Ship Types

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

In the C18th, vessel terminology was neither precise or consistent. For example, in the Indian Ocean and Persian/Arabian Gulf region local vessels might be distinguished in European sources as dhows, trankies or dingies; whereas in indigenous sources the only distinction made would be between a dhow and a ship.

A

Angula: flat-bottomed boat [Sri Lanka].

B

Baghla (from Arabic for 'mule'): large dhow with two masts, lateen sails, long prow, high stern; carried 150-300 men. [Indian Ocean and Persian/Arabian Gulf].

Battîl (or Batîl): one of two-masted dhow, pointed stern. [Indian Ocean and Persian/Arabian Gulf].

Baqara (from Arabic for 'cow'): similar to a battil with variations in cargo capacity and ornamentation.[Indian Ocean and Persian/Arabian Gulf].

Barge: a boat of a long, slight and spacious construction.

Barque: a sailing vessel with three masts, having the foremast square-rigged and the main and mizzen masts fore and aft rigged.

Boat: any small open craft without decking and propelled by oars, sometimes assisted by a small lugsail on a short mast.

Bomb Ketch: specialised vessel built ot converted to carry (usually) two heavy mortars to throw explosive shells in a high trajectory in shore bombardments. Heavily built to withstand the recoil from the heavy armaments employed (usually one "13" and one "11").

Brig: a two-masted square-rigged vessel, with her main mast fore and aft rigged with a gaff and boom.

Brigantine: a vessel having the foremast square rigged and the main mast fore and aft rigged.

Budgerow: a type of house-boat for river travel; much used by Europeans travelling up and down the Ganges. A large keel-less barge of which two-thirds was occupied by cabins, with a bedroom at the stern, a sitting room in the centre and a small ante-room in the front towards the deck.

Bûm (from Arabic for 'owl'): large dhow with two masts, high stern, small prow, lateen sails. [Indian Ocean and Persian/Arabian Gulf].

Bumboat: a shore boat selling goods alongside a ship at anchor.

C

Cartel: a commissioned ship under a flag of truce in wartime used to exchange prisoners or carry proposals between enemies. Cartels flew a white flag as a sign of truce.

Cataraman: a type of raft, used as a surf-boat on the Coromandel coast of India; any raft or float.

Chaloup(e) (also Shallop): a small French gunboat; armed with one gun and carrying a crew of about 40 men.

Corsair: originally applied to the piractical ships of the North African Barbary states, but in English usage was often extended to include any enemy privateer.

Corvette: French term for a brig-sloop.

Country Boats/Ships: privately owned merchant ships based in Bombay or Calcutta and trading under licence from the East India Company (HEIC) to the Malabar and Coromandel coasts, the Bay of Bengal, Malay coasts, Sumatra, Eastern Isles, China, Persian Gulf, Red Sea, New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land and the east coast of Africa. They were forbidden to sail west of the Cape of Good Hope. Apart from trade activities, the 'Country' ships were used by the East India Company to carry mail or hired as troop transports. At certain time they were also taken 'into the service' by the East India Company as 'Extra Ships' to England; some were converted or incorporated into the Royal Navy as ships of the line.

Cruiser (or Cruizer): any ship employed on cruising duty.

Cutter: (1) a one-masted vessel rigged with a gaff mainsail, topsail, headsails and usually a square topsail. The name is derived from their fast sailing. (2) A ship's boat, usually equipped with both sails and oars.

D

Dogger: a North Sea coasting vessel.

Dhony (also dhoney or dony): a small sailing vessel or ferry boat [India, Sri Lanka].

Dhow: single-masted vessel with slanted, triangular (lateen) sails, usually with pointed prow and stern. [Indian Ocean and Persian/Arabian Gulf].

Dingy or Dingi (from Hindi): small boat or skiff employed in the trade between the Malabar coast and the Arabian and Persian coasts.

E

En Flûte: a warship with a reduced crew and armament, used to transport troops or materials.

East Indiaman: the name given to the ships of the various East India companies. Ships of these companies were highly gilded and decorated with carving and were often well furnished for the comfort of passengers and crew as well providing large cargo space. They were always well armed as warships for protection against pirates and the warships of other nations. The English and Dutch companies built and serviced their own ships and maintained them in their own private dockyards.

F

Felucca: a lateen-rigged cargo vessel common in the eastern Mediterranean.

Fireship: a specialised vessel converted or built for the purpose of attacking moored or disabled vessels; fitted with combustibles in order to destroy enemy ships by setting herself on fire and running along side them.

Flagship: the ship from which an admiral or senior officer commanded, so called because it flew the admiral's commanding flag. The shape and colour of the flag denoted his rank.

