View source for Sailing ship

{{Short description|Large wind-powered water vessel}}
{{Hatnote|For the song, see [[Der Kommissar (album)]]. "Sailing vessel" redirects here. For sail-powered vehicles, see [[Wind-powered vehicle]]}}
[[File:John C. Munro off Hong Kong.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|A [[barque]]—a three-masted sailing ship with [[square sail]]s on the first two masts (''fore'' and ''main'') and [[fore-and-aft sail]]s on the ''mizzenmast'']]
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A '''sailing ship''' is a sea-going vessel that uses [[sail]]s mounted on [[Mast (sailing)|masts]] to harness the power of wind and propel the vessel. There is a variety of [[sail plan]]s that propel sailing [[ship]]s, employing [[Square rig|square-rigged]] or [[Fore-and-aft rig|fore-and-aft]] sails. Some ships carry square sails on each mast—the [[brig]] and [[full-rigged ship]], said to be "ship-rigged" when there are three or more masts.<ref name = Couch>{{cite book
 | last = Quiller-Couch
 | first = Arthur Thomas
 | title = The Story of the Sea
 | publisher = Cassell and Company
 | volume = 1
 | date = 1895
 | pages = 760
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=GqU0AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA20
 | access-date = 2017-07-25
 | archive-date = 2023-10-27
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231027232128/https://books.google.com/books?id=GqU0AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA20#v=onepage&q&f=false
 | url-status = live
 }}</ref> Others carry only fore-and-aft sails on each mast, for instance some [[schooner]]s. Still others employ a combination of square and fore-and-aft sails, including the [[barque]], [[barquentine]], and [[brigantine]].<ref>Parker, Dana T. ''Square Riggers in the United States and Canada,'' pp. 6–7, Transportation Trails, Polo, IL, 1994. {{ISBN|0-933449-19-4}}.</ref>

Early sailing ships were used for river and coastal waters in [[Ancient Egypt]] and the [[Mediterranean]]. The [[Austronesian peoples]] developed maritime technologies that included the fore-and-aft [[crab-claw sail]] and with [[catamaran]] and [[outrigger boat|outrigger]] hull configurations, which enabled the [[Austronesian expansion]] into the islands of the [[Indo-Pacific]]. This expansion originated in [[Taiwanese indigenous peoples|Taiwan]] {{circa|3000}} BC and propagated through [[Maritime Southeast Asia|Island Southeast Asia]], reaching [[Near Oceania]] {{circa|1500}} BC, Hawaii {{circa|900}} AD, and New Zealand {{circa|1200}} AD.<ref name="Anderson 2018">{{cite book |author1=Atholl Anderson |editor1-last=Cochrane |editor1-first=Ethan E |editor2-last=Hunt |editor2-first=Terry L. |title=The Oxford Handbook of Prehistoric Oceania |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-19-992507-0 |quote=Yet, no other major topic in Oceanic prehistory has proven so intractable, for almost no remains of offshore boats have been described and seafaring left neither a pre-European record of the structure and rigging of boats, except enigmatically in rock art, nor more than a faint ethnographic trace of the basic techniques of long-distance sailing, navigation, and seakeeping. That Oceanic seafaring can be discussed at all depends largely, and tenuously, upon its construction by proxy.}}</ref> The [[Austronesian maritime trade network|maritime trading network]] in the [[Indo-Pacific]] dates from at least 1500 BC.<ref name="Bellina">{{cite book|first1=Bérénice|last1= Bellina|editor1-first=John|editor1-last=Guy|title =Lost Kingdoms of Early Southeast Asia: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture 5th to 8th century|chapter =Southeast Asia and the Early Maritime Silk Road|publisher =Yale University Press|year =2014|pages=22–25|isbn =9781588395245|chapter-url =https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263007720}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=June 2023}} Later developments in Asia produced the [[Junk (ship)|junk]] and [[dhow]]—vessels that incorporated features unknown in Europe at the time.

European sailing ships with predominantly square rigs became prevalent during the [[Age of Discovery]] (15th to 17th centuries), when they crossed oceans between continents and around the world. In the European [[Age of Sail]], a [[full-rigged ship]] was one with a bowsprit and three masts, each of which consists of a lower, top, and topgallant mast.<ref>{{OED|ship|id=178226}}</ref> Most sailing ships were [[Merchant ship|merchantmen]], but the Age of Sail also saw the development of large fleets of well-armed [[warship]]s. The many steps of technological development of [[steamship]]s during the 19th century provided slowly increasing competition for sailing ships—initially only on short routes where high prices could be charged. By the 1880s, ships with [[Steamship#Triple expansion engines|triple-expansion steam engines]] had the [[fuel efficiency]] to compete with sail on all major routes—and with scheduled sailings that were not affected by the wind direction. However, commercial sailing vessels could still be found working into the 20th century, although in reducing numbers and only in certain trades.

== History ==
{{See|Ship#History}}
By the [[Age of Discovery]]—<nowiki/>starting in the 15th century—square-rigged, multi-masted vessels were the norm and were guided by navigation techniques that included the magnetic compass and making sightings of the sun and stars that allowed transoceanic voyages. The Age of Sail reached its peak in the 18th and 19th centuries with large, heavily armed [[Ship of the line|battleships]] and [[Merchant ship|merchant sailing ships]].

