Age of Sail

The Age of Sail describes the centuries, roughly the mid-sixteenth to the mid-nineteenth, when sail propelled the world’s warships and merchantmen before steam displaced it. Wooden hulls carried square and fore-and-aft rigs from the galleon and carrack through the frigate, ship of the line, and clipper. The period ended as iron hulls and screw steamers took over long-distance trade after the 1850s, though sailing windjammers worked bulk routes into the 1930s. It is the formative era of naval tactics, charter trade, and the seamanship preserved in maritime museums.