Editing Bulkhead (partition) (section)

== History ==
{{See also|Naval history of China}}Bulkheads were known to the ancient Greeks, who employed bulkheads in triremes to support the back of rams. By the Athenian trireme era (500 BC),<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Fields |first1=Nic |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/ocm76365221 |title=Ancient Greek warship, 500-322 BC |last2=Bull |first2=Peter |date=2007 |publisher=Osprey |isbn=978-1-84603-074-1 |series=New vanguard |location=Oxford |pages=5 |oclc=ocm76365221}}</ref> the hull was strengthened by enclosing the bow behind the ram, forming a bulkhead compartment. Instead of using bulkheads to protect ships against rams, Greeks preferred to reinforce the hull with extra timber along the waterline, making larger ships almost resistant to ramming by smaller ones.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pitassi |first=Michael |title=Hellenistic naval warfare and warships 336-30 BC: War at Sea from Alexander to Actium |date=2022 |publisher=Pen & Sword Military |isbn=978-1-3990-9760-4 |location=Barnsley (GB) |page=Chapter 3, 1 |chapter=Chapter 3 {{!}} Rams, Towers, Artillery and Tactics}}</ref>

[[File:Song Dynasty Ancient Ship of Quanzhou Bay 20061229.jpg|thumb|The remains of the [[Quanzhou ship]], dated to the [[Song dynasty]] and discovered in 1973]]

Bulkhead partitions are considered to have been a feature of Chinese [[Junk (ship)|junks]], a type of ship. Song dynasty author [[Zhu Yu (author)|Zhu Yu]] (fl. 12th century) wrote in his book of 1119 that the [[Hull (watercraft)|hulls]] of [[Junk (ship)|Chinese ships]] had a bulkhead build. The 5th-century book ''Garden of Strange Things'' by Liu Jingshu mentioned that a ship could allow water to enter the bottom without sinking. Archaeological evidence of bulkhead partitions has been found on a 24&nbsp;m (78&nbsp;ft) long Song dynasty ship dredged from the waters off the southern coast of China in 1973, the hull of the ship divided into twelve walled [[Compartment (ship)|compartmental]] sections built [[Waterproofing|watertight]], dated to about 1277.<ref name="Needham"/><ref>Ebrey, Patricia Buckley, Anne Walthall, James B. Palais (2006). ''East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. {{ISBN|0-618-13384-4}}, p. 159.</ref>

Texts written by writers such as [[Marco Polo]] (1254–1324), [[Ibn Battuta]] (1304–1369), [[Niccolò Da Conti]] (1395–1469), and [[Benjamin Franklin]] (1706–1790) describe the bulkhead partitions of East Asian shipbuilding.<ref name="Needham">Needham, Joseph. (1971). ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 3, Civil Engineering and Nautics''. Cambridge University Press., reprinted Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd.(1986), pp. 391, 420–422, 462-463.</ref><ref>Gernet, Jacques. (1996). ''A History of Chinese Civilization''. Translated by J.R. Foster and Charles Hartman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-49781-7}}, p. 327.</ref> An account of the early fifteenth century describes Indian ships as being built in compartments so that even if one part was damaged, the rest remained intact—a forerunner of the modern day watertight compartments using bulkheads.<ref name=indiannavy>[http://indiannavy.nic.in/ ''Early History'' (Indian Navy)], [[National Informatics Center]], [[Government of India]].</ref>

As wood began to be replaced by iron in European ships in the 18th century, new structures, like bulkheads, started to become prevalent.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kenchington |first=Trevor |date=1993-01-01 |title=The Structures of English Wooden Ships: William Sutherland's Ship, circa 1710 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.25071/2561-5467.766 |journal=The Northern Mariner / Le Marin du Nord |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=1–43 |doi=10.25071/2561-5467.766 |issn=2561-5467}}</ref> Bulkhead partitions became widespread in Western shipbuilding during the early 19th century.<ref name="Needham"/> [[Benjamin Franklin]] wrote in a 1787 letter that "as these vessels are not to be laden with goods, their holds may without inconvenience be divided into separate apartments, after the Chinese manner, and each of these apartments caulked tight so as to keep out water."<ref name="Franklin">{{cite book|author=Benjamin Franklin|title=The writings of Benjamin Franklin|url=https://archive.org/details/writingsbenjami01frangoog|access-date=5 October 2012|year=1906|publisher=The Macmillan Company|pages=[https://archive.org/details/writingsbenjami01frangoog/page/n180 148]–149}}</ref> A 19th-century book on shipbuilding attributes the introduction of watertight bulkheads to Charles Wye Williams, known for his [[City of Dublin Steam Packet Company|steamships]].<ref name="Reed">{{cite book|author=Sir Edward James Reed|title=Shipbuilding in iron and steel: A practical treatise, giving full details of construction, processes of manufacture, and building arrangements|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vh1EAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA213|access-date=5 October 2012|year=1869|publisher=Murray|page=213}}</ref>