Exploring The Intricacies Of Two-Master Vessels

A two-master boat, also known as a two-masted ship or sailboat, is a vessel with two masts. The mainmast is usually taller than the aft-mast, or mizzenmast, which helps to stabilise the boat and can act as a bow thruster. There are several types of two-master boats, including the yawl, ketch, schooner and brig. The mizzenmast on a ketch, for example, is used to drive the boat forward and is therefore bigger than the mizzenmast on a yawl, which is used for balance.

Yawl

A yawl is a type of two-masted boat or sailboat. The term has several meanings and can refer to the rig (or sailplan), the hull type, or the use of the vessel.

Rig

As a rig, a yawl is a two-masted, fore-and-aft rigged sailing vessel with a mizzen mast positioned behind the rudder stock or very close to it. This distinguishes it from a ketch, where the mizzen mast is forward of the rudder stock. The mizzen mast of a yawl is typically much shorter than the main mast, making it an oblique type of sailboat. The sail area of the mizzen on a yawl is consequently smaller than that of a ketch. The mizzen mast of a yawl is used to increase the helm balance and is not meant to drive the boat forward, unlike the mizzen mast of a ketch.

Hull Type

As a hull type, a yawl may refer to various types of open, clinker-built, double-ended, traditional working craft that operated from the beaches of Great Britain and Ireland. These boats are linked to the Viking or Nordic design tradition, with examples found in Scotland, Shetland, Orkney, Norfolk, and Suffolk. Most of these types are now extinct, but they include the Norfolk and Sussex Beach Yawls (called "yols" by their crews), which were probably the fastest-sailing open boats ever built.

Ship's Boat

A yawl is also a type of ship's boat, with the definition, size, number of oars, and sailing rig varying over time. It was one of the normal working boats carried by a ship in the age of sail. In local usage, the term yawl was sometimes applied to working craft that did not fit the standard definitions.

History

Ketch

A ketch is a type of two-masted sailboat. The mainmast is taller than the mizzen mast (or aft-mast), with the mizzen mast stepped forward of the rudder post. This is what distinguishes a ketch from a yawl, which has its mizzen mast stepped after the rudder post.

The name "ketch" is derived from the word "catch". The main mast is usually stepped further forward than on a sloop. The sail plan of a ketch is similar to that of a yawl, but the mizzen mast is smaller and set further back.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, ketch rigs were often used on larger yachts and working watercraft. They are also used as smaller working watercraft, as short as 15 feet, or as small cruising boats. In New England, in the 1600s, the ketch was a small coastal working watercraft. In the 1700s, it disappeared from contemporary records, apparently replaced by the schooner. The ketch rig remained popular in America throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, with examples including Chesapeake Bay bugeyes, New Haven sharpies, and Kingston Lobster boats. In Europe, during the same period, many of the canoe yawls were technically ketches since their mizzen masts were located forward of the rudder posts.

Schooner

The schooner rig was used for a wide range of purposes. Schooners were noted for their speed and ability to sail close to the wind, making them useful for privateers, blockade runners, slave ships, naval craft, and opium clippers. They were also used as packet boats for the fast conveyance of passengers and goods, and as fishing vessels. In the 1700s and 1800s, schooners became popular for coastal trade in what is now New England and Atlantic Canada, as they required a smaller crew for their size compared to traditional ocean-crossing square-rig ships.

The earliest known illustration of a schooner depicts a yacht owned by the mayors of Amsterdam, drawn by the Dutch artist Rool and dated 1600. The name first appeared in eastern North America in the early 1700s, and the earliest fully documented schooner was the British yacht HMS Royal Transport, built in 1695. By 1910, 45 five-masted and 10 six-masted schooners had been built in the US, including the Wyoming, which is considered the largest wooden ship ever built.

Brig

A two-masted boat is called a brig. The name is derived from the Italian word "brigantine", which means "pirate". Brigs were used by pirates in the Mediterranean in the 16th century before they became sailboats.

There are two common types of brigs: the brigantine and the hermaphrodite brig. The former has a partially squared foremast and a triangular mainmast, while the latter is also known as the schooner brig or half brig. The hermaphrodite brig has two partially squared masts, with the mainmast gaff-rigged and topsail, making it half schooner.

Brigantine

A brigantine is a two-masted sailing vessel. The foremast is fully square-rigged, and the main mast has at least two sails: a square topsail and a gaff sail mainsail (which sits behind the mast). The main mast is the taller of the two masts.

The name 'brigantine' comes from the Italian word 'brigantino', which in turn is derived from 'brigante', meaning 'brigand' or 'pirate'. This is because brigantines were used by pirates in the Mediterranean in the 16th century. They were also used for piracy in the British colonies in North America before 1775.

The brigantine is larger than a sloop or schooner but smaller than a brig. It is swift, easily manoeuvred, and stable under power. The mainmast of a brigantine is the aft one.

In modern American terminology, the term brigantine refers to a vessel with the foremast square-rigged and the mainmast fore-and-aft rigged, without any square sails. In Europe, the distinction between a brigantine and a schooner brig (or hermaphrodite brig) is typically still made.

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