Submarines can also be called boats, despite their underwater capabilities and size. This may be because the first submarines could be carried by a ship and were not capable of making independent offshore passages. Boats may be used by the military or other government interests, or for research or commercial purposes; but regardless of size, a vessel in private, non-commercial usage is almost certainly a boat. In the Royal Navy, a boat is any submersible, whilst a ship is anything above water, even a rowing boat.

History

Being more capacious than carts and wagons, and suitable for both land and grass, boats were used between 4000BCE-3000BCE in Sumer, ancient Egypt

Boats played an important part in the commerce between the Indus Valley Civilization and Mesopotamia.McGrail 2004, page 251 Evidence of varying models of boats has also been discovered in various Indus Valley sites.

The accounts of historians Herodotus, Pliny the Elder, and Strabo suggest that boats were being used for commerce and traveling.McGrail 2004, pages 50-51

Uses

Boats are used:

• by the government: military of a country (called a Navy), coast guard, or police
• by commercial shipping and Merchant Marine to transport goods
• by leisure yachtsmen (sailboats or motor yachts)
• by criminals called pirates, pirates that operate with government sanction are called privateers

Types

main: List of boat types

Boats can be categorised into three types:

• unpowered or human-powered boats
• sailing boats
• motorboats

Unpowered boats include rafts and floats meant for one-way downstream travel. Human-powered boats include canoes, kayaks, gondolas and boats propelled by poles like a punt. Sailing boats are boats which are propelled solely by means of sails. Motorboats are boats which are propelled by mechanical means, such as engines.

Parts and terminology

detail: Glossary of nautical terms

An enclosed space on a boat is referred to as a cabin. Several structures make up a cabin: the similar but usually lighter structure which spans a raised cabin is a coach-roof. The "floor" of a cabin is properly known as the sole, but is more likely to be called the floor (a floor is properly, a structural member which ties a frame to the keelson and keel). The vertical surfaces dividing the internal space are bulkheads.