Wood, sails and sea — the history of maritime trades

When you train in a maritime craft trade — like boat builder or sailmaker — you enter a craft as old as sailing itself. To understand your trade it helps to see how far back the tradition goes and how it's met new materials.

§Wooden boat building

For thousands of years, both ships were built in wood. The boatbuilder read the wood's grain, shaped planks that had to be curved precisely, and assembled a hull that was both strong and tight. It required a rare understanding of both material and form — a hull is a complicated three-dimensional shape that must withstand waves, weight and water. Much of that knowledge is still passed from hand to hand.

§Sails of natural materials

The sailmaker provided the power that drove the boats: the sails. Previously they were sewn from natural materials and it was a craft to take measurements cut the cloth to the right shapes and sew the parts together so the sail got the right curve and could catch the wind. The sailmaker also worked with rope wire and rigging — all the things that hold the sail up and steer it.

§New materials change the trades

In the 1900s new materials came that changed both trades. Fibreglass made it possible to cast hulls in a mould instead of building them plank by plank and opened up boats being built faster and in more examples. Sailcloth was increasingly made from strong artificial fibres that hold their shape better and wear more slowly. But wooden boat building and traditional sailmaking did not disappear — it lives on both in restoration and in new construction of quality.

§The computer comes on board

In recent times, the computer has also found its way into the maritime trades. Sails are today often designed with special programs and in collaboration with engineers, before the cloth is cut. The one who masters both the old craftsmanship understanding and the new tools can both preserve the best of tradition and exploit what new technology can do.

§Timeline — the development of maritime trades

§What the story teaches a maritime craftsperson

The maritime crafts have gone from purely tradition-based work to a mix of old craftsmanship and modern materials and tools. What has held throughout is the understanding of form material and the forces sea and wind exert on a boat. Learn that understanding and you can work in both wood fibreglass and with new equipment.

“A good hull and good sails are still built on the same old knowledge of shape and forces — the materials have just become more.”