydrofoil was designed and built by the Italian Inventor Enrico Forlanini.
A hydrofoil is a lifting surface, or foil, that operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to aerofoils used by aeroplanes. The hydrofoils provide a more efficient way of cruising. Decreasing the drag increases speed and fuel efficiency. -
Christopher Cockerell invented the first hovercraft.
British inventor and engineer Christopher Sydney Cockerell invented a swift water-transport vehicle that was not quite a boat, not quite a plane, but a hybrid of sorts: the hovercraft. The original hovercraft design used a vertically mounted fan to blow air between its outer shell and a slightly smaller inner container, creating what's called a "momentum curtain", a ring of fast-moving, inward-pointing air that trapped a bigger cushion of air inside it.
