page_title: Ship
section_title: Age of sail
hierarchical_section_title: Ship / History / Age of sail
caption_attribution_description: English: Replica ship Mayflower II at the State Pier in Plymouth, Massachusetts, US.
context_page_description: A ship is a large vehicle used to travel on water. It is bigger than a boat. Most are cargo ships, which carry most of the world's international trade. There are also many warships, passenger ships and other kinds for different purposes.
context_section_description: Sailing ships were used for thousands of years, but they were very important from the Age of Discovery to the 19th century. The Chinese admiral Zheng He commanded a fleet of large 'treasure ships' on seven voyages all over Asia up to East-Africa in the early fifteenth century. The most successful and largest fleet in the 17th century was the Dutch fleet (see the Netherlands). For trade and transport the Dutch often used a particular kind of trading ship, called a flute (fluyt in Dutch). Transport of people and cargo on sailing ships became rare in the early 20th century.
  Some famous ships from this era include:
  Niña, Pinta, Santa Maria - Christopher Columbus' ships
  The Mayflower - The ship that carried the Pilgrims to Massachusetts
  Queen Anne's Revenge - The pirate Blackbeard's ship
  HMS Bounty - Captain Bligh's ship. Site of the most famous mutiny of all time
  USS Constitution - The most powerful ship in the early United States Navy
  HMS Victory - Admiral Horatio Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar
caption: Copy of the ship Mayflower
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