Before the invention of aircraft in the 20th century, the only way to travel vast distances around the world was by boat. And throughout history, the design of ships has continually improved. From advanced war boats, to sophisticated treasure carriers, it’s time to take a look at the 15 most advanced ancient ships.
#top15
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Do you people understand what the word ‘ancient’ means? Look it up!
Thanks! I was already wondering if my 52 years old, used, English car from Coventry should be called ancient, too *. . . ;-)*
Bit of a joke, really. Half the ships on this list are not "ancient". About five are modern, i.e., within the last 200 years or so. Sloppy scholarship all round.
Depends on what archeology considers as ancient. For example in Greece law considers as ancient whatever is made before 1830
Yes but evidence suggests that the ancient people were probably more advanced than we thought. ;)
It's a video make by a content farm nothing is gonna be accurate.
The Portuguese Caravela was a revolutionary type of ship that carried the first Portuguese explorers in multiple voyages along the African coast and which eventually carried them to India and South America. It was a small ship that could sail almost directly into the wind, with triangular sails and which could hug the coast and even travel upriver, in the deeper estuaries. It was the ship that ushered in the European expansion to the outside world. Columbus’ fleet to the New World contained a number of Caravels. Columbus had lived for 30 years in Portugal, was married to a Portuguese noble woman and certainly knew of the capabilities of this type of ship.
It's a big miss on this list, so are the Naus from the India's trade routes after we discovered the way to get there. It's said that those were massive boats.
Very nice video! Thank you for learning about the ship! :) If you want to learn about the swedish ship Vasa, see here: kzhead.info/sun/h5Rpcah9jYtqq6c/bejne.html&ab_channel=Historiepodden
Explain to me “sail almost directly into the wind” ?
@@redreuben5260 learn the difference between rectangular sails and triangular sails..."Tacking is a sailing maneuver by which a sailing vessel, whose desired course is into the wind, turns its bow toward and through the wind so that the direction from which the wind blows changes from one side of the boat to the other, allowing progress in the desired direction."
@@JoaoMariaNunes I know how to sail, I have been racing on and off for 30 years. What I was asking for was an explanation of how a mediaeval boat can “sail almost directly into the wind” Clearly it’s a massive exaggeration.
I think it is important to point out that longships could easily sail onto shore and depart again, and does very well on shallow waters like rivers, it is also light enough that it could be carried by its crew
It´s the minecraft rowboat just bigger
I would not call it a ship, is a boat after all and should not be in this list.
Никогда 30-40-60 викингов не смогли бы нести свой корабль.Не пишите бред.Драккар весил 6000-8000--- 10000 кг.А 50 человек могут нести не более 1500 кг.)))
Flying Cloud set her 89 day 4 hour record while carrying cargo. She was a working ship. Her record was beaten by a (relatively) modern racing yacht that had no purpose but speed.
The São João Baptista (English: Saint John the Baptist), commonly known as the Botafogo, was a Portuguese galleon warship built in the 16th century, around 1534, considered the biggest and most powerful warship in the world at the time. This ship could carry 366 bronze cannons, and had an artillery power of 1,000 tons. For this reason, it became known as Botafogo, meaning literally fire maker or spitfire in popular Portuguese.
No one speak of the portuguese ships, because the world just know about americans, inglish, and other people that doesn´t exist no more, but remember their ships...lol The portuguese the first and global ultramarine empire, made the evolution of the sail and various nautical instruments, the first back charged cannons are made by the portuguese. The world at that time, seek the nautical cartography made by the portuguese. Portugal reinvented the maritime artilhery, they arm any ship with massive cannons in few numbers, gived hem eficiency. The first pre charged cannons are made by the portuguese.
@@mannipula this American knows the nautical debt we owe our brothers in Portugal. Not many do.
No mention to "botafogo" is unreal.
São analfabetos funcionais, ignorantes culturais... Mas infelizmente o mundo é de quem têm poder e não razão.
