EACH age has produced some separate type of vessel par-
ticularly suited to its needs and each type of vessel has contributed
to the structure and development of our general western culture.

The vessels have for the most part been designed for peaceful pur-
poses, and they have served in successive periods of growth, expan-
sion, development and creation. Undoubtedly, men have often
avoided war by the simple expedient of taking to the sea in quest of
more peaceful pursuits. It is equally true that the ships of peace have
been able to sail on their voyages and carry out their purposes be-
cause they were preceded, accompanied and protected by the vessels
that were able if necessary to engage in battle. The sea is man's serv-
ant, not his master, and if he finds that he can win his freedom and
protect his integrity only by going to war, the ocean will float his
supercarrier and engulf his atomic submarine quite as blithely as she
will receive his freighters and liners. The peace and freedom of the
seas is not automatic. It seems that it must be protected or won anew
in each generation.

It is not possible to say whether ships that could go to sea were
first used for peaceful purposes or for war. The very earliest repre-
sentations we have of Phoenician or of Egyptian vessels show that
the bow projected forward in a sort of beak or spike near the water
line. We know that in the Mediterranean an old and possible original
method of fighting with ships was for one to try to ram the other

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