- published: 09 Dec 2015
- views: 158921
Since the end of the age of sail a ship has been any large buoyant marine vessel. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on size and cargo or passenger capacity. Ships are used on lakes, seas, and rivers for a variety of activities, such as the transport of people or goods, fishing, entertainment, public safety, and warfare. Historically, a "ship" was a vessel with sails rigged in a specific manner.
Ships and boats have developed alongside mankind. In armed conflict and in daily life they have become an integral part of modern commercial and military systems. Fishing boats are used by millions of fishermen throughout the world. Military forces operate vessels for combat and to transport and support forces ashore. Commercial vessels, nearly 35,000 in number, carried 7.4 billion tons of cargo in 2007.
Ships were key in history's great explorations and scientific and technological development. Navigators such as Zheng He spread such inventions as the compass and gunpowder. Ships have been used for such purposes as colonization and the slave trade, and have served scientific, cultural, and humanitarian needs. After the 16th century, new crops that had come from and to the Americas via the European seafarers significantly contributed to the world's population growth. Maritime transport has shaped the world's economy into today's energy-intensive pattern.
We walked to the sea
just my father and me
and the dogs played around on the sand
Winter cold cut the air
hangin' still everywhere
Dressed in gray, did he say
"hold my hand"?
I said "love's easier
when it's far away"
We sat and watched a distant light
(chorus)
We're two ships that pass in the night
We both smile and we say it's alright
We're still here
It's just that were out of sight
Like those ships that pass in the night
There's a boat on the line
where the sea meets the sky
there's another that rides far behind
And it seems you and I are like strangers
a wide ways apart as we drift on through time
He said "it's harder now, we're far away"
We only read you when you write
(chorus 2x)
We're just two ships that pass in the night
We both smile and we say it's alright
We're still here