Flatboat (or flat-bottom boat): a landing craft.

Frigate: (1) a ship of the fifth or sixth rate, carrying generally between twenty-four (24) and forty-four (44) guns with a crew of 200-300 (British ships). French frigates often had somewhat larger crews.

G

G(h)anja: similar to baghla or bûm, with distinctive curved prow. [Indian Ocean and Persian/Arabian Gulf].

Galiot (or Galliot): a small Dutch or English coaster vessel, with standing gaff main and small lateen mizzen.

Gallivat: an armed row-boat of India, smaller than a grab; generally 50 to 70 tons.

Galley: a naval vessel propelled primarily by oars.

Ghurâb (from Arabic for 'raven'): two or three-masted dhow with pointed bow and low profile. [Indian Ocean and Persian/Arabian Gulf].

Gig: a light, narrow ship's boat, built for speed.

Grab: a large coasting vessel of India, generally with two masts and of 150 to 300 tons.

Gunboat: a small armed vessel mounting one or two carriage guns.

H

Hospital Ship: an old warship or merchantman converted to serve as a floating hospital, usually to accompany a fleet or to be moored as a hulk. [Not purpose built during this period].

Hoy: a small single masted sailing cargo vessel - used as a dockyard craft.

Hulk: a dismasted ship, usually old and past active service, used as a receiving ship, sheer hulk, hospital or accommodation ship, or stationary storeship.

I

Indiaman: see East Indiaman.

J

Jollyboat: a small ship's boat, used for a variety of purposes. It was clinker-built, propelled by oars, and was normally hoisted on a davit at the stern of the ship.

K

Ketch: a vessel fitted with two masts fore-and-aft rigged (with a main mast and a smaller mizzen aft).

L

Lazarette (or lazaretto): a hulk used as a floating hospital or isolation ward for the accommodation of seamen undergoing quarantine (to prevent or limit the spread of plague and other infectious diseases between ship and shore).

Lighter: a large, open, flat-bottomed boat, with heavy bearings, employed to carry goods to and from ships. Small boat used to load/unload cargo where there is no wharf or jetty.

Line of Battle Ship: a warship of the fourth rate or higher, carrying fifty guns or more.

Longboat: the largest ship's boat.

Lugger: (1) a vessel with four-cornered cut sails, set fore-and-aft, and may have two or three masts; (2) a small coasting vessel.

Lump: a short, heavy lighter used in Dockyards for carrying anchors, chains and heavy stores to and from ships.

M

Man-of-War: a vessel of a national navy armed for war and carrying between 20 and 120 guns.

Masoolah [also mussoola or mussoolah]: surf boat used on the Coromandel Coast; in particular, used for ferrying passengers ashore at Madras. Constructed of planks sewn together with coir-twine, and caulked with twisted coir.

N

O

P

Packet: a small vessel usually employed to carry mails between ports.

Pattamar: a lateen-rigged ship, with one, two or three masts. Common on the western coast of India.

Pinnace: a type of ship's boat which was rowed with eight oars (later increased in length to take sixteen oars).

Post Ship: a warship rated at 1st. to 5th. Rate (i.e. one having no less than 20 guns).

Powder Hulk: vessel for storing and issuing gunpowder - preferably moored at a safe distance from the dockyard to which they were attached.

Privateer: an armed merchant ship, licensed by a letter of marque to cruise against enemy ships and to them take as prizes in time of war.

Prize: name used to describe an enemy vessel captured at sea by a ship of war or a privateer. The word is also used to describe a contraband cargo taken from a merchant vessel and condemned in an Admiralty Court.

Proa [also prau or prahu]: Malay fishing vessel with a canoe-like outrigger.

Prow: common cargo boat of Bombay harbour.

Q

R

Rate: Royal Navy warships were classified in six 'rates'. A first-rate ship was armed with 100 guns; a second-rate, 84 or 90; a third-rate, 64, 70, 74, or 80; a fourth-rate, 50 or60; a fifth-rate, 32, 36, or 44; and a sixth-rate, 20, 22, 224, or 28. In many cases ships actually carried more guns than their ratings indicated, but the rating determined the size of the crew and the salaries of the officers.

Razée: a vessel cut down by the removal of an entire deck (sometimes just the quarterdeck and forecastle) to produce a lighter, and usually, more seaworthy vessel. An initiative often employed to extend the life of a worn-out large warship.

Receiving Ship: stationary vessels intended to receive men, or stores, or both; included accommodation hulks and store hulks and vessels used for both purposes. [Note: the Royal Navy did not build barracks for its seamen in home ports until the early C20th; consequently, hulks were used for accommodating men before they were assigned to ships (particularly 'pressed' men who needed to be kept in confinment to prevent their desertion) as well as men between commissions].