Sailing and [[steamship|steam ships]] coexisted for much of the 19th century. The steamers of the early part of the century had very poor fuel efficiency and were suitable only for a small number of roles, such as towing sailing ships and providing short route passenger and mail services. Both sailing and steam ships saw large technological improvements over the century. Ultimately the two large stepwise improvements in fuel efficiency of [[Steamship#Long-distance commercial steamships|compound]] and then [[Steamship#Triple expansion engines|triple-expansion]] steam engines made the steamship, by the 1880s, able to compete in the vast majority of trades. Commercial sail still continued into the 20th century, with the last ceasing to trade by {{circa|1960}}.<ref name="Griffiths">{{cite book |last=Griffiths|first=Denis|editor1-first=Robert|editor1-last= Gardiner|editor2-first=Dr. Basil|editor2-last= Greenhill
|title=The Advent of Steam - The Merchant Steamship before 1900 |publisher=Conway Maritime Press Ltd |date=1993 |pages=106–126|chapter=Chapter 5: Triple Expansion and the First Shipping Revolution |isbn=0-85177-563-2}}</ref>{{rp|106–111}}<ref name="Gardiner and Greenhill 1993">{{cite book |last1=Gardiner |first1=Robert J |last2=Greenhill |first2=Basil |title=Sail's Last Century : the Merchant Sailing Ship 1830-1930 |date=1993 |publisher=Conway Maritime Press |location=London |isbn=0-85177-565-9}}</ref>{{rp|89}}

=== South China Sea and Austronesia ===
{{Main|Austronesian maritime trade network|Lashed-lug boat|Outrigger boat|Junk (ship)}}
[[File:Atlas pittoresque pl 096.jpg|thumb|[[Fiji#Early settlement|Fijian]] voyaging [[outrigger boat]] with a [[crab claw sail]], an example of a typical [[Austronesian peoples|Austronesian vessel]] with [[outrigger]]s and a [[fore-and-aft]] sail]]
[[File:Borobudur ship.JPG|thumb|A carved stone relief panel showing a [[Borobudur ship]] (Austronesian) from 8th century [[Java]], depicted with [[outrigger]]s and fore-and-aft [[tanja sail]]s]]
[[File:Chinese Junk Keying.jpg|thumb|Chinese junk ''[[Keying (ship)|Keying]]'' with a center-mounted rudder post, {{circa|1848}}]]
Early sea-going sailing vessels were used by the [[Austronesian peoples]]. The invention of [[catamaran]]s, [[outrigger ship|outriggers]], and [[crab claw sail]]s enabled the [[Austronesian Expansion]] at around 3000 to 1500 BC. From Taiwan, they rapidly colonized the islands of [[Maritime Southeast Asia]], then sailed further onwards to [[Micronesia]], [[Island Melanesia]], [[Polynesia]], and [[Madagascar]]. Austronesian rigs were distinctive in that they had spars supporting both the upper and lower edges of the sails (and sometimes in between), in contrast to western rigs which only had a spar on the upper edge.<ref name="Doran1974">{{cite journal |last1=Doran |first1=Edwin Jr. |title=Outrigger Ages |journal=The Journal of the Polynesian Society |date=1974 |volume=83 |issue=2 |pages=130–140 |url=http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document//Volume_83_1974/Volume_83%2C_No._2/Outrigger_ages%2C_by_Edwin_Doran_Jnr.%2C_p_130-140/p1 |access-date=2019-09-26 |archive-date=2019-06-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608182436/http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_83_1974/Volume_83,_No._2/Outrigger_ages,_by_Edwin_Doran_Jnr.,_p_130-140/p1 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Mahdi1999">{{cite book|first1= Waruno|last1=Mahdi|editor1-last =Blench|editor1-first= Roger |editor2-last=Spriggs|editor2-first=Matthew|title =Archaeology and Language III: Artefacts languages, and texts|chapter =The Dispersal of Austronesian boat forms in the Indian Ocean|volume = 34|publisher =Routledge|series =One World Archaeology |year =1999|pages=144–179|isbn =978-0415100540}}</ref>

Large Austronesian trading ships with as many as four sails were recorded by [[Han dynasty]] (206 BC – 220 AD) scholars as the ''[[K'un-lun po|kunlun bo]]'' or ''K'un-lun po'' (崑崙舶, lit. "ship of the [[Kunlun (mythology)|Kunlun]] people"). They were booked by Chinese Buddhist pilgrims for passage to Southern India and Sri Lanka.<ref name="Kang">{{cite journal |last1=Kang |first1=Heejung |title=Kunlun and Kunlun Slaves as Buddhists in the Eyes of the Tang Chinese |journal=Kemanusiaan |date=2015 |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=27–52 |url=http://web.usm.my/kajh/vol22_1_2015/KAJH%2022(1)%20Art%202%20(27-52)%20(1).pdf |access-date=2019-09-29 |archive-date=2023-01-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230118114439/http://web.usm.my/kajh/vol22_1_2015/KAJH%2022(1)%20Art%202%20(27-52)%20(1).pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Bas relief]]s of large Javanese [[outrigger boat|outriggers]] ships with various configurations of tanja sails are also found in the [[Borobudur]] temple, dating back to the 8th century CE.<ref>{{cite news| newspaper=The Telegraph | title= A strange kind of dream come true| first=Elizabeth |last=Grice |date=17 March 2004|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3613971/A-strange-kind-of-dream-come-true.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3613971/A-strange-kind-of-dream-come-true.html |archive-date=2022-01-12 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=3 November 2015}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="haddon">{{cite book |last1=Haddon |first1=A.C. |title=The Outriggers of Indonesian Canoes |date=1920 |publisher=London, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland |url=https://archive.org/details/outriggersofindo00hadduoft}}</ref>{{rp|100}}

