HOW TO KNOW SAILING SHIPS
A CUTTER or SLOOP is a small sailing ship and yachts which have a cutter rig (as shown). There is only one mast, and the mainsail is stretched between a boom and a gaff.
A YAWL is very much like a Cutter or Sloop, but has a small jigger-mast at the stern. The yawl is generally a little larger than a cutter.
A KETCH is like the Yawl, but the rear mast is generally larger and farther forward.
An ENGLISH SCHOONER's rig has a foremast with a topsail and topgallant sail, but a trysail instead of a lower yardsail, and on the rear, or mainmast there is a trysail and topsail.
A FOUR-AND-AFT SCHOONER rig is most common on this side of the Atlantic. It has no yardsails but only trysails, which are generally uniform on all the masts. A schooner may have as many masts as may be found convenient, and still be a schooner. Some very large schooners have as many as seven masts.
The rig of a BRIG is a rare type in these days. It is found only on two-masted ships, and has a main, or rear, mast with yardsails and one trysail, and a foremast with yardsails only.A SNOW has two masts carrying yards and square sails, like a Brig, plus a smaller mast carrying a fore-and-aft sail and stepped immediately abaft the mainmast. This sail could thus be somewhat larger than the spanker of a brig; but the snow differed from the Barque in that there was no space between this auxiliary mast and the mainmast, with no possibility of staysails between the two.
The BRIGANTINE and the BARKANTINE are much alike. The Brigantine has a foremast with yards and a mainmast with a fore-and aft sail like a schooner. The Barkantine is seen sometimes in three-masted sailing ships.
The BARK probably has the most popular rig for sailing ships. It requires not fewer than three masts. The mast nearest the stern has a trysail, but the other masts have yards and yardsails. For very large ships Barks are sometimes made with five masts, in which case the front four are rigged alike with yardsails, and only the fifth must have a trysail.
Finally, there is a FULL-RIGGED SHIP, which must have not fewer than three masts, and sometimes has four masts but only a few full-rigged ships with five masts have been built.
The name frigate came from the Italian word fregata which may have come from the latin word fabricata, meaning something built. The Venetians called a frigate a small oared boat around 35 feet in length and around 7 feet wide. The English adopted the word for a larger ship which may have carried oars. Around 1700, the English limited the word to mean a class of warship which was only second in size to the Ship-of-the-Line (battleship). Frigates were three-masted with a raised forecastle and quarterdeck. They had anywhere from 24 to 38 guns on her deck. They were faster than the ship-of-the-lines and were used for escort purposes.
Galleys have an extremely long history, dating back to ancient times. They were used until the Russo-Swedish war of 1809. They had one deck and were mainly powered by oars. They were costly to maintain and fell into disuse. However they were still being used by the Barbary corsairs in the Mediterranean. As they were meant to carry soldiers they were used in a few large-scale raids. There was a version of the galley used in the Atlantic by the English. They had a flush deck and were propelled by both oar and sail. They were rigged like frigates. Captain Kidd made his name in one of these, the "Adventure Galley".
