To trace in a clear yet concise manner the history of Navigation and Maritime Commerce, from the earliest periods to the present time, is a duty imposed on us by the very nature of our undertaking; and will occasionally occupy, as it deserves a considerable portion of our attention.

On reviewing the annals of the early ages, it has been too much the custom to neglect the information which is afforded by the pages of Holy Writ, and to resort rather to the specious and more diffusive authority of pagan writers. The origin of navigation, if we trace it from the observation of aquatic birds, the astonishing formation of the nautilus, or the floating trunk and the leafy sail, had certainly an inconsiderable original: but if we regard it as proceeding from that ark, which Noah formed by the appointment and direction of God, we considerably augment our veneration for a subject so peculiarly the boast and glory of Great Britain.

The ark was the first vessel ever known to have floated on the face of the deep. “To the immediate interposition of God, says Burchett, are we to attribute the invention of shipping, as we are to his concurring providence, those improvements which have been since made therein, and the perfection it is arrived to at this time.”