"That's a small step for man, a giant leap for mankind."
-Neil Armstrong, first man on the moon.

Man has always aspired to achieve things hitherto believed impossible.  For each inventor/adventurer/scientist who succeeded in achieving greatness and gone on to get a hero, thousands perished, aspiring for the same greatness.  While the Wright brothers invented the first successful heavier-than-air powered aircraft, many were those who tried and failed before them. "If I have seen farther, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants", Sir Isaac Newton is reported to have said, and it describes perfectly the efforts of many who failed, which went on to serve as a guiding light or a warning beacon to their successors.

The idea of being able to take off and land aircraft, from ships on the sea was one such: a desire which seemed too difficult to bring to fruition. Yet, people tried, failed, and tried again, and again, and again, till they achieved it.
Squadron commander Edwin Harris Dunning of the British Royal Naval Service, on the 2nd of August 1917, became the first man to successfully land an aircraft on a moving ship, the HMS Furious, creating history and providing hope to people who'd almost started to question the feasibility of the whole idea. Trying to repeat his feat, just five days later, on the 7th of August 1917, Edwin got caught in an updraft due to which he wasn't able to bring his aircraft to a complete halt before it tipped over the edge of the ship, drowning him in full view of his horrified shipmates and friends. Since then, aircraft carriers and indeed aviation itself, both civilian and combat, have come a very long way, but such progress just wouldn't have been possible had it not been for the incredible bravery and sacrifices made by people like Squadron commander Edwin Harris Dunning. I found these pictures of him on wikipedia.org



Squadron Commander Dunning being cheered by his colleagues upon achieving the first ever landing of an airplane on the deck of a moving ship.



Horrified crew members look on as Dunning fails to bring the airplane down in time. Though he managed to bring it down on the ship, he was not able to stop it before it tipped over the edge of the ship.

I also found this video which documents some more early attempts to land airplanes on the decks of aircraft carriers.