The all-plank boat and dugout were preceded in Egypt by a long history of reed-boats. Early reed-boats in Egypt not only may have had cabins and many rowers but, at the latest by 3100 BC, began equipping them with sails. 2700 was not only the time of the all-plank boat in Egypt, it was also the time Egypt began importing timber from Phoenicia and Asia Minor. Even at this early date, Egypt was able to build vessels as long as 150 feet and requiring forty or more people to row them. By about 2400, oars had replaced paddles on the larger boats.

Egypt's first masts were very high, single posts. These however, placed a lot of stress on a reed floor, so for reed-boats, they developed a two-masted system for holding the sail. In this system, the two masts were joined at the top, but descended to opposite sides of the boat, up near the bow. The top of the two masts was connected to the back of the boat by a rope (a backstay). The square sail (or sheet) was stretched between two heavy wooden poles (the spars), the upper one being the yard, and the lower one being the boom. To each end of the yard was attached a line (a rope) leading back to a man in the very back of the boat. With these two lines, he could control the angle of the sail with respect to the boat, or more importantly, with respect to the wind. When they developed wooden boats, they initially used the same two-masted system, eventually reverting to a single mast, placed near the bow. At first the single mast was a tall one. It was made thus because the Nile frequently flows between cliffs and, to catch the wind between cliffs, a sail would have to be high. This mast was supported by two backstays, each going to a separate side of the stern (the back end of the boat). Then, about 2400, the mast was gradually moved from near the bow to close to the middle of the boat. At that time two forestays were added, securing the mast to the two sides of the bow. According to Sasson, Egyptians had to have the ability to use wind coming from directions other than exactly in the rear if their mast was amidship. About 2000 BC, the tall sail was replaced by a short wide sail, but one which could be rigged at various heights on the tall mast.

The first sails were of papyrus and stretched between a yard and a boom (as said before, the wooden poles at the top and bottom of the sail). A papyrus sail was too flimsy to support the weight of the boom, so the boom was supported by ropes from high up on the mast. These early ropes for Egyptian boats were made from palm fibre, papyrus fibre, or various grasses.

Although (as stated in the post on First Boats) Egypt's first plank boats were spoon-shaped, they soon developed the more typical banana-shaped boats. If one views these boats from the side, the outline of the hull curves up from the middle of the boat to the two ends, eventually leaving the water and extending to a high post at each end. The post in back is the sternpost and the one in front is the stempost. Interestingly, most Egyptian ships had an ornament atop their sternpost resembling a lotus flower (in actuality, a water lily). Minoan and Mycenaean ships carried their own post mounted symbols as well (discussed later).

The first evidence of sea-going ships in Egypt is on a relief crafted about 2450 BC of a ship returning from an overseas military expedition. Because Egyptian ships were made of simple edge-joined planks without much internal support, they had to support the bow and stern with rope (a good length of stem and sternposts were held well above water). For this purpose, a rope truss was developed with a loop of rope around both the emerged stem and stern sections. These loops were pulled towards each other by a rope, joining them, which was held above the deck by short forked sticks. The tension in these ropes was adjusted by tightening and loosening sticks which were thrust through the rope.

The heavy weight of the tall mast would make the ship tend to fold up on itself in rough seas, splitting the sides. So for ocean travel, they added rope netting, tightly wound around what would now be called the gunwales (the top edges of the sides of the boat).

Like the river craft from the same period, it had a tall, narrow, rectangular sail on a tall, two-footed mast (*chuckle* not referring to the size but because each base goes to each side of the bow). It had, not one, not two, but three steering oars at the stern.

The next image of sea-going Egyptian ships is another relief almost a thousand years later showing Queen Hatshepsut on her way to reopen trade with the east African coast. Beams are horizontal posts running from side to side, upon which the deck is built. In this ship, the beams are attached to the planking on each side of the ship, giving the sides enough support that the rope netting is no longer needed. Again, this ship has the same sail which was popular on Egypt's contemporaneous river craft. The tall narrow sail has now been replaced with a shorter, wider one. Rather than the multiple steering oars of the previously described model, this ship had only one huge steering oar. The ship was an estimated 90 feet long, requiring 30 rowers. Egypt seems to have experimented with several hull and rig designs, many being visible in a relief from about 1200 BC, but then abandoned them all in favor of ship designs typical of all the other Mediterranean powers. The old design was about the best she could achieve based on a river craft design, but the other nations were using ships which were superior in rough open seas.