By the 10th century AD, the [[Song dynasty]] started building the first Chinese seafaring [[Junk (ship)|junks]], which adopted several features of the ''K'un-lun po''.<ref name="Pham" />{{rp|18}} The [[junk rig]] in particular, became associated with Chinese coast-hugging trading ships.<ref name="Paine_2013">{{cite book|title=The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World|last=Paine|first=Lincoln|publisher=Random House, LLC|year=2013|location=New York}}</ref><ref name="Worcester 1947">{{Cite book|title=The Junks and Sampans of the Yangtze, A Study in Chinese Nautical Research, Volume I: Introduction; and Craft of the Estuary and Shanghai Area|last=Worcester|first=G. R. G.|publisher=Order of the Inspector General of Customs|year=1947|location=Shanghai}}</ref>{{rp|22}}<ref name="Pham">{{cite book |last1=Pham |first1=Charlotte Minh-Hà L. |url=https://www.academia.edu/10065854 |title=Training Manual for the UNESCO Foundation Course on the Protection and Management of Underwater Cultural Heritage in Asia and the Pacific |date=2012 |publisher=UNESCO Bangkok, Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education |isbn=978-92-9223-414-0 |location=Bangkok |chapter=Unit 14: Asian Shipbuilding (Training Manual for the UNESCO Foundation Course on the Protection and Management of the Underwater Cultural Heritage) |access-date=2022-05-08 |archive-date=2023-07-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230711184234/https://www.academia.edu/10065854 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|20-21}} Junks in China were constructed from teak with pegs and nails; they featured [[Compartment (ship)|watertight]] compartments and acquired center-mounted [[tiller]]s and [[rudder]]s.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fjsEn3w4TPgC&pg=PA216|title=A History of Early Southeast Asia: Maritime Trade and Societal Development, 100–1500|last=Hall|first=Kenneth R.|date=2010-12-28|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=9780742567627|pages=216|language=en|access-date=2019-06-20|archive-date=2023-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027232127/https://books.google.com/books?id=fjsEn3w4TPgC&pg=PA216#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> These ships became the basis for the development of Chinese warships during the [[Mongol]] [[Yuan dynasty]], and were used in the unsuccessful [[Mongol invasions of Japan]] [[Mongol invasion of Java|and Java]].<ref name="Worcester 1947"/>{{rp|22}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nugroho |first=Irawan Djoko |title=Majapahit Peradaban Maritim |publisher=Suluh Nuswantara Bakti |year=2011 |isbn=978-602-9346-00-8 |location=Jakarta |pages=128–129}}</ref>

The [[Ming dynasty]] (1368–1644) saw the use of junks as long-distance trading vessels. Chinese Admiral [[Zheng He]] reportedly sailed to India, Arabia, and southern Africa on a trade and diplomatic mission.<ref name="Wade">{{cite journal |last1=Wade |first1=Geoff |title=The Zheng He Voyages: A Reassessment |journal=Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society |date=2005 |volume=78 |issue=1 (288) |pages=37–58 |jstor=41493537 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://theculturetrip.com/asia/hong-kong/articles/a-brief-history-of-the-chinese-junk/|title=A Brief History Of The Chinese Junk|last=Gao|first=Sally|website=Culture Trip|date=16 October 2016|access-date=2019-06-02|archive-date=2019-06-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190602160146/https://theculturetrip.com/asia/hong-kong/articles/a-brief-history-of-the-chinese-junk/|url-status=live}}</ref> Literary lore suggests that his largest vessel, the "[[Chinese treasure ship|Treasure Ship]]", measured {{Convert|400|ft|m|abbr=}} in length and {{Convert|150|ft|m|abbr=}} in width,<ref name="Church">{{cite journal |last1=Church |first1=Sally K. |date=2005 |title=Zheng He: an investigation into the plausibility of 450-ft treasure ships |journal=Monumenta Serica |volume=53 |pages=1–43 |doi=10.1179/mon.2005.53.1.001 |jstor=40727457 |s2cid=161434221 }}</ref> whereas modern research suggests that it was unlikely to have exceeded {{Convert|70|m|ft|abbr=}} in length.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ling |first1=Xue |date=2022-07-12 |title=郑和大号宝船到底有多大？ (How big was Zheng He's large treasure ship?) |work=扬子晚报 (Yangtze Evening News) |editor1-last=Li |editor1-first=Ma |url=http://epaper.tyrbw.com/tywb/resfile/2022-07-12/21/tywb2022071221.pdf |editor2-last=Limin |editor2-first=Wu |editor3-last=Xiuling |editor3-first=Pei |access-date=2022-11-06 |archive-date=2023-05-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230522173024/http://epaper.tyrbw.com/tywb/resfile/2022-07-12/21/tywb2022071221.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Mediterranean and Baltic ===
{{Further|Ancient Egyptian navy|Ships of ancient Rome|Medieval ships}}
[[File:Ulysse bateau.jpg|thumb|right|Roman ship with sails, oars, and a steering oar]]
Sailing ships in the Mediterranean region date back to at least 3000 BC, when [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptians]] used a bipod mast to support a single [[Square rig|square sail]] on a vessel that mainly relied on multiple paddlers.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://brewminate.com/from-river-to-sea-evidence-for-ancient-egyptian-seafaring-ships/ |title=From River to Sea: Evidence for Ancient Egyptian Seafaring Ships |date=24 June 2021 |access-date=2022-08-17 |archive-date=2022-08-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220817090819/https://brewminate.com/from-river-to-sea-evidence-for-ancient-egyptian-seafaring-ships/ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=August 2022|reason=the reference does not support "mainly relied on multiple paddlers" - the word "paddle" is not used in this ref - nor is "bipod" used, as in "bipod mast".}} Later the mast became a single pole, and paddles were supplanted with oars. Such vessels plied both the Nile and the Mediterranean coast. The [[Minoan civilization]] of [[Crete]] may have been the world's first [[thalassocracy]] brought to prominence by sailing vessels dating to before 1800 BC (Middle Minoan IIB).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bonn-Muller |first1=Eti |title=First Minoan Shipwreck |url=https://archive.archaeology.org/1001/etc/minoan_shipwreck.html |website=Archaeology Magazine |publisher=Archaeological Institute of America |access-date=31 August 2021 |archive-date=31 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831183559/https://archive.archaeology.org/1001/etc/minoan_shipwreck.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Between 1000 BC and 400 AD, the [[Phoenicia]]ns, [[Ancient Greece|Greeks]] and [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] developed ships that were powered by square sails, sometimes with oars to supplement their capabilities. Such vessels used a [[Rudder#Steering oar/gear|steering oar]] as a rudder to control direction. 

