They say that you can put a boat on a ship, but you can not put a ship on a boat.

Taken from a local marine history book...

A Humber bargeman once said that "ship" is short for shipment and so the coastal trading barges, or "Billy Boys",  were refered to as little ships.

These Humber Barges, though not quite "Billy Boys" are still regularly sailed in the Humber.

http://www.humberships.org.uk/

I would argue that one of the most important inventions of modern time was created upon the Tyne.

In 1897 Sir Charles Parsons demonstrated to the world the power of his new rotary steam turbine  which drove the slender "Yacht" Turbinia to 34 knots at an important Royal Naval review.

In that era shipping had evolved to the technological limits of the piston driven engines available in the late 1800's. Global transport was revolutionised when Sir Charles Parsons perfected the steam turbine. -Get it? from piston to turbine, from riciprocal to rotary- a revolution.

This paradigm shift resulted in the Tyne built Turbine powered Mauretania being built, a vessel which would hold the coveted Atlantic Blue Ribbon medal for 20 years, more than any other ship.

Here is a 10min video about Charles Parson, specifically about his realisation that cavitation was the problem that was limiting the speed of his new prototype Turbina. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/video/2012/aug/17/cavitation-beginners-building-fastest-ship-world-video

This video features a professor and doctor from Newcastle's Emerson Cavitation tunnel.

http://research.ncl.ac.uk/cavitation/

Some local paintings

http://www.newcastle-arts-centre.co.uk/rms_mauretania.htm

This article can be read (after the advert is closed)

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14419503.900-the-ship-that-launched-a-thousand-grids.html

http://www.ocean-liners.com/ships/mauretania.asp

There is plenty of space left below for further contributions upon the subject of SHIPs

A guide to sailing ship rigs

http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mma/AtoZ/rigs.html

Airborne Boats!

One of my heros was a Yacht designer called Uffa Fox and one of my favorite Uffa Fox designs is for a lifeboat which was dropped from a World War II bomber so that RAF pilots who were shot down over the English channel could clim into the boat, put the mast up and sail home.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airborne_lifeboat

"Blondie" Hasler

If I mention Uffa Fox, I should also give a "shout-out" to another one of my heros from that war-time age "Blondie" Hassler.

If any students wanted to research "Blondie" (not the band) try to find out about his links to the film "The Cockleshell Heros", self-steering gear for yachts and try to describe the similarities between Uffa and Blondie? Yes, they both liked sailling, were they shy men who kept their ideas hidden? or did they constantly test their ideas and develop solutions, frequently ignoring authority to realise their ideas...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blondie_Hasler

Ancient forms of ship

Medieval Boats

The HULK!

No, not the green, muscle bound military experiment on Mr Banner "you won't like me when I'm angry", I mean the ancient form of cargo ship.

Hulks were interesting as they had no stem or keel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulk_%28medieval_ship_type%29

The Cog

The Cog had a "Keel" which was essentially a plank which was thicker than the other planks. Another design feature was the rudder which was on the rear of the ship (earlier designs featured a steering oar on the side of the ship).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cog_%28ship%29

The Knarr

The Cog may have developed from the "viking" Knarr.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knarr

Medieval Ships

Here is some further information about Medieval Ships

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_ships

Eppleton Hall 1914

https://www.seahistory.org/preservation/projects/paddlewheel-tug-eppleton-hall-1914/