Caribbean Tales - Ships - Cutter
Cutter
The name is derived from their fast sailing. A one-masted fore-and-aft
rigged vessel with more than one jib (staysail) before the mast. If there
is only one jib, the boat is a sloop.
A Ship's Cutter
Also on Naval ships they were small boats. There were usually 3 cutters, two
of 25 foot in length, the third 18 foot long. The two 25 foot cutters were
kept ready for action, slung out on davits, they could be swiftly lowered,
perhaps to retrieve a man who fell overboard, or to turn the ship round if
the wind was light and it got stuck in irons as it tacked. The two larger
cutters had two masts and the smaller one, they were rowed by six and four
men respectively.