Starting in the 8th century in Denmark, [[Viking]]s were building [[Clinker (boat building)|clinker]]-constructed [[longship]]s propelled by a single, square sail, when practical, and oars, when necessary.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Vikings|last=Magnússon, Magnús|isbn=978-0750980777|location=Stroud [England]|pages=90|oclc=972948057|date = 2016-10-06}}</ref> A related craft was the [[knarr]], which plied the [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] and [[North Sea]]s, using primarily sail power.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kkQrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA322|title=Routledge Revivals: Trade, Travel and Exploration in the Middle Ages (2000): An Encyclopedia|last1=Friedman|first1=John Block|last2=Figg|first2=Kristen Mossler|date=2017-07-05|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=9781351661324|pages=322|language=en|access-date=2019-07-10|archive-date=2023-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027232128/https://books.google.com/books?id=kkQrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA322#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> The windward edge of the sail was stiffened with a [[beitass]], a pole that fitted into the lower corner of the sail, when sailing close to the wind.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UzoRBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT55|title=The Medieval Soldier|last=Norman|first=Vesey|date=2010|publisher=Pen and Sword|isbn=9781783031368|language=en|access-date=2019-07-10|archive-date=2023-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027232127/https://books.google.com/books?id=UzoRBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT55#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Indian Ocean ===
{{See|Dhow#History}}
[[File:Bgl3t.jpg|thumb|A traditional [[Maldives|Maldivian]] [[Baghlah]] with a [[fore-and-aft rig|fore-and-aft]] [[lateen|lateen rig]]]]

India's maritime history began during the 3rd millennium BCE when inhabitants of the Indus Valley initiated maritime trading contact with Mesopotamia. Indian kingdoms such as the [[Kalinga (historical region)|Kalinga]] from as early as 2nd century CE are believed to have had sailing ships. One of the earliest instances of documented evidence of Indian sailing ship building comes from the mural of three-masted ship in the Ajanta caves that date back to 400-500 CE.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pamulaparthy |first=Sweekar Bhushan |title=Ancient Indian Ship |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/image/9103/ancient-indian-ship/ |access-date=2022-12-06 |website=World History Encyclopedia |language=en |archive-date=2022-12-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205220135/https://www.worldhistory.org/image/9103/ancient-indian-ship/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Wright |first=Colin |title=Ajanta: Boat from right wall of Cave II. |url=https://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/other/019wdz000002213u00025000.html |access-date=2022-12-06 |website=www.bl.uk |archive-date=2022-12-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205220138/https://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/other/019wdz000002213u00025000.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[Indian Ocean]] was the venue for increasing trade between India and Africa between 1200 and 1500. The vessels employed would be classified as [[dhow]]s with [[Lateen|lateen rigs]]. During this interval such vessels grew in capacity from 100 to 400 [[tonne]]s. Dhows were often built with teak planks from India and Southeast Asia, sewn together with coconut husk fiber—no nails were employed. This period also saw the implementation of center-mounted rudders, controlled with a tiller.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=niqhizFDhKUC&pg=PA352|title=The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History, Brief Edition, Volume I: To 1550: A Global History|last1=Bulliet|first1=Richard W.|last2=Crossley|first2=Pamela Kyle|last3=Headrick|first3=Daniel R.|last4=Hirsch|first4=Steven|last5=Johnson|first5=Lyman|date=2008|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=9780618992386|pages=352–3|language=en|access-date=2019-06-20|archive-date=2023-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027232128/https://books.google.com/books?id=niqhizFDhKUC&pg=PA352|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Global exploration ===
{{Main|Carrack|Caravel}}
[[File:Nao Victoria.jpg|thumb|Replica of [[Ferdinand Magellan]]'s [[carrack]], ''[[Victoria (ship)|Victoria]]'', which completed the first global circumnavigation.]]
Technological advancements that were important to the Age of Discovery in the 15th century were the adoption of the [[Compass|magnetic compass]] and advances in ship design.

The compass was an addition to the ancient method of navigation based on sightings of the sun and stars. The compass was invented by Chinese. It had been used for navigation in China by the 11th century and was adopted by the Arab traders in the Indian Ocean. The compass spread to Europe by the late 12th or early 13th century.<ref name="Merson_1990">{{cite book|title=The Genius That Was China: East and West in the Making of the Modern World|url=https://archive.org/details/geniusthatwaschi0000mers|url-access=registration|last=Merson|first=John|publisher=The Overlook Press|year=1990|isbn=978-0-87951-397-9|location=Woodstock, NY}}</ref> Use of the compass for navigation in the Indian Ocean was first mentioned in 1232.<ref name="Paine_2013" /> The Europeans used a "dry" compass, with a needle on a pivot. The compass card was also a European invention.<ref name="Paine_2013" />

At the beginning of the 15th century, the [[carrack]] was the most capable European ocean-going ship. It was [[Carvel (boat building)|carvel-built]] and large enough to be stable in heavy seas. It was capable of carrying a large cargo and the provisions needed for very long voyages. Later carracks were square-rigged on the [[foremast]] and [[mainmast]] and lateen-rigged on the [[mizzenmast]]. They had a high rounded [[stern]] with large [[aftcastle]], [[forecastle]] and [[bowsprit]] at the stem. As the predecessor of the [[galleon]], the carrack was one of the most influential ship designs in history; while ships became more specialized in the following centuries, the basic design remained unchanged throughout this period.<ref>{{cite book |title=The History of Shipwrecks |first=A. |last=Konstam |year=2002 |location=New York | publisher=Lyons Press |pages=77–79 |isbn=1-58574-620-7}}</ref>

Ships of this era were only able to sail approximately 70° into the wind and [[Tacking (sailing)|tacked]] from one side to the other across the wind with difficulty, which made it challenging to avoid shipwrecks when near shores or shoals during storms.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ezgq0VnV5XQC|title=To Harness the Wind: A Short History of the Development of Sails|last=Block|first=Leo|date=2003|publisher=Naval Institute Press|isbn=9781557502094|language=en|access-date=2019-06-20|archive-date=2023-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027232129/https://books.google.com/books?id=ezgq0VnV5XQC|url-status=live}}</ref> Nonetheless, such vessels reached India around Africa with [[Vasco da Gama]],<ref name="Foundations">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vtZtMBLJ7GgC&pg=PA184|title=Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415–1850|last1=Diffie|first1=Bailey W.|last2=Winius|first2=George D.|year=1977|isbn=978-0-8166-0850-8|series=Europe and the World in the Age of Expansion|volume=1|page=177|access-date=2019-06-20|archive-date=2023-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027232128/https://books.google.com/books?id=vtZtMBLJ7GgC&pg=PA184#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> the Americas with [[Christopher Columbus]],<ref>{{cite book |url=https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300170283/mutiny-and-its-bounty |title=Mutiny and Its Bounty: Leadership Lessons from the Age of Discovery |last1=Murphy |first1=Patrick J. |last2=Coye |first2=Ray W. |date=2013 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-17028-3 |access-date=2019-06-23 |archive-date=2019-05-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190526194259/https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300170283/mutiny-and-its-bounty |url-status=live }}</ref> and around the world under [[Ferdinand Magellan]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Over the edge of the world : Magellan's terrifying circumnavigation of the globe |last=Bergreen |first=Laurence |date=2003 |publisher=Morrow |isbn=0066211735 |edition=1st |location=New York |oclc=52047431 |url=https://archive.org/details/overedgeofworl00berg }}</ref>

