Caribbean Tales - Ships - Schooner
The schooner is not a specific kind of
vessel, but a large family of ship types. What every schooner has in common
is that it's mainly fore-and-aft rigged (the main sail must be a fore-and-aft
sail), and that it has at least two masts (a foremast and a mainmast; a two-masted
vessel with a mainmast and a mizzen mast is not a schooner).
Perhaps the best known ship, the Schooner is a little of all of the best features
in a pirate ship. Unique to the Schooner is a very narrow hull and shallow
draft. The pirates of the North American coast and Caribbean were partial
to the Schooner because, for a 100 ton ship loaded with 8 cannons, 75 pirates,
and 4 swivel guns, it was still small enough to navigate the shoal waters
and to hide in remote coves. The Schooner could also reach 11 knots in a good
wind. In short, it was a small, quick, and sturdy work-horse for gentlemen
of fortune.
She is generally rigged with two large square sails suspended from gaffs/spars
reaching from the top of the mast toward the stern. Other sails sometimes
were added, including a large headsail attached to the bowsprit. She had a
shallow draft which allowed her to remain in shallow coves waiting for her
prey. The Schooner is very fast and large enough to carry a plentiful crew.
It was a favorite among both pirates and smugglers. Largely used in the coasting
trade - they required a smaller crew than a square-rigged vessel of comparable
size.
Barquentines, brigantines and hermaphrodite brigs can be said to also belong
to the family of schooners; indeed, in Scandinavian languages they are referred
to as such.