Ships and Boats of Egypt

By Marie Parsons. When men live by water, whether marsh, river, or sea, they eventually discover ways to build vehicles to move across that water. Egypt's life has always turned around its River, the Nile, and its marshes in the Delta.The cheapest form of primitive boat was the pot boat, simply a clay container large enough to accommodate a passenger. It was meant for places free of rocks and was ideal for getting around the marshy areas of the Nile delta. Egypt was fairly treeless and it would be difficult to find other means of building boats. The Egyptians did find enough wood to make planked boats. There is evidence that the Old Kingdom of Egypt had the first planked boats ever made. These were used even in burial rituals. Fourteen have recently been found buried in the region of Abydos.