=== 1700 to 1850 ===
[[File:H.M.S. Mars and the French '74 Hercule off Brest, 21st April 1798.jpg|thumb|1798 sea battle between a French and British [[man-of-war]]]]
[[File:Portrait of an American Clipper Ship.jpeg|thumb|A late-19th-century American [[clipper]] [[Full-rigged ship|ship]]]]
[[File:Preussen - StateLibQld 70 73320.jpg|thumb|The five-masted {{ship||Preussen|ship|2}} was the largest sailing ship ever built.]]
[[File:FMIB 37320 Schooner Sept-Mats nord-americain.jpeg|thumb|[[Schooner]]s became favored for some coast-wise commerce after 1850—they enabled a small crew to handle sails.]]
Sailing ships became longer and faster over time, with ship-rigged vessels carrying taller masts with more square sails. Other sail plans emerged, as well, that had just fore-and-aft sails ([[schooner]]s), or a mixture of the two ([[brigantine]]s, [[barque]]s and [[barquentine]]s).<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h-QvjRbK0DAC|title=A Short History of the Sailing Ship|last1=Anderson|first1=Romola|last2=Anderson|first2=R. C.|date=2003-09-01|publisher=Courier Corporation|isbn=9780486429885|language=en|access-date=2019-06-20|archive-date=2023-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027232129/https://books.google.com/books?id=h-QvjRbK0DAC|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Warships ====
{{See|Warship#The Age of Sail|Naval tactics in the Age of Sail}}
[[Cannons]] were introduced in the 14th century, but did not become common at sea until they could be reloaded quickly enough to be reused in the same battle. The size of a ship required to carry a large number of cannon made oar-based propulsion impossible, and warships came to rely primarily on sails. The sailing [[man-of-war]] emerged during the 16th century.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=__f6BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA63|title=How Britannia came to Rule the Waves|last=Kingston|first=William H. G.|date=2014-12-29|publisher=BoD – Books on Demand|isbn=9783845711935|pages=123–82|language=en|access-date=2019-06-20|archive-date=2023-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027232639/https://books.google.com/books?id=__f6BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA63#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

By the middle of the 17th century, warships were carrying increasing numbers of cannon on three decks. [[Sailing ship tactics|Naval tactics]] evolved to bring each ship's firepower to bear in a [[line of battle]]—coordinated movements of a fleet of warships to engage a line of ships in the enemy fleet.<ref name=":1" /> Carracks with a single cannon deck evolved into [[galleon]]s with as many as two full cannon decks,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hIKUhgBcSacC&pg=PA216|title=Archaeology and the Social History of Ships|last=Gould|first=Richard A.|date=2011-04-29|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781139498166|pages=216|language=en|access-date=2019-06-20|archive-date=2023-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027232640/https://books.google.com/books?id=hIKUhgBcSacC&pg=PA216#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> which evolved into the man-of-war, and further into the [[ship of the line]]—<nowiki/>designed for engaging the enemy in a line of battle. One side of a ship was expected to shoot [[Broadside (naval)|broadside]]s against an enemy ship at close range.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n1hALgEACAAJ|title=Nelson's Navy: The Ships, Men and Organisation 1793–1815|last=Lavery|first=Brian|date=2012|publisher=Conway|isbn=9781844861750|language=en}}</ref> In the 18th century, the small and fast [[frigate]] and [[sloop-of-war]]—<nowiki/>too small to stand in the line of battle—evolved to [[convoy]] trade, scout for enemy ships and [[blockade]] enemy coasts.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4RZhDwAAQBAJ|title=French Warships in the Age of Sail 1626–1786|last1=Winfield|first1=Rif|last2=Roberts|first2=Stephen S.|date=2017|publisher=Pen & Sword Books Limited|isbn=9781473893535|language=en|access-date=2019-06-20|archive-date=2023-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027232640/https://books.google.com/books?id=4RZhDwAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Clippers ====
{{Main|Clipper}}
The term "clipper" started to be used in the first quarter of the 19th century. It was applied to sailing vessels designed primarily for speed. Only a small proportion of sailing vessels could properly have the term applied to them.<ref name="Gardiner and Greenhill 1993"/>{{rp|33}}

Early examples were the schooners and brigantines, called [[Baltimore Clipper|Baltimore clippers]], used for blockade running or as privateers in the [[War of 1812]] and afterwards for smuggling [[opium]] or [[Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves|illegally transporting slaves]]. Larger clippers, usually ship or barque rigged and with a different hull design, were built for the [[California Gold Rush|California trade]] (from east coast USA ports to San Francisco) after gold was discovered in 1848 {{endash}} the associated shipbuilding boom lasted until 1854.<ref name="MacGregor 1993">{{cite book |last1=MacGregor |first1=David R |title=British and American Clippers: A Comparison of their Design, Construction and Performance |date=1993 |publisher=Conway Maritime Press Limited |location=London |isbn=0-85177-588-8}}</ref>{{rp|pages=7, 9, 13.14}}