Trade in the ancient world was always one of the biggest uses for shipping. Few but the very rich ever toured, and those very rich were frequently arranging for trade with another nation, either as a private citizen or as a representative from the government. About 2600, the first recorded international trade by ship was recorded under Pharaoh Snefru with the words, ...bringing of forty ships filled with cedar logs. They obviously came from Byblos. Much of Cyprus' copper was also shipped through Byblos, making the trade between Byblos and Egypt very active. In fact, this trade was so heavy that sea-going merchant vessels in general in Egypt were referred to as Byblos-ships. For the same reason, when later Mycenaeans got most of their papyrus by way of Byblos, their common word for that papyrus became byblos. The commodities Egypt traded for Phoenician timber and wine were usually textiles, papyrus and hides. Although the first historical evidence of sea-going trade by ships comes from Egypt, the oldest archeological evidence of such trade comes from Babylon of the mid-fourth millennium. On the other hand, who knows how long ship-borne trade with other nations was being carried on before Snefru had it recorded.

With ancient Egypt, we have a nation totally devoted to the Nile River. There was little Egypt needed that she couldn't get from the river. Even the things for which she eventually had to go to other countries were being brought down the majority of the way from Punt by the Nile. Although the first overseas trade was for Phoenician timber, she got myrrh, frankincense, various woods (including ebony), incense, ivory, gold, eye cosmetics, skins, apes, monkeys and dogs from Punt. Most of this wasn't possible till Egypt established maritime trade through the Red Sea with Punt. Without it, Egypt got frankincense and myrrh from there, but it was through countless little middlemen in the overland transport, who all increased the price enough to pay for their trouble. This made any item obtained from Punt extremely expensive, therefore only frankincense and myrrh were practical. Egypt first got maritime trade connected with Punt about 2000 BC, when Pharaoh Mentohotep III sent his minister, Henu, to set this up. It was not difficult to go up the Nile as far as the Wadi Hammamat. Getting his 3,000 men up and over the desert mountains to the Red Sea must have been terrible. He describes digging twelve wells along the way. Once at the Red Sea, they still had to build a ship, then travel down the Red Sea to Punt (northern Ethiopia to northern Somalia, according to Casson. Others aren't so sure), and establish trading relations. It couldn't have been easy - the Red Sea is never easy to navigate and has been populated by pirates right up to the middle of the 20th century (though Casson fails to make clear who these established pirates were stealing from BEFORE Mentuhotep established shipping there). It remained for subsequent officials to establish shipyards, harbors, and defenses, all of which were necessary to build and maintain a fleet.

The oldest tale of a shipwreck took place in this Red Sea environment. To quote Lionel Casson in The Ancient Mariners, "The story is told in the first person. The narrator is a sort of Egyptian Sinbad, for his tale is at the same time the earliest sailor's yarn that we have; many centuries must pas before we meet a sober eyewitness's account of shipwreck. I had set out for the mines of the king, the anonymous storyteller relates, in a ship 180 feet long and 60 wide; we had a crew of 120, the pick of Egypt. The mines must be those in the Sinai Peninsula, so the departure was made from some Red Sea port. The ship's size is imposing; it was no little coaster but a full-fledged cargo vessel. A storm broke out while we were still at sea, he continues, we flew before the wind. The ship went down; of all in it, only I survived. I was cast upon an island and spent three days alone; I stayed in the shade. Then I set forth to find what I could put in my mouth. I found figs and vines, all kinds of leeks, fruit and cucumbers. There were fish and fowl; everything was there. I satisfied myself and there was still some left over. When I made a fire-drill I kindled a fire and made a burnt-offering to the gods.

So far, nothing we couldn't also find in the pages of Robinson Crusoe. But things suddenly change. Then I heard the sound of thunder and thought it was a wave; trees broke and the earth quaked. I uncovered my face and found that a serpent had drawn near. It was 45 feet long and its beard was two feet long. Its body was covered with gold and its eyebrows were real lapis lazuli.

