Algeria - Tin-Tazarift (Tassili-n’Ajjer) – Odd "ship shape". However, the floatability is not proved.

Venice - Italy - View of the island and the Church of San Giorgio, seen from the Piazzetta on a high-water day.

What could be more picturesque than a reed raft floating on Titicaca? For millennia, the Aymara people of the paradisiacal "Mediterranean" of the Andes have been fishing in their elegant reed boats in the sacred lake. The boats are made “by hand” by bundling the reeds with ichu strings. - 1969

This decommissioned ship is anchored near Ushuaia. - 1973

In recent years, a lively trade has developed between Ushuaia and various ports around the world. In the city's shops you can buy alcoholic beverages, clothes made of synthetic fibres, electrical appliances and cameras at unrivalled prices. The main customers are sailors in transit. Many of the inhabitants of Ushuaia earn their living through trade. The quays are busy at all hours of the day and night. Large bales of wool are waiting to be loaded. Each one bears the name of the estancia from which it came. Men are constantly rushing back and forth between the ships and the goods stacked in the harbour. A ship from Italy has anchored in the bay of Ushuaia. Immediately, the cargo of about six thousand sheep is brought on board. This is no easy task, because the animals are scattered all over the place. Each of them represents a value of about eighty francs. Beyond the canal, on its southern bank, the imposing outline of the island of Navarino can be seen, which is in Chilean possession. - 1973

There are huge flocks of sheep in Patagonia. Not the meat but the wool is the main purpose of sheep farming. One sheep yields four to five kilos of wool. After shearing, this is pressed into bales weighing about 200 kilograms and wrapped in cloth. In the port of Río Grande, these bales are shipped to Europe. - 1973

One of the two locks at Miraflores on the Panama Canal. You can see an Ecuadorian ship from Guayaquil. The manoeuvre from one lock to the other takes about an hour. The operation requires about 100 000 tonnes of water. Each lock gate is nine metres high and weighs 750 tonnes. The ship is pulled on both banks by 50-tonne tractors - they are called mulas (mules). The tractors are equipped with 75 HP electric motors. The Panama Canal measures 82 kilometres and covers an area of 250 square kilometres. It usually takes six to eight hours to navigate. This waterway was opened in 1914. Since the opening of the extension, which began in 2007, on 26 June 2016, ships with 14,000 TEU can pass through it. To date, more than one million ships of all types from all over the world have used it. - 1977

The two locks at Miraflores on the Panama Canal. The manoeuvre from one lock to the other takes about an hour. The process requires about 100 000 tonnes of water. Each lock gate is nine metres high and weighs 750 tonnes. The Panama Canal measures 82 kilometres and covers an area of 250 square kilometres. It usually takes six to eight hours to navigate. This waterway was opened in 1914. Since the opening of the extension, which began in 2007, on 26 June 2016, ships with 14,000 TEU can pass through it. To date, more than one million ships of all types from all over the world have used it. - 1977

Leaving the lock at Miraflores on the Panama Canal. The manoeuvre from one lock to the other takes about an hour. The process requires about 100 000 tonnes of water. Each lock gate is nine metres high and weighs 750 tonnes. The Panama Canal measures 82 kilometres and covers an area of 250 square kilometres. It usually takes six to eight hours to navigate. This waterway was opened in 1914. Since the opening of the extension, which began in 2007, on 26 June 2016, ships with 14,000 TEU can pass through it. To date, more than one million ships of all types from all over the world have used it. - 1977

On the beach in San Juan del Sur, on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua. Men in charge of repainting a boat that seriously needed it, take a few moments of well-deserved rest. Such boats are used not only for fishing, which is always plentiful, but also for transporting passengers and goods. They provide a fairly regular service between the various ports of the coast, often allowing faster connections than those offered by an incomplete and, depending on the season, very poor road network. - 1977

A canal runs through the town of Belize. It is lined with houses of characteristic architecture. The corrugated iron roofs are a fairly effective protection against your inclement climate, marked by abundant rainfall. In British Honduras, rainfall reaches at least three metres per year. At times, your significant drop in atmospheric pressure heralds the appearance of a cyclone that has formed in the Gulf of Mexico and then moves towards your islands in the West Indies, still affecting your northern regions of Central America. - 1978

In Sunda Kelapa harbour in the Indonesian capital Jakarta. These prahus, originally sailing vessels but now mostly motorboats with auxiliary sails, handle a large part of the shipping traffic between the islands of the Malay Archipelago and arrive here mainly from Sumatra and Kalimantan (Borneo). Around eighty prahus are always anchored in the busy harbour, loaded with spices among other goods. – 1990