Clippers were built for trade between the United Kingdom and China after the [[East India Company]] lost its monopoly in 1834. The primary cargo was tea, and sailing ships, particularly tea clippers, dominated this long-distance route until the development of [[SS Agamemnon (1865)|fuel efficient steamships]] coincided with the opening of the [[Suez Canal]] in 1869.<ref name="MacGregor 1983">{{cite book |last=MacGregor |first=David R. |date= 1983|title=The Tea Clippers, Their History and Development 1833-1875 |url= |location= |publisher=Conway Maritime Press Limited |isbn=0-85177-256-0}}</ref>{{rp|pages=9–10, 209}}

Other clippers worked on the Australian immigrant routes or, in smaller quantities, in any role where a fast passage secured higher rates of freight{{efn|Freight: the price paid for carrying a cargo}} or passenger fares. Whilst many clippers were [[Full-rigged ship|ship]] rigged, the definition is not limited to any rig.{{r|MacGregor 1993|pp=10-11}}

Clippers were generally built for a specific trade: those in the California trade had to withstand the seas of Cape Horn, whilst Tea Clippers were designed for the lighter and contrary winds of the China Sea. All had fine lines,{{efn|The fineness of a ship's hull is best described by considering a rectangular cuboid with the same length, breadth (beam) and depth as the hull of the ship. The more material that you have to carve away to get the shape of the ship's hull, the finer the lines.}} with a well streamlined hull and carried a large sail area. To get the best of this, a skilled and determined master was needed in command.{{r|MacGregor 1993|pp=16-19}}

==== Copper sheathing ====
{{Main|Copper sheathing}}
During the Age of Sail, ships' hulls were under frequent attack by [[shipworm]] (which affected the structural strength of timbers), and [[barnacle]]s and various marine [[weed]]s (which affected ship speed).<ref>McKee, A. in Bass (ed.) 1972, p.235</ref> Since before the common era, a variety of coatings had been applied to hulls to counter this effect, including pitch, wax, tar, oil, sulfur and arsenic.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book|last1=Telegdi|first1=J.|last2=Trif|first2=L.|last3=Romanski|first3=L.|title=Smart composite coatings and membranes : transport, structural, environmental and energy applications|publisher=Elsevier|year=2016|isbn=9781782422952|editor-last=Montemor|editor-first=Maria Fatima|location=Cambridge, UK|pages=130–1|oclc=928714218}}</ref> In the mid 18th century [[copper sheathing]] was developed as a defense against such bottom fouling.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fuBEAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA276|title=On copper and other sheathing|last=Hay|date=May 15, 1863|journal=The Engineer|location=London|pages=276|language=en|access-date=June 29, 2019|archive-date=October 27, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027232647/https://books.google.com/books?id=fuBEAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA276#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> After coping with problems of [[Galvanic corrosion|galvanic deterioration]] of metal hull fasteners, [[Galvanic anode|sacrificial anodes]] were developed, which were designed to corrode, instead of the hull fasteners.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g273FGUNIFQC|title=Ships' Fastenings: From Sewn Boat to Steamship|last=Mccarthy|first=Michael|date=2005|publisher=Texas A&M University Press|isbn=9781603446211|pages=131|language=en|access-date=2019-06-29|archive-date=2023-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027232650/https://books.google.com/books?id=g273FGUNIFQC|url-status=live}}</ref> The practice became widespread on naval vessels, starting in the late 18th century,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rogerknight.org/pdf/The%20Introduction%20of%20Copper%20Sheathing.pdf|title=The introduction of copper sheathing into the Royal Navy, 1779–1786|last1=Knight|first1=R. J. B.|website=rogerknight.org|access-date=28 December 2017|archive-date=8 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171208172248/http://www.rogerknight.org/pdf/The%20Introduction%20of%20Copper%20Sheathing.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> and on merchant vessels, starting in the early 19th century, until the advent of iron and steel hulls.<ref name=":4" />

=== 1850 to 1900 ===
{{Main|Iron-hulled sailing ship}}
[[Iron-hulled sailing ship]]s, often referred to as "[[windjammer]]s" or "[[tall ship]]s",<ref name="Schäuffelen 2005">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QgMRudqoLGQC&pg=PA46|title=Chapman Great Sailing Ships of the World|last=Schäuffelen|first=Otmar|date=2005|publisher=Hearst Books|isbn=9781588163844|language=en|access-date=2019-06-20|archive-date=2023-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027232647/https://books.google.com/books?id=QgMRudqoLGQC&pg=PA46#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> represented the final evolution of sailing ships at the end of the Age of Sail. They were built to carry bulk cargo for long distances in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They were the largest of merchant sailing ships, with three to five masts and square sails, as well as other [[sail plan]]s. They carried [[lumber]], [[guano]], [[grain]] or [[ore]] between continents. Later examples had steel hulls. Iron-hulled sailing ships were mainly built from the 1870s to 1900, when [[steamship]]s began to outpace them economically, due to their ability to keep a schedule regardless of the wind. Steel hulls also replaced iron hulls at around the same time. Even into the twentieth century, sailing ships could hold their own on transoceanic voyages such as Australia to Europe, since they did not require [[Coal bunker|bunkerage]] for coal nor fresh water for steam, and they were faster than the early steamers, which usually could barely make {{Convert|8|kn|km/h|abbr=}}.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OOUjAQAAMAAJ|title=Men and Ships Around Cape Horn, 1616–1939|last=Randier|first=Jean|date=1968|publisher=Barker|isbn=9780213764760|pages=338|language=en|access-date=2019-06-20|archive-date=2023-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027232648/https://books.google.com/books?id=OOUjAQAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>