Esperava que um canal de lingua inglêsa falasse das caravelas , ou do Botafogo ?
Wow some amazing ships and the history behind them is amazing
You should've included the "Vasa" :) Even though it literally sank during its maiden voyage it was a beast of a ship and you can see it with your own eyes in the Vasa museum
Mankind's oldest and fanciest submarine.
@@rudiruttger I think it isn’t the first ship sink though
@@Sinister_fartbox What? sink? It departed on its maiden voyage, and successfully made for the depths soon after its launch! It submerged! It didn't sink, it's a submarine!
@@rudiruttger Might be battling the Moskva right now
Also the swedish ship Kalmar Nyckel build in Holland that sailed between Sweden and USA and the swedish built ship Goteborg that maid many trips to China. A replica of Kalmar Nyckel was built in USA and is used as a school ship and a replica of Goteborg is right now on its way to visit China again.
i expected a crapy video but im impressed, this is informative and entertaining. thank you
the USS Constitution is still an active ship in the US Navy. while she has a niche role she has not been taken out of service.
Beautiful magnificent ships
Really love these shows, please keep up the hard work.
Not when this guy can’t get his facts right!!!
@@dillon04 Absolutely,
Seeing old stuff they build back in the day an how well some of it held up over the time is mind blowing
The advantage of sailing-ships was that they could adept at every wind-strength when de-loaded. The modern ships need the turn-over-effect to equilibre that. - A question of calculation!
Navy Engineer here. It seems unlikely the Siracusia was able to carry 1800 Tons and 2000 people. The HMS victory has the same dimensions and the displacement is around 2200 Tons. If it would be up to standard in technology it could carry about 1800 Tons safely, but where would the people go? Assuming the deck is completely clear of objects it would be 770 square meters. If all a board would be on the main deck there would be around 0.3 square meters per person...
62 chinese 440 by 180 feet (lol 1) wooden ships (lol 2) at the beginning of 15 st. (lol 3) - is OK! Siracusia ("...details are not known...suggested....") - is fail! Great job navy engineer!
who else is procrastinating
Me. I retired 7 years ago and I’m a journeyman procrastinator.
hms St Lawrence was built at Kingston Ontario Canada on Lake Ontario in 1812 during the war between the USA and UK. She very similar in size and guns as HMS Victory with three gun decks . She eventually was abandoned near she was built. One of her 32 pounder guns can be found to this day in North York grave yard in Toronto Ontario.
"Antique" is a better word to describe these magnificent ships.
Great Video loved your No.1. Please note Battle of Trafalgar was in 1805 not 1803 as mentioned love this period so my geekiness kicked in.
The slick voice over dork is the Geek
The Trireme is honestly one of the coolest type of ship imo.
Good video but according to the definition of ancient , you need to be at least 1500 years old . That eliminates about half of your vessels. In my opinion.
Nice one
You completely forgot the Polynesian vessels. They travelled the Oceans bringing their own crops and spread all over the darkest parts of the unknown islands.
Indeed colonizing the remote Islands before anyone else
No mention of anything outside of Europe
Did you even watch the video? Id say egypt and china are outside of europe
You mean Kontiki?
Damn straight. The ancient. Polynesians sailed better than anybody in the World too.
The Portuguese galleon "BotaFogo" was the largest and most powerfull ship in the 16 century. 366 ( cannons ) wich was impressive at the time... and yet you do not mention it in this video! SHAME ON YOU!!!
These are definitely 15 ships of all time, they were built by the most and entirely existent craftsmen of their time, they were introduced in and were used in their time and they were all more advanced than a raft.
AI
Beautiful ships
Warships are amazing these are right next to them
It was good to finally see the Cutty Sark, which was I believe to be the fastest clipper ever and also the meaning of its name was " short skirt"
We had the pleasure of touring the Cutty Sark last year- very informative! The ship is actually visible on all sides do to its unique "display case". So you can comfortably walk under the hull, admiring the handiwork of its builders.
