In the ever-changing realm of the maritime world, where steel behemoths dominate the world’s oceans and seas, there were once wooden giants crafted with intricate artistry. The colossal wooden vessels of the bygone era were engineering marvels that ruled the world. They carried world trade by transporting valuable and often precious materials to and from the different continents, interlinking them through trade and traditions. In this article, we will uncover some of the biggest wooden ships in the world that once took civilisations to victory in wars, facilitated cultural exchanges and led to significant discoveries that changed the geopolitical landscape of the time once and for all. As they say, each ship has its own story etched in its planks. 1. Wyoming First on the list of the biggest wooden ships is Wyoming, a 6-masted schooner that once sailed the perilous waters of the American coast. Wyoming was 450 ft or 140 m long, the largest wooden ship ever built. It was completed in 1909 by the firm of Percy & Small in Bath, Maine. She was named after the State of Wyoming, whose Governor Bryant Butler Brooks was one of its chief investors. Credits: wikimedia.org / United States public domain The ship cost a whopping $175,000 dollars at that time and could carry 6600 tonnes of coal. Its sheer size and wooden body made it flex in heavy seas. Her designers stiffened her with internal steel bracing. However, she bent and twisted at sea. Gaps formed in her planking, and water gushed inside its hold. However, the pumps handled the leakage. Wyoming had a steam engine, but it did not power the ship; rather, it was used for auxiliary tasks like reefing sails, hauling lines and pumping out water. She functioned with an 11-member crew and remained in service for 15 long years. She met a terrible fate in March 1924 while sailing from Norfolk to New Brunswick. A storm engulfed it when she arrived at Pollock Rip, a waterway through the 10-mile stretch of water separating Nantucket from Cape Cod. The massive wooden ship could not deal with the rogue waves that lashed against it and the strong winds that made her planks creak. Ultimately she sank, taking down 13 sailors with her. 2. Solano A massive railroad ferry constructed in California as a reinforced paddle steamer, Solano was a record-breaker. She was the biggest ferry of her kind when she was launched in 1879 in Oakland. She claimed the title of being the largest ferry for 35 years until her sister ship, the Contra Costa, entered service in 1914. Credits: wikimedia.org / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International Solano was 425 ft long and 116 ft wide and could easily carry a 24-car passenger train and locomotive or a 48-car freight train and locomotive. She was built to transport trains on the Central Transcontinental line to and from San Fransisco Bay Area. She was endowed with sidewheels by the Central Pacific Railroad, which carried trains to and from the Carquinez Strait every day for 51 years from 1879 to 1930. Arthur Brown designed Solano like a rail bridge. Two 2000 horsepower steam engines powered the ingenious vessel with two pilot rooms, eliminating the need for the vessel to turn around for return voyages. Her life ended when she was dismantled and sold for scrap. 3. Bretagne Bretagne was a 3-deck ship of the French Navy, designed by Jules Marielle as an improved version of the Courbet Class with a much more powerful armament. However, the small size of French drydocks