The four-masted, iron-hulled ship, introduced in 1875 with the full-rigged {{ship||County of Peebles|ship|2}}, represented an especially efficient configuration that prolonged the competitiveness of sail against steam in the later part of the 19th century.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Gone – a chronicle of the seafarers & fabulous clipper ships of R & J Craig of Glasgow : Craig's "Counties" |last=Cumming |first=Bill |date=2009 |publisher=Brown, Son & Ferguson |isbn=9781849270137 |location=Glasgow |oclc=491200437}}</ref> The largest example of such ships was the five-masted, [[full-rigged ship]] {{ship||Preussen|ship|2}}, which had a load capacity of 7,800 tonnes.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rE3OVHLYjnEC&pg=PA8-IA4|title=Container Ships and Oil Tankers|last1=Sutherland|first1=Jonathan|last2=Canwell|first2=Diane|date=2007-07-07|publisher=Gareth Stevens|isbn=9780836883770|language=en|access-date=2019-06-20|archive-date=2023-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027232752/https://books.google.com/books?id=rE3OVHLYjnEC&pg=PA8-IA4#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> Ships transitioned from all sail to all steam-power from the mid 19th century into the 20th.<ref name="Schäuffelen 2005"/> Five-masted ''Preussen'' used [[Steam engine|steam power]] for driving the [[winch]]es, [[Hoist (device)|hoists]] and [[pump]]s, and could be manned by a crew of 48, compared with four-masted ''[[Kruzenshtern (ship)|Kruzenshtern]]'', which has a crew of 257.<ref name=":0A">{{Cite web|url=https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2009/04/sailing-ships-large-crew-automated-control.html|title=Sailing at the touch of a button|last=Staff|date=April 13, 2009|website=Low-Tech Magazine|access-date=2019-06-20|archive-date=2017-12-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171204031410/http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2009/04/sailing-ships-large-crew-automated-control.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Coastal top-sail schooners with a crew as small as two managing the sail handling became an efficient way to carry bulk cargo, since only the fore-sails required tending while [[Tacking (sailing)|tacking]] and steam-driven machinery was often available for raising the sails and the [[anchor]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/sailingshipsand00chatgoog|title=Sailing Ships and Their Story :the Story of Their Development from the Earliest Times to the Present Day|last=Chatterton|first=Edward Keble|date=1915|publisher=Lippincott|pages=[https://archive.org/details/sailingshipsand00chatgoog/page/n374 298]|language=en}}</ref>

=== 1950 to 2000 ===

In the 20th century, the [[DynaRig]] allowed central, automated control of all sails in a manner that obviates the need for sending crew aloft. This was developed in the 1960s in Germany as a low-carbon footprint propulsion alternative for commercial ships. The rig automatically sets and reefs sails; its mast rotates to align the sails with the wind. The sailing yachts ''[[The Maltese Falcon (yacht)|Maltese Falcon]]'' and ''[[Black Pearl (yacht)|Black Pearl]]'' employ the rig.<ref name=":0A" /><ref name=":4B">{{cite web |url=https://www.boatinternational.com/yachts/the-superyacht-directory/black-pearl--39361 |title=Black Pearl |publisher=Boat International Media Ltd |website=www.boatinternational.com |access-date=11 October 2018 |archive-date=14 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181114230939/https://www.boatinternational.com/yachts/the-superyacht-directory/black-pearl--39361 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== 21st century and contemporary experimental sail ===

In the 21st century, due to concern about climate change and the possibility of cost savings, companies explored using wind-power to reduce heavy fuel needs on large containerized [[Cargo ship|cargo ships]]. By 2023, around 30 ships were using sails or attached kites, with the number expected to grow.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Buckley |first=Cara |date=2023-10-03 |title=In Shipping, a Push to Slash Emissions by Harnessing the Wind |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/03/climate/wind-powered-ships-climate.html |access-date=2023-10-09 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=2023-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231009015119/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/03/climate/wind-powered-ships-climate.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Neuman |first=Scott |date=5 October 2023 |title=New technology uses good old-fashioned wind to power giant cargo vessels |work=[[National Public Radio]] |department=Morning Edition |url=https://www.npr.org/2023/10/05/1200788439/wind-power-cargo-ships-carbon-emissions |access-date=9 October 2023 |archive-date=9 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231009054501/https://www.npr.org/2023/10/05/1200788439/wind-power-cargo-ships-carbon-emissions |url-status=live }}</ref> The following year, ''The Economist'' wrote that the technology was at an inflection point as it moved from trials and testing towards adoption by the industry.<ref>{{Cite news |title=A new age of sail begins |url=https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2024/05/21/a-new-age-of-sail-begins |access-date=2024-05-21 |newspaper=The Economist |issn=0013-0613}}</ref>

==Features==
Every sailing ship has a [[sail plan]] that is adapted to the purpose of the vessel and the ability of the crew; each has a [[hull (watercraft)|hull]], [[rigging]] and [[mast (sailing)|masts]] to hold up the [[sail]]s that use the [[wind]] to power the ship; the masts are supported by [[standing rigging]] and the sails are adjusted by [[running rigging]].

=== Hull ===
[[File:Warrior (1781), body plan.jpg|upright=1.25|right|thumb|Hull form lines, lengthwise and in cross-section from a 1781 plan]]
Hull shapes for sailing ships evolved from being relatively short and blunt to being longer and finer at the bow.<ref name=":0" />{{Obsolete source|reason=This source is a reprint (under a slightly different title) of a book published in 1926. A substantial amount of historical work on the subject has been done since then,|date=August 2022}} By the nineteenth century, ships were built with reference to a half model, made from wooden layers that were pinned together. Each layer could be scaled to the actual size of the vessel in order to lay out its hull structure, starting with the keel and leading to the ship's ribs. The ribs were pieced together from curved elements, called futtocks and tied in place until the installation of the planking. Typically, planking was caulked with a tar-impregnated yarn made from manila or hemp to make the planking watertight.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://penobscotmarinemuseum.org/pbho-1/ships-shipbuilding/designing-and-building-wooden-ship|title=Designing and Building a Wooden Ship|last=Staff|date=2012|website=Penobscot Marine Museum|access-date=2019-06-22}}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Starting in the mid-19th century, iron was used first for the hull structure and later for its watertight sheathing.<ref name="clark">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/clippershiperaep00claruoft|title=The Clipper Ship Era: An Epitome of Famous American and British Clipper Ships, Their Owners, Builders, Commanders, and Crews, 1843–1869|last=Clark|first=Arthur Hamilton|date=1912|publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons|language=en}}</ref>

