Barquentine
Barquentine | |
---|---|
![]() Belgian barquentine Mercator | |
Type | Sailing rig |
Place of origin | Northwest Europe and America |
A barquentine or schooner barque (alternatively "barkentine" or "schooner bark") is a sailing vessel with three or more masts; with a square rigged foremast and fore-and-aft rigged main, mizzen and any other masts.
Modern barquentine sailing rig[edit]

While a full-rigged ship is square-rigged on all three masts, and the barque is square-rigged except for the mizzen-mast, the barquentine extends the principle by making only the foremast square-rigged.[1] The advantages of a smaller crew, good performance before the wind and the ability to sail relatively close to the wind while carrying plenty of cargo made it a popular rig at the end of the nineteenth century.
Today, barquentines are popular with modern tall ship and sail training operators as their suite of mainly fore-and-aft sails improve non-downwind performance, while their foremast of square sails offers long distance downwind speed and dramatic appearance in port.
Etymology[edit]
The term "barquentine" is seventeenth century in origin, formed from "barque" in imitation of "brigantine", a two-masted vessel square-rigged only on the forward mast, and apparently formed from the word brig.[Note 1][2]
Historic and modern examples[edit]
- City of New York, an arctic sailing ship.
- Concordia, a sail training ship that capsized and sank on 17 February 2010.
- KRI Dewaruci of Indonesian Navy, launched and commissioned in 1953, a well-known tall ship used for cadet training and ambassador of the sea, sails around the world and visits many countries.
- Endurance, commanded by Ernest Shackleton and crushed by ice in the Weddell Sea during the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–17.
- Esmeralda, a sail training ship of the Chilean Navy.
- Gazela Primeiro of 1901.
- Juan Sebastián de Elcano
- STS Leeuwin II, a sail training ship based in Fremantle, Australia.
- Mercator of 1932, Belgian training ship.
- Peacemaker launched 1989.
- Polish-built Pogoria class sail training ships: STS Pogoria, STV Kaliakra, and Iskra (1982) .
- Many smaller ships of the late nineteenth century Royal Navy were rigged as barquentines, including the Redbreast-class gunboats.
- Southern Swan, tall ship from 1922 re-rigged as a barquentine from its original rigging as a schooner. Sails on Sydney Harbour for cruises.[3]
- Spirit of New Zealand, 1986 youth development training ship.
- Thor-Heyerdahl[4]
- Transit, an experimental design of 1800 that could be worked entirely from the deck.
Notes[edit]
- ^ Although in fact the term "brig" was a shortening of "brigantine", and for much of the sixteenth to eighteenth century the two terms were synonymous.
References[edit]
- ^ "Sailing ship rigs, an infosheet guide to classic sailing rigs". Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. Archived from the original on 28 December 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
- ^ T F Hoad, ed. (1993). Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-19-283098-2.
- ^ "Svanen web page". Sail Australia. Archived from the original on 11 March 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
- ^ "Thor-Heyerdahl". Segelschiff Thor Heyerdahl gemeinnützige Fördergesellschaft mbH. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
External links[edit]

