Lesson video

Hello there and welcome to today's history lesson.

I'm Mr. Knox, I'm really passionate about history and I'm also really looking forward to teaching you.

With you today you need to bring your looking eyes, your listening ears, and your thinking brains, as well as that having something to write with and write on and someone or something to talk to would also be really helpful.

Alright, then let's get straight into today's history lesson.

In today's history lesson, we are going to be going on a bit of a journey.

We are going to be looking at seafaring 550 years ago.

So we're going to be looking at how people travelled on the sea about 550 years ago, so a very long time ago.

The outcome of our lesson will be, I can describe how European seafarers, so people travelling on the sea from Europe, sailed at the time of John Cabot.

John Cabot was a famous voyager and explorer who was sailing about 550 years ago.

He was an Italian explorer who was commissioned by King Henry VII of England.

Here are the key words for us today.

These are really important parts of either a boat or how sailors 550 years ago would navigate safely.

My turn, your turn.

Make sure I can hear you saying these back to me.

Rigging.

Brilliant.

Astrolable.

Lead line.

Be careful with lead line, it's not lead line, it's lead line.

Let's talk about what these words are then.

Rigging.

A ship's sails are held up and controlled by ropes known as rigging.

So rigging are those ropes connected to the mast and the sails that allow the sails to be raised up and down and controlled.

An astrolabe, sailors used a tool called an astrolabe to work out how far north or south they were.

They used this in conjunction with a compass to help them to navigate safely.

And we're going to be looking in more detail on what an astrolabe looks like and how it was used later on in this lesson.

And finally, a lead line is a length of rope with a piece of lead attached to it.

Lead is a heavy metal.

This piece of metal will be attached to the end of the rope that could then be dropped into the ocean or sea.

And we'll be thinking a little bit later on about the purpose of this lead line.

So we have rigging, astrolabe and lead line, parts of boats or pieces of equipment that could be used for seafarers to successfully navigate.

So remember, we are looking at travelling on the sea about 550 years ago, how explorers, navigators, and seafarers managed to successfully navigate and explore the season oceans.

We are going to begin by looking at what boats were like about 550 years ago, and we're going to compare some European boats to some Chinese boats.

Then we're going to consider how seafarers navigated, how they successfully found their way from one place to another about 550 years ago.

Let's get on then with answering this question.

What were boats like 550 years ago? So European seafarers like John Cabot knew about the impressive large junks that Chinese explorers like Zheng He used.

And so they started to use features of those Chinese ships in their own boats.

We have two illustrations here, to the left you can see an illustration of a Chinese junk, the type of ship that Zheng He, the admiral of the imperial Chinese fleet would have sailed.

He would've sailed great distances on these ships.

Indeed, they had some fascinating features to them that were started to then be used by European sailors like John Cabot.

Zheng He sailed all the way from China to Africa even, and he went on gift missions to collect treasure for his emperor.

We can see to the right an illustration of a European boat.

There are certainly some similarities between this and the huge Chinese junk on the left.

I wonder if you can spot some of those similarities already.

So true or false, European seafarers learned from Chinese seafarers? Okay, this is true.

European seafarers knew how impressive Chinese junks were and so they used the same features on their own ships.

The Chinese were known as brilliant seafarers, explorers, and navigators.

Their huge junks had specific features that were very, very useful and meant that they could be brilliant seafarers, and the Europeans began to incorporate some of these features into their own boats and ships.

So let's start thinking about those features that the Europeans began to use.

What is the same about these boats? We have an illustration of a Chinese junk like the one used by Zheng He, and we have an illustration of a European boat like the one used by John Cabot.

Consider their features.

Look carefully each of them.

What do you notice that is the same? Carefully compare them.

Take some time to do this now and share your ideas with someone.

Off you go.

So I can immediately see some similarities between these boats.

They both have many large sails.

We can see that our Chinese junk has three large sails.

These sails are connected to mast, those long upwards poles onto which the sails are placed.

The mast hold the sails in place.

If we look at our European boats, we can also see a main mast and a number of sails both at the front, in the middle and at the back.

The sails might be slightly different shapes, but they're both performing the same purpose, which is to catch the wind and propel and move the boat forward using wind power.

So both boats have many large sails is our first feature.

They are both pointed at the front, so you'll notice they slightly narrow towards the front and are pointed.

This is to support them with movement through the water, and towards the back they are both more square shaped.

So if you look carefully at both, at the back you can see this more square rectangular shape and their narrow towards the front.

So this is our next similarity, their shape.

Could you choose three features that both Chinese junks and European ships had? Consider the images that we've just looked at and the similarities between them.

We have small sails, pointed front, big sails, square shaped back.

Pause the video now and select the correct three features that both types of boats had.

Off you go.

Great job team.

So we're looking for three here.

So there's an odd one out, isn't there? And I think the odd one out comes immediately.

It's small sails, isn't it? If we look carefully back at our pictures, we can see here that they had quite large sails.

Some of the sails were slightly smaller, but generally speaking they both contained at least one large sail, if not more.

So not small sails.

We did say that they had pointed fronts to support them with movement through the water, they had generally big sails, although they may have had some smaller sails too.

