When ships first began to utilize sails to go in directions other than approximately that in which the wind blew is unknown. Certainly ships propelled by even the crudest sails could do more than drift before the wind, and as hulls became longer and deeper, they were, of course, able to sail more and more to the right and left. When, however, ships first were able to make headway against the wind is problematical. Certain it is that for many thousand years after sails were known there seems to have been no connection in the minds of ship-builders between the use of sails and the construction of the underbodies of their ships so as to interpose any especial obstacle to the water in order to prevent the undue motion of their hulls _sideways_. Naturally enough, the very earliest of ships was constructed with the idea of ease of propulsion forward, but, so long as that object was gained, the shape of the hull, apparently, gave them little thought save in so far as space was needed for crew and cargo. Designs were brought out, of course, that were increasingly sturdy and seaworthy, but fin keels, or similar contrivances, are a development of recent times. Ships there were, of course, even in ancient times, that were driven exclusively, or almost exclusively, by sails, but the fact that these ships, and many that depended largely on oars, were hauled high and dry and carefully laid up during the less favourable seasons would seem to prove that except under ideal conditions sails, as they were then, were highly impractical affairs. The earliest sails of which there is definite record are those shown in carvings of ships on ancient Egyptian temples. These were hardly more complicated than the skins of the theoretical savage who first utilized the energy of the wind. They were made of cloth and were rectangular and were stretched between two spars—one at the top and one at the bottom—and these spars were raised and lowered in the process of making or taking in sail. [Illustration: AN EGYPTIAN SHIP OF THE 12TH DYNASTY _It is possible that ships of this type were able, under ideal conditions, to make a little headway, while under sail, against the wind. It was not for many, many centuries, however, that sailing ships were able definitely to make much headway in that direction._ ]