Years ago I saw some of ancient ships
Close but no Cigar - short SHIRT, plus she was the fastest Clipper on the Australian WOOL run, not the China Tea trade (speed important to be first back with new season tea- best prices! the Clipper`s `raison d`etre`), that record being held by Cutty`s famous rival, Thermopylae, although many believe our Heroine was faster and lost only due to losing her rudder in bad weather during one season`s `race`. I`m glad you`ve seen our lovely ship, ONE visit is never enough!
Great video! But, The U.S.S. Constitution is still a commissioned vessel. In fact it's the U.S. Navy's oldest
Constitution is now my favorite named ship :D. Imagine "constitution" blasting everything in its path thats unconstitutional including central bank of US. Good one George.
Another cool bit of info for you: Her nickname is "Old Ironsides" because of how thick her hull was and the wood it was made of, most of the time cannonballs would just bounce off of it!
@@keithreinsel7842 Very cool. Early US is a nation that could have truly be free of financial systems and kings and queens. US constitution was one of the best on planet especially right to bear arms. hey just made one mistake. US needed a permanent national army composed of population besides the regular one to always be a warring to the government that corruption will not be allowed.
@@keithreinsel7842 The type of wood she was built from was white oak. Found here in America.🇺🇸 Oh, B.T.W. the same wood bowling alleys use. Very sturdy! 💪
@@keithreinsel7842 if you’ve ever seen Master and Commander the French ship was originally an American ship based on Old Ironsides but it was changed for the movie because they didn’t want to trigger Americans.
@@CrazyDavy22 they explain in the movie how she was built in Boston. Yankee built, they say.
this is excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Between the Viking long ships and their invention of the sun stone for navigation they were Unstoppable virtually
Viking long ships we’re fast but not able to board ships. Also the sun stone wasn’t invented by the Vikings and even the Egyptians were using lead lines to navigate the sea way before Viking excised
HMS victory looks so good - unbelievable! 🤗
Highly recommend a visit it's great being aboard.
This man will always be simple history for me
I didn't know Christopher Reeve's great, great, grandfather designed the Flying Cloud. You learn something new everyday!
A note on viking ships, notice the ridges along the hull from bow to stern! It is intentional to draw bubbles under the hull when in motion reducing friction between the vessel and the water and was ahead of its time in sailing ⛵️ technology 😈
As always, useful and informative videos
And lots of wrong information.
@@nattenaniel true lmao
Very good video please keep them coming
Simple History narrator!! Yay!!
Again to say The HMS victory is an ancient ship would be incorrect, ancient refers to the period before 1450, the Victory was made around 1750’s-1760’s
I've always wandered how the viking ships did so well as they never seemed to have any protection for the crew from the elements, which at sea are extremely harsh.
During a storm the sail would be tied over the open area, affording some protection. It should be noted that these ships did not actually make long voyages (look at a map of the North Sea, it's more like the Mediterranean than the Atlantic). Yes, the Northmen made it to the Americas, but they did it by going from Iceland to Greenland, then Greenland to Labrador, so they would only be at sea for a few weeks at most. The truly great open ocean sailors were the Chinese of the 15th Century, who sailed as far as the east coast of Africa and into the Red Sea, as well as all over the western Pacific, Indonesia, the Indian Ocean, etc. They were very large ships with hundreds of crew.
Real Vikings didn’t need any protection from the elements. They were tough, not like those namby-pamby Romans. Read “How to train your dragon” to find out how tough they were.
I just love this guys voice !
Chris Kane always goes down with his ship.
I hope to one day visit UK to see the Victory and many other of England's amazing vessels.
Gotta love these videos, you failed to mention many that are much more important than most represented here, like the Portuguese Caravel that was used to start the Age of Discovery or the São João Baptista (galleon) that in 1534 had 366 cannons for example.
