Coastal sailing ships
Schooners and ketches
Schooners gradually took over from brigantines and brigs in short-sea and coastal trades, and came to dominate these trades by the 19th century. A schooner could have two or more masts. Those with four or more tended to work mainly on the east coast of the USA, and two- and three-masted schooners were the rule in European waters. Each mast carried fore-and-aft sails, each supported by a gaff above and fastened to a boom at its foot. One or more jibs were usually set from the fore mast to the bowsprit. When extra sails were needed, topsail schooners were developed. Above the gaffs they carried yards with square sails.
The ketch was often the smallest two-masted sailing vessel. It was usually fore-and-aft rigged like a schooner, but the aftermost mast was considerable smaller than that forward – in a two-masted schooner the masts were of equal size or the main was larger.
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