S

Schooner: a small vessel rigged with fore-and-aft sails on her two or more masts; largely used in the coasting trade - they required a smaller crew than a square-rigged vessel of comparable size.

Shallop: a small vessel of about 25 tons, used in shallow waters or as a tender to a man-of-war; also a dinghy or skiff rowed by one or two men.

Sheer Hulk: a vessel fitted with a pair of 'sheer legs' (two large spars formed into an 'A frame') to hoist masts in and out of vessels; in effect, a 'floating crane'.

Ship: from the Old English scip, the generic name for sea-going vessels (as opposed to boats). Originally ships were personified as masculine but by the sixteenth century almost universally expressed as feminine. In strict maritime usage signified a vessel square-rigged on three masts.

Ship of the Line: a naval vessal armed with 60-100 guns and designed to fight in the line of battle.

Sloop: a small man-of-war, rigged as a ship, brig or ketch, having only one internal deck, and mounting her main battery on the upper deck.

Sloop of War: a three-masted, square-rigged naval vessel with all her guns mounted on a single uncovered main deck.

Smack: a small fore and aft rigged single-masted coastal craft.

Snow: a small square-rigged vessel (similar to a brig) with a supplementary trysail mast.

Storeship: a ship intended to carry naval stores (spars, timber cordage, tar, etc. - all the material needed to repair naval warships) In contast a Transport was intended to carry men. Storeships were auxiliary vessels wit ha small defensive armament. Most were converted from merchantmen, though in some instances they were pupose-built or converted from first-line fighting vessels of different types.

T

Tank Vessel: dockyard craft fitted with iron tanks and pumps to provide water to ships in harbour.

Tender: a vessel employed to assist or serve another, an auxiliary vessel.

Toni (also Dhoney or Dony): canoe-shaped passenger boat with oars or sail; a ferry boat. [India, Sri Lanka]

Three-decker: one of the largest class of ship of the line, having three gun decks.

Tranky: long, narrow, armed row-boat; crew size approx. 10 men.

Transport: a cargo vessel engaged by the government to convey troops, convicts, or stores, [invariably these were chartered merchantmen - the Navy owned and manned only a small number].

Troopship: a ship converted to carry troops. It could be a regular warship or a converted merchantman.

Two-decker: a ship of the line, having two complete gun decks.

U

V

W

Whaleboat: the name given to an open boat, pointed at both ends so that it was convenient for beaching either on the bow end or the stern. Used under oars, and had no rudder - steered by an oar over the stern. The whaling ship, according to its size, carried as many as six or eight whaleboats.

Whaler: the name used for the vessel, with its complement of whaleboats, which sailed to catch whales with hand-thrown harpoons.

Wherry: a light rowing boat used chiefly on rivers for the carriage of passengers and goods; also a shallow single sail boat indigenous to the Norfolk broads (East Anglia).

X

Xebec: a small three-masted Mediterranean vessel, distinguished by a great projection of bow and overhanging of stern; lateen-rigged.

Y

Yawl: a type of ship's boat.

Z

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Sources:

BULLEY, Anne. The Bombay Country Ships: 1790-1833. Richmond: Curzon, 2000.

HEPPER, David J. British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail 1650-1859. Rotherfield, East Sussex: Jean Boudriot Publications, 1994.

HILL, Richard. The Prizes of War: the naval prize system in the Napoleonic Wars, 1793-1815. Phoenix Mill, Eng.: Sutton Publishing, 1998 pp.250-255.

The Line of Battle: the sailing warship 1650-1840. (ed.) Robert Gardiner. London: Conway Maritime Press, 1992 pp.195-204.

LYON, David. The Sailing Navy List: all the ships of the Royal Navy - built, purchased and captured 1688 - 1860. London: Conway Maritime Press, 1993 pp.xi-xv.

LYON, David and WINFIELD, Rif. The Sail & Steam Navy List: all the ships of the Royal Navy 1815-1889. London: Chatham Publishing, 2004 pp.9-11.

Matthew Flinders Private Journal. (eds.) Anthony J. Brown and Gillian Dooley. Adelaide: Friends of the State Library of South Australia. 2005 pp.514-517.

The Oxford Companion to Ships & the Sea. (ed.) Peter Kemp. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976.

RODGER, Nicholas. The Command of the Ocean: a naval history of Britain, 1649-1815. London: Allen Lane in association with the National Maritime Museum, 2004 pp.745-771.

RISSI, P. Oman & Muscat: an early modern history. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1986 pp.216-217.

WINFIELD, Rif. British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817: design, construction, careers and fates. London: Chatham Publishing, 2005 pp.x-xi.

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