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Sculling is a word that has two meanings:
Competitive sculling
To use a scull or a pair of sculls to propel a boat. This sport uses a small light racing boat for one, two, or four rowers, each using a pair of sculls. Sculls are short-handled oars used by a single rower.
Single oar sculling
In the other meaning, sculling is a means of propelling watercraft by moving an oar from side to side, while changing the angle of the blade so as to always generate forward thrust. Its origins are ancient enough to be unknown, but include common use in ancient China1 (some time before the third century, AD), pre-Columbian American Indians on the Great Lakes, and most famously by gondola boat pilots from medieval through modern times in Venice, Italy.
In single-oar sculling, an oar is usually locked by a pivot onto a boat's bow and/or stern, and pushed to one side of the boat with the blade turned so that this will generate forward thrust, then rotated ninety degrees so that the return stroke pushes in the same direction. The efficiency of this system has resulted in an old Chinese saying, "a scull equals three oars".
This continuous propulsion method of moving a boat is considered fundamentally similar to marine propellers, even an inspiration for them.
See also
References
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