In a world that was crushed to bits and pieces of rocks, drifting in the Blue, inhabitants had to find ways to explore that immaterial ocean, searching for new places to settle while their own ressources were depleting.
The most desperate amongst them just hooked on pieces of materials found to be able to drift in the Blue.
Latter ones tried to built boats out of these items.
The ships they built were sometimes looking like those of images of an old time, found in old books, from when their ancestors's world was still individed.