Scull, rudder, and paddle wheel ship
As very important contributions that propelled the shipbuilding industry
worldwide, the scull (a kind of oar), the rudder, and the paddle wheel ship were
first invented in China.
The exact time of the invention of the scull is hard to pinpoint, but it is
likely no later than the Han
Dynasty (206BC-220AD) when there was a dictionary-like book including the
word lu (scull), explaining that the force it generated was along the ridge of
the ship.
Sculls are usually positioned on the stern (rear part) and the fore (front
part) or the two sides of a boat, while pivots are usually placed on the
shipboard. The bow-shaped end that touches the water sways like a fishtail to
push the boat forward.
The rudder came into use after the Han Dynasty. A ship model unearthed in a
Changsha
mausoleum of Central China's Hunan
Province had a functioning rudder. From a book in the Song Dynasty
(960-1279) is written the lines, "lives of thousands of the passengers hinge on
the rudder," demonstrating people's clear awareness about the importance of
rudders at the time.
 The Chinese in the Northern
and Southern Dynasties (420-581) invented the paddle wheel ship. A wheel
with boards or paddles affixed around its circumference, instead of the oars,
was used to propel the ship. The use of a constantly moving device, rather than
an intermittent device, signified a critical technological improvement in
shipbuilding.
By the Song Dynasty, powder and ships had become two of
the most important military weapons. Historical records show that General Han
Shizhong defeated the enemy largely due to the use of paddle wheel ships in the
famous Huangtiandang Battle. Another record shows that Yu Yuwen's paddle wheel
ships once "startled and astonished" the enemy troops. With the improvement of
the shipbuilding technology, the number of paddle wheels also increased from 2
to 4, 8, 20, or even 32.
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