- published: 21 Apr 2014
- views: 27280899
A sail is any type of surface intended to move a vessel, vehicle or rotor by being placed in a wind—in essence a propulsion wing. Sails are used in sailing.
The earliest known depictions of sails are from ancient Egypt around 3200 BCE, where reed boats sailed upstream against the River Nile's current. Ancient Sumerians used square rigged sailing boats at about the same time, and it is believed they established sea trading routes as far away as the Indus valley. The proto-Austronesian words for sail, lay(r), and other rigging parts date to about 3000 BCE when this group began their Pacific expansion.Greeks and Phoenicians began trading by ship by around 1,200 BCE.
Square sails mounted on yardarms perpendicular to the boat's hull are very good for downwind sailing; they dominated in the ancient Mediterranean and spread to Northern Europe, and were independently invented in China and Ecuador. Although fore-and-aft rigs have become more popular on modern yachts, square sails continued to power full-rigged ships through the Age of Sail and to the present day. Triangular fore-and-aft rigs were invented in the Mediterranean as single yarded lateen sails and independently in the Pacific as the more efficient bi sparred crab claw sail, and continue to be used throughout the world. During the 16th-19th centuries other fore-and-aft sails were developed in Europe, such as the spritsail, gaff rig, jib/genoa/staysail, and Bermuda rig, improving European upwind sailing ability.
It's just some of the things he said
Keep going 'round my head
I'm gonna save my soul
Before things get impossible
I should've seen the signs
And they were right before my eyes
He could've saved my soul
A fog across the bay
I think I saw him sail away
Now like those before
I'm just another body washed up on the shore
A curse on my bones
We made a pact among the stones
He could've saved my soul
He could've saved my soul
Take me in your arms...
Do you recall the time
I think you just must have lost your mind
Affected by the sun
And how the heavens lined up as we made our run
Blood stained the lanes
And I could barely feel the pain
I loved you so much more
I loved you so much more
Take me in your arms...
We saw gunpowder paint the sky
Demons hung out to dry
How many hours to go
Before the next ice age suffocates the globe
Sandstones remain
A sea of angels crossed the plain
They never save my soul
They never save my soul
Take me in your arms...
Pact among the stones