On Tue, 20 Feb 2007 06:36:02 -0500, "Roger Long"
wrote:

This brings up an interesting historical question which I hope one of the
history buffs among us can answer. What did sailing vessels do before
power? Dragging is even more serious in an unpowered vessel for obvious
reasons.

Interesting question. Those ships had a lot of windage of course, and
my guess is that they relied on wind, tide, heavy anchors, lots of
chain, and last but not least, a constant look out. They had a lot of
man power on those boats and knew how to use it effectively.

The captains of course knew that they would be court martialed and
probably lose their career if the ship was damaged. The look outs
knew that they could rely on a cat-o-nine tails flogging or a keel
hauling if they were found negligent in their duties. Those were
powerful incentives to getting the job done correctly.

Small boats without power can always back their main sail against the
wind by holding the boom out.