ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Ship mill

Okay kiddo, have you ever seen a big boat floating in the water and wondered how it moves? Well, sometimes people would use a big wheel to make the boat move instead of using the wind or paddles. That big wheel is called a ship mill!

A ship mill looks like a regular mill you see on a farm, except it's on a boat. The water turns the big wheel, just like how wind or a stream would turn a regular mill's wheel. The rotating wheel then powers a system of gears and axles that turn the millstones inside the ship mill to grind grains like wheat or corn.

The ship mill was very useful because it could move to different locations on the water to grind grains. People could take their grain to the ship mill instead of having to travel far to find a regular mill. Plus, they could also use the ship mill to grind grain while traveling to sell it to other people.

However, ship mills were not very efficient because they were slow and could only grind a small amount of grain at a time. Eventually, people stopped using them as other ways of milling, such as using water wheels or steam-powered mills, became more popular.

So basically, a ship mill is like a big wheel on a boat that helps grind grain using the power of water!