Caribbean Tales - Ships - Frigate
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 with the crew accomodated
on a lower deck. They were faster than the ship-of-the-lines and were used
for escort purposes. They were sometimes used to hunt pirates. Only a few
pirates were ever in command of a frigate as most pirates would flee from
a frigate.
The Frigate was the "Man-O-War" of the time weighing in at 360 tons
ant 110 feet. This ship carried 195 men for a crew to man the three masts
of sails and the 26 guns. The frigate was placed at the head of most major
sea shipments or convoys.