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Ship or Boat? What’s In a Name? -

National Maritime Historical
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Blue Marlin carrying the destroyer USS Cole on its deck. CREDIT: US Navy

The words ship and boat can both refer to types of watercraft and still be correct.
It depends on how you are using them. In the Age of Sail, “ship” was the name
given to a specific type of vessel, one that was “ship-rigged”—having three or
more masts, square-rigged on each mast. Even back then, however, it was not
improper to call another large sailing vessel a ship, even if it wasn’t actually ship-
rigged. If you served on a 250-foot barque (a sailing vessel with three or more
masts but the mast furthest aft was fore-and-aft rigged), for example, you might
tell your shipmates you’ll meet them back “at the ship,” and no one would argue
with you about it.
This vessel is a full-rigged ship, or “ship-rigged,” with squaresails on every
mast.  CREDIT: Antonio Jacobsen The American Clipper Ship Flying Cloud At Sea
Under Full Sail.

The Age of Sail was followed by an explosion of different types of watercraft, and
by new rules of thumb on classifying these craft as boats and ships. “A ship can
carry a boat, but a boat cannot carry a ship” sounds pretty good, but that
explanation wouldn’t hold up in court. Ferries, for example, are boats, even though
they can carry other boats—and cars and trucks. The giant transport ship Blue
Marlin carried the damaged USS Cole, a 505-foot US Navy destroyer, across the
Atlantic Ocean, back to the United States from Yemen in 2000. Certainly, no one
would call the Cole a “boat” just because it hitched a ride home on a bigger ship.

What are some other “rules”? If the function of a vessel is carried out ON deck,
then it is a boat. If it happens INSIDE or below deck, then it is a ship. The Royal
 Navy teaches its cadets that a boat leans IN to a turn, while a ship leans OUT.
Others say that oceangoing vessels are ships and that boats stay in inland waters.
Multiple deck and watertight bulkheads are also often used to distinguish vessels
as ships. These, too, are all rough guidelines.

There is no easy answer. Your best bet? First, learn what a full-rigged ship is, just so
you don’t get an earful when you refer to a large schooner as a ship, but after that,
size is probably the easiest criterion to consider. Would it be improper to call the
Matz Maersk (pictured right) a boat? Absolutely!

Featured photo: The container shipMatz Maersk…and a sailboat by Dave Van

Spronsen for maerskline.com

https://seahistory.org/sea-history-for-kids/ship-or-boat-whats-in-a-name/