Η ιστορική εξέλιξη της γέφυρας εμπορικού πλοίου

Abstract

Shipping from the very early years is one of the main commercial and not only human activities. From the evolution of society and especially of technology, it is natural that this industry could not be absent, although as we will see in the development of the subject, there have been long periods where the evolution of navigation was not parallel to the leaps made by other fields of technology. The natural formation of our planet, since ancient times, has given primary importance to the means of maritime transport. About three quarters of the earth's surface is covered by seas and lakes. With the exception of the areas of the two geographical poles, it is possible to transport passengers and goods by sea at any distance and in any part of the globe that is accessible from the sea and in addition through rivers, canals and lakes. Ships have been known to cross the seas since prehistoric times. On the contrary, the development and widespread use of land transport began to become important to the economy only from the steam age onwards. After all, even today, only thanks to the existence of the merchant ship is the mass transportation of goods technically and economically possible. As a verification and consequence of the above, at least four-fifths of the international trade is carried out by merchant shipping. From the pioneers daring seafarers to the modern navy, the purpose of the voyage remains the same. To be able to reach the boat, the crew and the goods in the hold, to the designated destination safely and as quickly as possible. Over the centuries, the means used to achieve this goal are many and their evolution is impressive. In the present work we will deal mainly with the time evolution of the equipment and the manning of the most crucial part of the ship, the Navigation Bridge. The nature of the object is such that its global and in-depth treatment will inevitably take on a large extent. For this reason, an effort will be made not to delve into purely technical issues and analyzes of the technological equipment of the bridge.