Watertight spaces predated whole-ship compartmentation

When did Western ships begin using watertight compartments?

Dry, relatively watertight magazines existed early, while systematic whole-ship compartmentation emerged much later and depends on how strictly the term is defined.

Ships needed dry spaces for powder and ammunition long before designers attempted comprehensive watertight subdivision. Those earlier compartments were made as tight as contemporary construction tolerances allowed because damp propellant was useless or dangerous. The broader system of treating the whole hull as a series of controllable flooded and unflooded spaces developed much later. Asking when watertight compartments began therefore requires defining whether the term means an isolated dry magazine or a complete survivability architecture.