Upper primary
What do you think ships are used for? Ships are very important, if we did not have
them we would have to go without a lot of things we normally take for granted.For instance, many cars we drive, food we eat, clothes we wear, TV's we watch and machines we use come from other countries. How do you think Australian manufactured goods are transported to other countries?
You guessed it! By ships.
These ships are called merchant ships and for thousands of years merchant ships
have been shipping goods from one part of the earth to another.Nowadays ships come in so many sizes. Some ships are so big they can only dock at larger ports and the ports that they can't access use smaller ships to unload these bigger ships to take the goods ashore.
Below are some questions, you might need to obtain books from the nearest library or you might know the answers to some of the questions already.
Have fun and get your brain into ship-shape.
1. Which country used ships to carry rock carvings, cotton, wheat, papyrus
approximately 3000 years ago? This country has a lot of desert around and its port is on the Mediterranean sea.2. Who sailed in the ship called the 'Santa Maria' accompanied by two other ships in 1492 ?
3. What was the name of the ship that Captain Cook sailed in when he arrived in Botany Bay ?
4. Which steamship in 1838 was the the first passenger steamship to make regular Atlantic Ocean crossings ?
5. You may like to check out some of the links below and research their contents.
The Long Ships | Vikings and their ships | Picture gallery of tall ships
San Diego Maritime Museum | Wassmann Potography | Ship Photos
History of ships can be very interesting, reading books about them will give you much knowledge. You can find out how mankind has developed and progressed through time. Find out what you can and write an essay on how ships have helped your country to survive and grow over the years. Find out if any of your family (great grandparents) in the past has worked for the merchant navy and if they have you could ask them some questions.
*For a video resource obtain 'Tall Ships' by ABC 1998
(Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
The magical scenes of these 'Tall Ships' are accompanied by the music of Tchaikovsky, Dvorak and Strauss.
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