Wow 👍👍👍
The USS Constitution was never decommissioned. She's the oldest commissioned warship afloat, and the second oldest commissioned warship by time.
why in my imagination do i see in the final battle of the us existence the us constitution sails alone against a fleet of modern warships and is absolutley obliterated lmao
@@65stang98 - because your name is Tyler which has predisposed you to becoming the beta-male that you are. Why do your parents hate you?
Wrong, HMS Victory
@@stevesculptor1 - Afloat being the operative word, zippy.
Come on, I love the theme and the video, but you cannot seriously forget to include any Dutch vessel …. Our tiny little country ‘ruled the waves’ long before the British did and that was precisely because of our shipbuilding!
Rmemeber when the Dutch were beat by the Japanese during wwii
Don’t worry, there are dutch documentaries that ignore Spanish ships.
@@Canadianvoice are you reading the same thing as me?
What about the vessels in use by the Polynesians? They sailed the Pacific without benefits of navigational tools used by the Europeans. For centuries before they were discovered. I think they need some recognition here.
Their boat designs are mind boggling.
It's correct that the Polynesian ocean going 'canoes' should be recognized. The big Fijian drua were massive twin-hulled lateen-sail- rigged vessels that could literally sail rings around Captain Cook's ship in any winds. They migrated throughout the Pacific which is three times wider than the Atlantic ocean.
The title says advanced ships, not canoes.
@@billalexander4360 the title is ships not canoes big difference.
@@MrShnazer Yeah. Someone didn't read the title of the video. Canoes is not considered advanced.
The term 'Ancient' could be used relatively - I don't consider Victory, Flying Cloud, Beagle or Cutty Sark to be ancient, old yes.
I thought the same thing! As soon as they introduced Victory, I thought I misread the title. 😂
Excellent and end informative! The background music however is far too loud and hypnotic to really enjoy because its hard to hear beyond it. Good content though!
surprised Bluenose not on this list
I just said the same thing
_Antique ships:_ heating and plumbing. _Medieval ships:_ *poop-deck*
You should make a video talking about that Portuguese tecnology and the first ships from “Vasco da Gama” flleet that were the very first to circul navigate two diferent oceans
The victory is a bucket list visit amazing
How could you forget the HMS Erebus and Terror? Extremely advanced for their time..
Wonderfull vid!! But I agree to someone below, the "Vasa" is missing. But maybe more ships I can´t recall right now. I´d personally would have liked the mentioning of the Koggen of the european Hanse, too. But anyway. Great vid!!
How could you leave out the Mary Rose and the Warrior? Both in my home town of Portsmouth.
Well, considering that the Mary Rose was a monumental flop, one supposes her role in naval history is how not to build a ship.
Battle of Trafalgar 21st October 1805
My grandfather's old Buick should be on this list
Not a single word about the Caravel...no discoveries all over the world without the Caravel which made it possible to cross winds and sail over the equator
Give Canada its due. The Bluenose 2 is still in service. Check it out in Lunenburg Nova Scotia.Its beautiful.
Bluenose 2 was built in 1962….
Koreans have made a number of interesting movies over the last few decades, one of which was about the Turtle ships. Prety good movie.
My problem with your video is the lack of information that made them more advanced than their counterparts. I do know some of the improvements done, and or the unique build designs of these ships, but most people don't.
Nice to see the ever beautiful Cutty Sark at #1 (I`ve visited her many times). However, what about Vasa, Mary Rose, Erebus & Terror, the latter two having been (fairly) recently located in Canadian Arctic waters and remarkably preserved, originally built very heavily as Bomb Ketches (armed with large Mortars) and thus thought suitable for Franklins doomed expedition to find the Northwest Passage? The Black Sea has also revealed several Ancient wrecks in amazing condition due to the anerobic waters of the depths, similarly, the Baltic has many Medieval wrecks (incuding Catherine the Great`s `Treasure ship`) saved by the lack of salinity. Most people think of the Vikings cruising around pillaging in Longships, but in fact they were accomplished traders and explorers (Iceland, Greenland and indeed N America - suck on THAT Columbus!), so a more likely candidate for those voyages would be the Knorr, a more beamy version, a true Merchant ship and thus able to carry more cargo as well as several dozen Flaxen Haired Beserkers as armourment! (check out the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Denmark, they have the ONLY one) Nice video, Thumbs Up, Subscribed!