Bow of a ship in Sunda Kelapa harbour in the Indonesian capital Jakarta. – 1990

In Sunda Kelapa harbour in the Indonesian capital Jakarta. These prahus, originally sailing vessels but now mostly motorboats with auxiliary sails, handle a large part of the shipping traffic between the islands of the Malay Archipelago and arrive here mainly from Sumatra and Kalimantan (Borneo). Around eighty prahus are always anchored in the busy harbour, loaded with spices among other goods. – 1990

Muara Baru is a district in Penjaringan, North Jakarta, best known for its important fishing port and fish market. It is a central hub for the Indonesian fishing industry, but faces significant environmental challenges due to its location below sea level. – 1990

Evening atmosphere in the bay of the port city of Ujung Pandang or Makassar, located on a southwestern spur of Sulawesi (Celebes), it was an important stop on the spice route. – 1990

The village of Bulukumba is located on the south-eastern side of the same spur of Sulawesi as Makassar (Ujung Pandang). At the mouth of the nearby river, which rises at the 2,870-metre-high Lompobatang, this small, well-protected harbour has been built for ships of modest tonnage. – Sulawesi – 1990

Bow of a Chinese junk in Singapore Harbour. During the Spice Route era, all shipping traffic between the Far East and the Middle East and Europe passed through this strategically located Southeast Asian harbour. Today, the strait of the same name is one of the busiest shipping routes in the world, alongside the English Channel. – 1990

What could be more picturesque than a reed raft floating on Titicaca? For millennia, the Aymara people of the paradisiacal "Mediterranean" of the Andes have been fishing in their elegant reed boats in the sacred lake. The boats are made “by hand” by bundling the reeds with ichu strings. - 1969

On Lake Titicaca, near Puno, the Uros people live on artificial, floating islands made of dried totora reeds, which have to be renewed regularly. Both the huts and the traditional reed boats (balsas) are made entirely from the totora reeds that grow in the lake. – Peru – 1969

Traditional reed boats (made from totora reeds) of the indigenous Uros people on Lake Titicaca. The reeds, which grow in abundance on the lake’s shores, have served as their main building material for centuries, used to construct islands, houses and boats. – Puno – Peru – 1976

Sheep farming and sheep transport have had a significant impact on the history and economy of the region around Ushuaia and throughout Patagonia. From the late 19th century onwards, the region underwent drastic changes following the introduction of livestock. Large estates (estancias) – such as the famous Estancia Harberton near Ushuaia – were established to produce wool and meat for export worldwide. As there were hardly any roads in the rugged landscape of Tierra del Fuego, criss-crossed by fjords and islands, the entire economy depended entirely on ships. Sheep were transported from the surrounding islands to the processing plants on small sailing vessels (cutters) and steamships. As can be seen in the photograph, huge flocks were herded right up to the coast to be loaded onto cargo ships via simple wooden jetties. – Argentina – 1973

Sheep are the wealth of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. The English missionary Th. Bridges brought the first small breeding flock from the Falkland Islands to his mission station in Ushuaia on the Beagle Channel in 1871. Not far from this town, on the natural channel that divides southern Tierra del Fuego, a flock of recently shorn sheep awaits shipment. - Book: Picture 206 - Argentina - 1973

Sheep farming in Ushuaia and on Tierra del Fuego has a long and dramatic history, which has had a lasting impact on the character of this extreme region in the south of Argentina and Chile. Large-scale sheep farming began at the end of the 19th century. As the rugged steppe was available in abundance, huge numbers of sheep were imported. Wool and meat were exported directly from the coast to Europe on large cargo ships – similar to the one shown in the photograph. To ensure the success of the vast farms (estancias), European settlers encroached upon the hunting grounds of the indigenous peoples (such as the Selk’nam and Yámana). As the indigenous people hunted sheep as ‘lame guanacos’, this led to bloody conflicts and ultimately to the almost complete extermination of the indigenous population. – Today, sheep farming in this region is no longer profitable for various reasons. – Argentina – 1973

The sky over Patagonia looks different than anywhere else. Often it is veiled by very light clouds that let a strange light shine through. Sometimes the wind blows in violent gusts, triggering sandstorms. Then it is necessary to seek shelter immediately in order to escape the turmoil of the elements. A yellowish light enhances the sense of threat that the traveler sees. - Fishermen are on their way with their ship on Megellanstrasse, in the Chilean part of Tierra del Fuego. - 1973

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