New
New
Year 1

Seafaring 450 years ago

I can describe how European seafarers sailed at the time of William Adams.

New
New
Year 1

Seafaring 450 years ago

I can describe how European seafarers sailed at the time of William Adams.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. European sailors, like William Adams, had begun to use boats more similar to those of Zheng He.
  2. The boats were pointed at the front and square at the back, with a rudder to help them steer.
  3. The boats had many sails and used rigging to support and control the sails to help them catch as much wind as possible.
  4. European sailors had also begun to use the compass to navigate, like the Chinese before them, and the astrolabe.
  5. European sailors, like William Adams, used lead lines to work out how deep the water they were sailing in was.

Keywords

  • Rigging - a ship's sails are held up and controlled by ropes known as rigging

  • Astrolabe - sailors used a tool called an astrolabe to work out how far north or south they were

  • Lead line - a lead line is a length of rope with a piece of lead attached to it

Common misconception

Pupils may think because European seafarers were using the navigation tools, they invented them too.

European seafarers didn't invent the astrolabe or compass. Many ancient people navigated by the stars like the Polynesians and Vikings.

Make the connection between an astrolabe and the stars by asking pupils to think of other words beginning 'astro'. Do they think of an 'astronaut' in space?
Teacher tip

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
Which ocean did William Adams cross first?
Correct answer: Atlantic Ocean
Pacific Ocean
Indian Ocean
Q2.
Which ocean did William Adams cross to reach Asia?
Indian Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
Correct answer: Pacific Ocean
Q3.
Which country in Asia did William Adams go to?
Correct answer: Japan
China
India
Q4.
What problem happened on the first part of William Adams' journey?
the boat leaked
a sail broke
Correct answer: the crew became sick
Q5.
How many ships were in William Adams' group at the start of the journey?
20
10
Correct answer: 5
Q6.
After his journey, William Adams returned to Britain.
true
Correct answer: false

6 Questions

Q1.
On a ship, what is rigging?
Correct answer: all the ropes that control the sails
all the sails
all the oars and oarsmen
Q2.
Which of these is a type of star chart?
compass
map
Correct answer: astrolabe
Q3.
Which of these did sailors use to measure how deep water was?
Correct answer: a lead line
a metre ruler
a tape measure
Q4.
Who first used a compass to navigate at sea?
Vikings
Correct answer: Chinese explorers
European explorers
Q5.
450 years ago, what did European sailors add to their boats to help them to turn more easily?
more sails
rigging
Correct answer: a rudder
Q6.
Sailing boats from 450 years ago had many large to catch the wind.
Correct Answer: sails, Sails

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