The Queen Ann’s Revenge actually not like the one in Pirates of the Caribbean, the Black Pearl is based off the real Queen Ann’s Revenge
Clippers really were game changers
my boat, a Nordisk Snekke 29, has a design based on an old long boat design.
The Virginia, built by the members of the Popham Colony in Maine between 1607-08, was the first ship constructed in North America.
The failed to mention the CSS Virginia too, which was the first Iron clad wooden ship making all other ships obsolete
The khufu looks so sick
What about fregatten jylland ? Wich still exist and can be visited in ebeltoft
Ships and plains. Trains: ‘Am I a joke?’
Now where is HMS Warrior?? It was the best naval ship of its time hugely ahead of other countries navys. And you just mention random galleons like Queen Annes revenge? This isnt really thought through isn't it? Just random ships to fill the video idea.
Winning!
I can't believe you left out the Bluenoese to me it could of bumped quite a few of these ships.
Certainly would have been a nod to Canadian ship- builders & mariners
@@FlatlandMando not only that but it was an amazing schooner she was the fastest and she worked fishing not just a little fishing to say she fished she was a fishing schooner first and raced second and her captain Angus Walters was like they were one.
It would have been a hard life sailing the seas in a viking ship. Having no cabin to protect you from the elements. Also, I wonder what they were eating during their voyages.
Not too bad at least compared to any other sailing vessel before the advent of cans and refeigeration. They mainly ate salted meat of all kinds mostly fish, beef and mutton. They fished during the voyage as well as frequently keeping chickens for eggs. They drank water, beer and sour milk. Cooking was only done on land if they spotted some island along the way for instance. But yes being a sailor on a 19th century frigate was a lot more comfortable than a long boat. They also mostly didn't sail during winter, at least not long distances.
The best is junk boat sailed by Javanese sailormen from first century. The ship traveled across south africa, egypt. What made it best is that the ship was so big, the sailors often took family and livestock along with it. Also the fact that their staple, rice was/is easier to store compare to wheat made ration problem non-existence.
1:50)Most of the Longships floated in 2 feet of water. The best for "hit & git" and "loot & scoot" raids. Arriving,the front was on shore. Leaving, the front was pointing seaward. 9:02)There is another Egyptian ship.The plans were carved into a building side. It has a rounded bottom.One was built and worked very well. 10:07)A records search failed to turn up a Santa Maria. Maria Galante(Flirty Mary)was found. Wrecked near an island of that name. More censored history. 12:31)What was left of the Nemi ships were destroyed in a fire caused by an Allied air raid.
Very interesting presentation but I can't believe you didn't mention the USS Constitution nickname (Old Ironsides) and why she was given the name.
Impressive indeed! Ahoy! Yes Captain! 🌍🕊
4:10 There is no possible way 2000 people could fit on a 180 foot vessel. More like 200...MAX!
Piling up one above the other *. . . ;-)*
Yeah I think maybe they meant meters?
@@aaronwatkins8973 ...I think you're right.
No surprises when it was done by América the vidro, where is the Portuguese Caravelle that changed world history, the Portuguese carrack that changed trade, the Portuguese man at war that chapel the first empire of Europe in the east. Where is the biggest carrack ever build, etc etc etc. Shame on the video but it’s a very Anglo Saxon way of looking to the world.
Yarr! Yer ship is mine!!! 🏴☠️☠⚓☠🏴☠️
Family over everything else 💯 ❤️ 💙 🙏 💕
Anyone notice HMS Victory having the Dutch flag...a bit of history not usually mentioned.
Great video. Very interesting and informative!
LMFAO !
