Short answers, pulled from the story.
The earliest image suggesting a bipod mast on a reed boat dates to the 6th millennium BCE. This pottery piece marks the dawn of wind-powered travel even though no sail appears in that drawing.
The first actual representation of a sail comes from Egypt around 3100 BCE. Sailors on the Nile used the river's south-to-north current for upstream journeys and relied on north-to-south winds to return downstream.
London received 4,395 cargoes of coal delivered by sailing colliers in 1795. A fleet of about 500 ships made eight or nine trips annually to supply the growing city.
Austronesian peoples reached Maritime Southeast Asia, Micronesia, Island Melanesia, Polynesia, and Madagascar between 3000 and 1500 BCE. These vessels traveled vast open ocean distances using stick charts for navigation.
Steam engines gradually replaced wind as the primary method of ship propulsion during the latter part of the 19th century. Large improvements in fuel economy allowed steam to outcompete sail in all commercial situations.