Multihull
ship type
A multihull is a boat or ship with more than one hull, whereas a vessel with a single hull is a monohull. The most common multihulls are catamarans (with two hulls), and trimarans (with three hulls). There are other types, with four or more hulls, but such examples are very rare and tend to be specialised for particular functions.
Multihull history
Single-outrigger boats, double-canoes (catamarans), and double-outrigger boats (trimarans) of the Austronesian peoples are the direct antecedents of modern multihull vessels. They were developed during the Austronesian Expansion (c. 3000 to 1500 BC) which allowed Austronesians to colonize maritime Southeast Asia, Micronesia, Island Melanesia, Madagascar, and Polynesia. These Austronesian vessels are still widely used today by traditional fishermen in Austronesian regions in maritime Southeast Asia, Oceania and Madagascar; as well as areas they were introduced to by Austronesians in ancient times like in the East African coast and in South Asia.
Greek sources also describe large third-century BC catamarans, one built under the supervision of Archimedes, the Syracusia, and another reportedly built by Ptolemy IV Philopator of Egypt, the Tessarakonteres.
20th-century origins
In 1916, Leonardo Torres Quevedo patented the Binave, the first modern steel multihull that introduced flexible structural joints to solve sea-induced torsion, an early contribution to the engineering of high-speed catamarans.
Modern developers
Modern pioneers of multihull design include James Wharram (UK), Derek Kelsall (UK), Tom Lack (UK), Lock Crowther (Aust), Hedly Nicol (Aust), Malcolm Tennant (NZ), Jim Brown (USA), Arthur Piver (USA), Chris White (US), Ian Farrier (NZ), LOMOcean (NZ), Darren Newton (UK), Jens Quorning (DK) and Dick Newick (USA).
“Multihull” enters the record as ship type. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Multihull, ship and type can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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