Start here
The History of the Canoe: From Indigenous Cultures to Modern Sports
How canoes grew from hollowed logs, birchbark and skin-covered craft made by many peoples into the touring, racing and recreational boats paddled today.
Sailing Craft
Paddled and Rowed Boats
Canoes, kayaks and rowing craft.
A History of the Kayak: From Inuit Origins to Modern Designs
The kayak's path from Arctic hunting craft of the Inuit and Aleut to folding boats, plastic whitewater designs and the sea kayaks of recent decades.
The Development of the Kayak
How Arctic hunters built skin-on-frame kayaks from driftwood, bone and sealskin, fitted them to the individual, and used them to hunt seals, birds and caribou.
The Development of the Rowing Boat
How hulls, tholes, rowlocks, outriggers and sliding seats shaped rowing boats, from open working craft to the narrow racing shells of the modern era.
The Development of the Sailing Kayak
Sailing kayaks are a modern add-on, not a traditional Arctic form. This article traces folding-kayak sail kits, outriggers and long-distance expeditions.
The Evolution of the Sailing Canoe
How the Victorian canoe craze, John MacGregor's Rob Roy and the Royal Canoe Club led to decked sailing canoes and the racing canoes that followed.
The History of the Rowing Boat: From Ancient Greece to Modern Times
From oared galleys of the ancient Mediterranean through Thames watermen's races to regattas and the Olympic Games, a history of rowing as work and sport.
The History of the Sailing Canoe
Traditional canoes fitted with sails in the Pacific, East Africa and the Americas: outrigger and double-hulled craft, their rigs, and what evidence survives.
Related topics