These big sails remember were used to capture wind to harness the power of the wind to move the boat forwards, and they had a square shaped back.

Onto this square shaped back in particular in the image we looked at a moment ago of the Chinese junk, at the bottom we could see a rudder and we're going to be talking in a bit more detail about these rudders now and what they were used for.

So both boats around 550 years ago, so both our Chinese junk and our European boats also had a rudder.

The rudders were at the back and they helped to change direction.

If you look very carefully, you can see our illustration of a rudder here.

It is at the back base of the boat and it would've been able to turn each way and be controlled by someone steering the boat.

This was to support with changing the direction of the boat.

It's far easier to move a boat with a rudder than it previously had been with oars, which were far more cumbersome, tiring, and difficult to then move the boat with.

If you look at the illustration of our Chinese junk here, if you look at the bottom left, you can see our rudder.

It's that square, rectangular shaped piece of wood that if you see is attached and will be able to move to change the direction of the boat.

So if you see here we have in my box here, I've highlighted where the rudder is on this Chinese junk.

The sails were held up by a large pole called a mast.

You would've had one main mast often in the middle of the boat, and then you may have had some other smaller mast with smaller sails too.

We saw a number of mast on both our Chinese junk and our European boat in the previous images.

Here we have a photo of a mast and one of our key star words here, the rigging.

The mast in the centre, that piece of wood, that pole like structure going upwards.

Attaching the sails to the mast were lots of ropes.

These ropes were called the rigging.

My turn, your turn, rigging.

These helped to both furl and unfurl the sails, and they helped to connect the sails to the mast.

Pulling the rigging moved the sails.

And you'll notice also that there are some pieces of rigging on the side that could have been climbed up.

This meant that sailors could climb up to tie up or to unfurl the sails.

So sails on boats 550 years ago could be moved by pulling the mast, the rigging or the rudder? Pause the video now, complete the sentence with the correct word.

Off you go.

Excellent job team.

Let's see how you've done.

Sails on boats 550 years ago could be moved by pulling the rigging.

The mast was that pole like structure going up onto which the sails could be put, and the rudder was at the base in the back of our boat and that helped to change the direction of the boat.

It is those ropes, the rigging that can be pulled in order to move the sails.

So what have you noticed that's then different about these boats? We've considered those key similarities and features that helped both the Chinese and the Europeans become such brilliant seafarers and navigators.

We have here an illustration of a Chinese junk and also an illustration of a European boat.

I want you now to look carefully at them and consider the differences.

Take some time now.

Off you go.

Great.

Well I've noticed a few things.

One thing in particular is the difference in size.

It appears to me as though our Chinese junk is quite a bit bigger than this European boat.

The Matthew, which was the smaller boat that John Cabot sailed to find new found land was quite a bit smaller.

Remember these Chinese junks were designed for going on treasure missions for the Chinese emperor and for bringing him back lavish gifts and treasures from distant lands.

So they were quite large.

I've noticed too, the shape of the sail seems to be a little bit different.

Perhaps the material used within the sails and the way they're laid out is also a bit different.

I can see quite a few more flags also on the Chinese junk.

I wonder if you noticed any other differences.

Share them now.

So here's our illustration of our Chinese junk.

Let's consider what's different about this to our European boat from about 550 years ago.

Both boats often had different numbers and sizes of sails.

So the layout of the sails and the number and size of the sails was often different, Sometimes too the material that made the sails was different.

They had different flags and coloured banners flying at the top of the sails.

From the images we looked at previously, there were far more flags on our Chinese junk.

And Chinese junks were much larger than the European boats at the time.

We noticed that, didn't we from the previous images.

So choose two differences between Chinese junks and European ships 550 years ago.

The rudders, the flags, the size? Select the ones that are different.

Off you go.

Brilliant job team.

You've really considered the differences there between Chinese junks and European ships.

Both ships had rudders.

Remember they would use these to efficiently change direction.

Both ships had different flags.

So rudders was a similarity.

But the colour, layout, and number of flags was quite different on both boats, wasn't it? And the size, the Chinese junks were far larger than the European boats of the time.

So for our practise class now, what I'd like us to do is talk to our learning partner about Chinese junks and European ships.

Let's consider some things that were the same and were different about them.

So I want one way they were the same, one way they were different.

Here are some words that might help you with this.

We have the word, my turn, your turn, rudder.

We have the word sails.

We have the word flags, and we have one of our keywords rigging.

Remember rigging were those ropes that were used and attached to the sails.

Use these keywords now.

Off you go and talk to your partner.

Brilliant job team, I'm incredibly impressed.

You are experts now about both Chinese junks and European boats from about 550 years ago.

It's really great comparing both of these boats to see what was similar and what was different at the time.

So tell your learning partner one way the ships were the same and one way they were different.

I've heard some excellent differences and similarities there.

Your answers might have included, the ships were the same because they had a rudder, rigging and large sails.

However, the ships had different size sails and different flags on the top.

And also we knew that Chinese junks were far larger than European boats 550 years ago.

Did you have any other similarities or differences that you wanted to share or did you want to refine your answers? Take the time to do so now.