Trafalgar's battle: october 1805, not 1803.
exactly, 1803 is wrong
There should be a new video: "Top 20." In the comments, several ships from several places were left out. And I agree. Those ships should have been mentioned.
Yes, he's a clueless American
Love how casually this video didnt mention portuguese galleon Saint John the Baptist nicknamed"Spitfire" that would put HMS Victory into shame
What's the music in this? I'm diggin' it.
The chinese treasure ship was a class of Ship Called "Junk" It was like a 1st Rate but more relying on cargo
And about half the size the Chinese claim. Wooden ships just cannot be that long.
@@normanbraslow7902 That's a common strawman against Noah's 500ft ship too. Did _you_ make a testmodel?
Ernest Camps The Ark, assuming it existed, did not sail. It floated, and drifted. Huge difference.
Not "junk" but "Jong" and it's a Malay word for big ship and you can research it under Admiral Cheng Ho
16:43 The lack or co-ordination is making me feel nauseous.
The Santísima Trinidad had 140 cannons, the Victory only 102, she was the most powerful of the 15 but she does not appear on the list...very strange. In Trafalgar UK fought against a Spanish-French coalition led by the always disastrous French military.
Santísima Trinidad and HMS Victory is vert different Santisima trinidad was a Frigate and HMS Victory is a 1st rate Fact: Santisima Trinidad was similar to the Ship also build by spanish in Philippines, The Manila Galleon
well.. portuguese ship Bota Fogo had 366 cannons in 1500 .. 250 years before HMS Victory
The portuguese galleon "Botafogo" built in 1530 had 366 cannons.
@@henrilopes7337 366? Doubt. unless they counted a whole load of shipboard firearms such as muskets and swivel guns as part of the total and even then, those aren’t really cannons. The most gunned ship ever to be reliably recording is the Spanish ship Nuestra Señora de la Santísima Trinidad - Wikipedia, and it only a maximum of 140 guns at its height
Santisima didn't do well in battle though. She temporarily surrendered during the battle of Cape St. Vincent to a British 3rd rate of 74 guns and during Trafalger she didn't fare much better. Captured and so badly damaged she sank in the huge storm after the battle that claimed many of the damaged ships of the battle. HMS Victory was a lot more maneuverable.
I think the SantaMaria was a little larger: 28 m. Builded in Spain.
BUILT, not builded. stupido 🤐
Now I want to go watch Black Sails again.
This list takes “random”to the next level
I want to go Boston..now...
Love how on the British navy Wikipedia it says they have in service “1 ship of the line” hahahaha so cool
It was almost two... In 1948 HMS Implacable, the last surviving 3rd rate, a 74 gunner was scuttled due to lack of funds to preserve her. We came sooo close to having a 74 gunner survive. Her stern gallery was sawn off and is on display.
She was btw a captured French vessel of the super famous Téméraire class. They should have asked France to contribute but of course 1948 was not a good time financially for Europe.
Also Mahmudiye. Largest wooden ship of the 19th century
Yes i am a pirate, 200 years too late, now the canons don't thunder there's nuthin to plunder im an over 40 victim of fate
Hms victory is the most powerful out of all of these. She would tear up any enemy vessel for hundreds of year's, she had no equal even when she was outdated.
Very impressive and powerful ship, but only actively served for about 60 years
Actually there was equal ships of her size and caliber made by both France and Spain, such as Nuestra Señora de la Santísima Trinidad, which had at 1802 140 guns total and the Ocean class ship of the line series (16 total ships) made by the french between 1788 and 1854 which had 118 guns. Victory had a total of 104 guns in comparison.
Hms victory was a very strong ship. Most ships of the time were constructed slowly to allow the wood to mature and season, 3 to 5 years roughly for a first rate to be built. But she was laid up for the first I think it was 12 years but over that time the extra maturing and seasoning of the wood made her all the stronger for it.
Not anymore she isn't. USS Constitution is still seaworthy unlike HMS Victory.
I been inside the Victory what a legend boat.
Ship
The Bluenose !