The serpent's looks, it turns out, were deceiving; it was a most considerate and accommodating creature. It took the sailor up in its mouth tenderly, carried him to its lair, listened sympathetically to his story and then relieved his worries with the news that, after four comfortable months on the island, one of pharaoh's ships would come along, pick him up, and carry him home. In gratitude the sailor burst out with a promise to bring it thank offerings of all sorts of incense. Thereupon it laughed at me. And it said, ‘I am the prince of Punt and myrrh - that is my very own!' As if to confirm these words, when the rescue ship as prophesied did come along, the serpent sent the sailor off with a full cargo of incense of every conceivable type. Two months later he was safely home."

After a few hundred years of maintaining the Red Sea trade, Egypt fell upon hard times with neither unity nor funds enough to maintain a fleet in the Red Sea. Shortly after 1500, Hatshepsut built a monument (Deir-el-Bahari) the carvings of which celebrate her accomplishments. One of the greatest of these was the re-establishment of maritime trade with Punt.

Eventually, Mediterranean trade became more attractive than Red Sea trade. The great ships Egypt had been building were excellent for river travel, able to carry up to hundreds of tons per ship. But the Nile was smooth water. Egypt's sea-going ships were still based on the river-style and were not as well adapted to the sea's rough water and occasional strong winds as were the ships of the other Mediterranean nations. Egypt went through a period of experimentation in which she tried many different ship styles, before finally settling on the same ship's style these other nations were using.

Warships evolved directly from the earliest non-warships to sail the seas. When that was, and which ships were involved depends on your point of view. The first ships we know to have been used for military purposes were simply transports used to carry troops to distant locations of military battles or tensions. Although it may have occurred earlier, the first time this was recorded in history was about 2450 BC, when Pharaoh Sahure transported an army to the Levantine coast in this manner. Pharaoh Pepi's commander, Uni, also sent troops to the site of a rebellion (probably on the Palestinian coast) this way. The greatest of ancient Egypt's generals to use the seas to transport his troops was Thutmose III, who was doing this by, at the latest, the sixth of his 18 Syrian campaigns. His highest priority was to maintain uncontested control of all the Phoenician harbors. He put each of these under the control of some local prince who was loyal to Egypt. These princes were commanded to keep their harbors in prime condition. Everything from boathouses, to warehouses full of supplies, to skilled shipwrights and riggers HAD to be kept in excellent condition because Thutmose himself made at least annual inspections of all of them.

At some point in time, transports were joined by slimmer ships powered by both sail and oars. These slimmer ‘sea-rover's' ships didn't appear in history till, in the Tell-el-Amarna letters of 1379 to 1362 BC, the Phoenician princeling of Byblos pleaded with Egypt to send him help against the pirates destroying his merchant ships. Although these were the first recorded statements concerning these sleeker, faster ships, in The Ancient Mariners, Casson says they may have been around as long as the transports. If your definition of a warship is one that can carry on a battle with other ships, as well as carry troops to another location, this would be the first warship. These pirates were probably not Minoans, because they had been supplanted by the Mycenaeans in about 1450. They were, therefore, either pirates who had banded together or Mycenaeans. Whoever they were, they were strong enough in the 13th century to have sacked many of the major Phoenician cities. They became a major power sweeping down from northern Phoenicia and not stopping till they reached Egypt.. Egypt described them as the Peleset, Tjeker, Denyen, Weshesh, Tursha,, Akaiwasha, and a few others. The Peleset were the Philistines. Casson suggests that the Akaiwasha may have been the Mycenaeans (called the Achaeans by Homer), which sounds reasonable to me. He also suggests the Tursha may have been the Tyrrhenians or Etruscans, ‘who were in Asia Minor at this time'. I would withhold judgement on this one since many who've studied the Etruscan language say they didn't originate in Asia Minor. These forces were repelled by Egypt when they joined forces with the Libyans in an attack on Egypt in 1221 and again in 1194. In 1190, some of these peoples from the north again attacked Egypt from Syria and Palestine. Ramses III caught their fleet by surprise in a river and completely destroyed them with archers shooting fire arrows from both shores as his fleet entered the river from the ocean. The Mycenaeans may well be suspected as sea rovers who attacked Egypt, for they definitely were the sea-rovers who attacked and destroyed Troy.