So we've looked at what boats were like 550 years ago and the types of boats that seafarers sailed in.

Now I want us to look at how did seafarers navigate 550 years ago.

We're gonna look at some of the innovations and items they used to help them find their way successfully.

So Zheng He and other Chinese explorers were very good at navigating their ships because they used compasses.

In fact, they were the first explorers to use compasses to support them with travelling at sea.

Here we have an illustration of a compass.

Compasses are really useful, aren't they? They give us our bearings, can tell us our headings and can help us to travel in straight lines.

We know they're broken into north, east, south, west.

By navigating, I mean finding the way to go, getting from one point to another successfully.

About 550 years ago, European seafarers like John Cabot also began to use a compass to work out which direction to travel in.

Compasses were really useful combined with rudders because you were able to change direction quickly and efficiently and keep on the correct bearing.

A compass always points to the north.

A compass made their journeys much easier.

They were far more reliable and deficient.

So both Chinese and European sailors at this time were using compasses to help them.

True or false? European seafarers did not use a compass 550 years ago.

True or false? And if they did use them, why? Off you go.

Brilliant.

This is false.

European seafarers did use compasses 550 years ago.

Sailors like John Cabot would've used the compass to navigate and find their way.

Chinese seafarers used the compass first and later European seafarers also started using a compass.

European seafarers also used a tool called, and this is one of our key words, an astrolabe.

Can you say that for me? Astrolabe.

This was to help them navigate.

Here we have a photograph of an astrolabe.

That word astrolabe, I'm hearing that word astro like astro, something to do with up in space.

An astrolabe was a type of star chart.

So this is a more refined version of what Viking sailors would do.

Remember, they would sail at night and use the stars up in the sky because they didn't move to help navigate.

Sailors looked at the positions of the sun, moon, and stars in the sky and used the astrolabe, this tool here, to work out how far north or south they were in combination with a compass.

This was an incredibly useful and innovative navigation tool.

So which two of these tools did seafarers use to navigate 550 years ago? A rudder, a compass, or an astrolabe? Select the two tools now.

Off you go.

Brilliant job team.

Was a rudder used for navigation for finding a way? No, that was used for moving the ship, wasn't it? But a compass, which we know would always point to north and an astrolabe, which would help people to measure the sun, stars and the sky to know where they were in the north or south.

Both of these were really useful tools for early seafarers and navigators about 550 years ago.

About 550 years ago, European seafarers like John Cabot knew that the water needed be deep enough to travel through, otherwise their boats could become grounded or worse crash onto rocks.

They might get stuck and this could cause disaster.

So this brings us on to our final seafaring tool.

This is an illustration of a my turn, your turn, lead line.

If you look carefully, you can see a piece of rope with something hooked onto the end.

They use ropes called these lead lines to work out how deep the water was.

These were made from a heavy block of lead, which is a heavy metal attached to a long rope.

(Mr. Knox gasping) You could imagine sailing a boat along and dropping this into the water.

The sailors would drop this rope then and when they felt the lead hit the bottom, they would be able to measure the rope and pull it back in to see how deep the water was.

They would use this particularly when coming close to shorelines because the water might become shallower and so as to not crash their boats.

So this work, this lead line, by being thrown into the water, the heavy piece of lead would sink hit the bottom, you would then put it back up and measure the depth of the water.

So sailors knew where they could and couldn't sail.

So European seafarers use lead lines to measure how mm the water was, blue, deep or salty.

Pause the video now and complete this sentence.

Good job team.

European seafarers use lead lines to measure how deep the water was, not how blue its colour or how salty it was.

They used it in order to measure the depth of the water so they could be safe.

So what I'd like us to do now for our practise task is to read the sentences and decide which tool they describe.

Tick the correct column for each sentence.

Is it describing our astrolabe or is it describing our lead line? Seafarers used this to measure how deep the water was.

Seafarers used this to line up the stars in the night sky.

This was made of a heavy metal called lead.

This was used to work out how far north or south the seafarers were.

Pause the video now.

Put a tick in the correct column.

Off you go team.

Fantastic job.

You are showing an expert knowledge of both an astrolabe and a lead line here.

Remember, these are tools that seafarers would use 550 years ago.

So seafarers used this to measure how deep the water was, this was the lead line that they would drop in.

Seafarers used this to line up with the stars in the night sky, this is our astrolabe.

This was made of a heavy metal called lead, well, it's in the name, isn't it? Lead line.

And this was used to work out how far north or south the seafarers were.

This is our astrolabe.

How did you do there? Do you have any corrections to make? Make them now.

Great job in history today team.

We've been looking at travelling by sea or seafaring about 550 years ago.

European boats were built with features similar to Chinese junks.

They had a rudder to help with steering and many large sails to catch the wind.

The sails of the boats were controlled by pulling on ropes that we called rigging.

About 550 years ago, seafarers like John Cabot began to use a compass and an astrolabe to navigate.

Remember, the Chinese had used compasses before then.

Seafarers, like John Cabot use a lead lines to work out how deep the water was under their boats to be safe.

Keep up the great history and I'll see you again soon.