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GLOSSARY OF SHIPS





Please note that these drawings are not in a proportional scale..

Lighter (or barge)

  Boat used for loading or unloading of ships. Cannot approach the dock.

Skiff, punt, barque

The three-masted barque The three-masted barque is a ship with a foremast, main mast, and a mast barque carrying only a spanker, instead of the mizzen, top gallant ardor and mizzen top gallant.

Bisquine

  Vessel with two or three masts with lower sails and topsail on the third.

Brig

Brig Ship of small tonnage with two square-rigged masts, often used by pirates, similar to the brigantine.

Brigantine

Brigantine Two-masted vessel, square-rigged to the front and gaff sail (or square) in the back, it has only one bridge.

Brûlot

  Unmanned vessel loaded with highly flammable substances and powder which is launched at the opponent and that we switch on nearby.

Boat, small boat

  Small light embarcation moving at rowing or sailing intended for users of the ship on which it is embedded.

Caraque

  Strong war and trade ship during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries used by the Portuguese. This fortress, tall and narrow, can carry 2,000 tons and accommodate 2,000 men.

Caravel

Portuguese Caravel Two-masted building during fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, slender, usually rigged with a lateen sail. The drawing shows a Portuguese caravel.

Lugger
or sloop

Sloop Small ship with one mast and jib.

Tidehunter
or lugger

Lugger Fishing boat, rigged two-masted gaff, nowadays generally with an engine.

Xebec

  Small Mediterranean building, thin and fast, used by pirates from North Africa. Three rigged masts, lateen sails on antennas.

Clipper

Clipper High-wing three-master, very fast. Each mast can carry up to seven square sails: mainsail, fixed topsail, flying topsail, fixed top gallant, flying top gallant, royal and royal staysail or skysails.

Cog

  Sailboat high planking siding from the days of the Hanseatic League, short body and picked up, carrying up to 100 Lastes heavy (= 200 tons). Single mast ship, rigged with a square sail.

Corsair

  Armed war vessel used by individuals, generally authorized by a letter of marque, and running to the sea his expense against merchant vessels of the enemy.

Corvette, sloop of war

  Small warship, fast and very handy, intermediate between Brick and Frigate barque-rigged or three-masted, and carrying only one row of cannons. It is used to give chase to the enemy.

Cutter

  Fishing vessel with only one mast and several jibs, schooner-rigged and used in several countries to cabotage, with loads up to 100 tons.

Dhau

  Arab sailboat thin and fast, a lateen-rigged sail. Famous ship of Arab pirates.

Dory

  Small flat-bottomed boat, pointed and raised at both ends.

Flute

  Famous Dutch sailboat of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Three-masted barque-rigged with shallow draft, with a length to width ratio of 4 to 1 and a very high rig. This warship is equipped to carry food and ammunition.

Frigate

The Frigate Very fast warship, thin, and three-masted fully rigged with square lines, with forecastle to the front and aftercastle to the rear. Crew of 300 to 600 men, armament 30 to 60 cannons.

Fuste

  Long building with low board, using both sailing and oars.

Store ship

  Great boat for loading and unloading ships. Building rigged three-master that can do long journeys.

Galleass

  From the latin "Galea Grossa" is a large galley. Warship in the Mediterranean in the 16th and 17th centuries, armed with 28-31 oars on each side and many guns on the upper deck, from the stern to the bow. Downwind, we could hoist lateen sails to the three masts.

Galley

  Slender rowing and powerful vessel, used as warship in the Mediterranean since the 11th century. The front stand has a castle on which jet machines and later guns were placed. The galley was with a Lateen sail mast.

Galleon

The Galleon Grand building of charge in the 17th century, three or four-masted square sails, heavy, armed with 60-70 guns. This is the ship that carried the treasures, gold, and silver of the Spanish and Portuguese colonies in America. 50 to 60 meters in length, 20-25 meters in width, with four to five floors in the aftercastle.

Galiote

  Small light galley with 16-22 swimming tanks and one Latin sail mast.

Schooner

The Schooner Light sailing ship, rigged to fore-and-aft sails (trapezoidal) on horns, where the main mast is the rear mast.

Junk

  Chinese building bridged, but without keel. Sailing junks usually have two masts, but sometimes several, or just one. Their sails have their characteristic slats that spread throughout the mast wind pressure. Used as a transport ship in war and piracy.

Ketch

Ketch Square stern ship with a main mast and mizzen mast.

Liburne

  Small rowing boat sculling governed, developed by Mediterranean pirates and taken over by the Romans. Originally with a single row of oars, later with two.

Nave

  Ship of the Middle Ages with high aftercastle, designed for long crossings.

Patache

  Lightweight building used to serve larger vessels to go ashore and send news.

Pinasse

  Light, long, narrow boat for sailing or rowing.

Pink

  Ship with three masts representative of a compromise between the frigate for speed and firepower, and the three-masted barque for load capacity. Vessel found mainly in the Mediterranean. This was also the favorite building of pirates and privateers in the North Sea and the Baltic.

Polacre

  Name given to the jib on Latin boats.

Also means a square rigged ship (Mediterranean) rigged masts pible (one strand).

Pontoon

  Dismasted ship anchored in port or on a river and serves as a floating prison.

Prao

  Generic name given to Malaysian boats with one or two pendulums, with [with or for?] rowing or sailing.

Sampan

  Narrow and light boat of the Chaine sea, generally driven by rowing and carrying a hut in the middle. Many families use it as a houseboat.

Sloop

  Small ship with a mast and a jib.

Tartane, lateen coaster

  Small Mediterranean building with a triangular sail and used primarily to carry goods.

Trireme

  Classical Greek warship. Vessel with three rows of oars, with a spur circled iron. Downwind the trireme could raise a mast carrying a small sail.

Yacht

  Small building for sports or recreation, one or two masts, with engine today. Formerly armed coaster cutter or schooner.

Dinghy, tender

  Small boat with sails or oars, usually shipped from ships as lifeboat or service boat.



Questions from people about ships:

» What are the most famous pirate ship names?
» How to keep the sails on the masts?
» Were there ships carrying 100 guns? Are there any bigger ships as frigates?
» Can you tell me which style of ship is closest to the Black Pearl?
» What did the sailors aboard the HMS Victory eat?
» On a boat which is the port and which is the starboard?
» How was the construction of pirate boats made??
» Why do boats disappear in the Bermuda Triangle?
» How much is an 18th century (brand new) galleon to build?
» What were the greatest dangers on the boat?
» What's the name of the large protruding piece in the bow of a ship which is used to manipulate the anchor?
» I wonder which is the boat that can have the most guns
» Were the clippers armed? How many sailors minimum were needed to maneuver one, and how many to maneuver a frigate?
» Could you explain how pirates loaded the cannons with an illustration if possible?
» The hold where the powder was stored had a special name, a feminine name. Do you know it?
» Names of ships before the term "HMS". I want to know what it means?
» What kind of vessels did pirates use?
» I was wondering if you knew where the rudder was on a ship. On the deck or on the quarterdeck?






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