=== Masts ===
[[File:Running_Rigging-Square-rigged_ship--Biddlecombe.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Diagram of rigging on a square-rigged ship.<ref name="Biddlecombe"/>]]
Until the mid-19th century all vessels' masts were made of wood formed from a single or several pieces of timber which typically consisted of the trunk of a [[conifer]] tree. From the 16th century, vessels were often built of a size requiring masts taller and thicker than could be made from single tree trunks. On these larger vessels, to achieve the required height, the masts were built from up to four sections (also called masts), known in order of rising height above the decks as the lower, top, topgallant and royal masts.<ref name="poa2">{{cite book|title=The Price of Admiralty|last=Keegan|first=John|date=1989|publisher=Viking|isbn=0-670-81416-4|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/priceofadmiralty00keeg/page/n309 278]|author-link=John Keegan|url=https://archive.org/details/priceofadmiralty00keeg|url-access=registration}}</ref> Giving the lower sections sufficient thickness necessitated building them up from separate pieces of wood. Such a section was known as a ''made mast'', as opposed to sections formed from single pieces of timber, which were known as ''pole masts''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t2mm7qxBeCMC&pg=PR14|title=A Treatise on Masting Ships and Mast Making: Explaining Their Principles and Practical Operations, the Mode of Forming and Combining Made-masts, Etc.|last=Fincham|first=John|date=1843|publisher=Whittaker|location=London|pages=216–30|language=en|access-date=2019-06-22|archive-date=2023-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027233147/https://books.google.com/books?id=t2mm7qxBeCMC&pg=PR14#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> Starting in the second half of the 19th century, masts were made of iron or steel.<ref name=":0" />

For ships with square sails the principal masts, given their standard names in [[Bow (ship)|bow]] to [[stern]] (front to back) order, are:

* ''Fore-mast'' – the mast nearest the bow, or the mast forward of the main-mast with sections: fore-mast lower, fore topmast, and fore topgallant mast<ref name="poa2" />
* ''Main-mast'' – the tallest mast, usually located near the center of the ship with sections: main-mast lower, main topmast, main topgallant mast, royal mast (sometimes)<ref name="poa2" />
* ''Mizzen-mast'' – the aft-most mast. Typically shorter than the fore-mast with sections: mizzen-mast lower, mizzen topmast, and mizzen topgallant mast.<ref>Harland, John. ''Seamanship in the Age of Sail,'' pp. 15, 19–22, 36–37, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 1992. {{ISBN|0-87021-955-3}}.</ref>

=== Sails ===
{{Main|Sail}}
[[File:FMIB_47800_Differents_types_de_Voiles.jpeg|thumb|upright=1.25|Different sail types.<ref>Clerc-Rampal, G. (1913) Mer : la Mer Dans la Nature, la Mer et l'Homme, Paris: Librairie Larousse, p. 213</ref>]]Each rig is configured in a ''sail plan'', appropriate to the size of the sailing craft. Both square-rigged and fore-and-aft rigged vessels have been built with a wide range of configurations for single and multiple masts.<ref name="Folkard">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_am8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PR15|title=Sailing Boats from Around the World: The Classic 1906 Treatise|last=Folkard|first=Henry Coleman|date=2012|publisher=Courier Corporation|isbn=9780486311340|series=Dover Maritime|pages=576|access-date=2019-06-22|archive-date=2023-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027233148/https://books.google.com/books?id=_am8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PR15#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

Types of sail that can be part of a sail plan can be broadly classed by how they are ''attached'' to the sailing craft:

* ''To a stay'' – Sails attached to stays, include [[jib]]s, which are attached to [[forestay]]s and [[staysail]]s, which are mounted on other stays (typically wire cable) that support other masts from the bow aft.
* ''To a mast'' – Fore-and-aft sails directly attached to the mast at the luff include [[Gaff rig|gaff-rigged]] quadrilateral and [[Bermuda rig|Bermuda]] triangular sails.
* ''To a spar'' – Sails attached to a spar include both [[square sail]]s and such fore-and-aft quadrilateral sails as [[lug rig]]s, [[Junk rig|junk]] and [[spritsail]]s and such triangular sails as the [[lateen]], and the [[Crab claw sail|crab claw]].

=== Rigging ===
[[File:Square_rigged_sail_parts_and_running_rigging.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Square sail edges and corners (top). Running rigging (bottom).]]
Sailing ships have ''standing rigging'' to support the masts and ''running rigging'' to raise the sails and control their ability to draw power from the wind. The running rigging has three main roles, to support the sail structure, to shape the sail and to adjust its angle to the wind. Square-rigged vessels require more controlling lines than fore-and-aft rigged ones.

==== Standing rigging ====
Sailing ships prior to the mid-19th century used wood masts with hemp-fiber standing rigging. As rigs became taller by the end of the 19th century, masts relied more heavily on successive spars, stepped one atop the other to form the whole, from bottom to top: the ''lower mast'', ''top mast'', and ''topgallant mast''. This construction relied heavily on support by a complex array of stays and shrouds. Each stay in either the fore-and-aft or athwartships direction had a corresponding one in the opposite direction providing counter-tension. Fore-and-aft the system of tensioning started with the stays that were anchored in front each mast. Shrouds were tensioned by pairs of [[deadeye]]s, circular blocks that had the large-diameter line run around them, whilst multiple holes allowed smaller line—''lanyard''—to pass multiple times between the two and thereby allow tensioning of the shroud. After the mid-19th century square-rigged vessels were equipped with iron wire standing rigging, which was superseded with steel wire in the late 19th century.<ref name="Wolfram">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5nrXLkfLBGcC&pg=PA270|title=Historic Ship Models|last=zu Mondfeld|first=Wolfram|date=2005|publisher=Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.|isbn=9781402721861|pages=352|access-date=2019-06-22|archive-date=2023-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027233148/https://books.google.com/books?id=5nrXLkfLBGcC&pg=PA270#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>{{r|MacGregor 1983|p=46}}

==== Running rigging ====
[[Halyard]]s, used to raise and lower the yards, are the primary supporting lines.<ref name="HowardDoane">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NB4uFQuUlnEC&pg=PA63|title=Handbook of Offshore Cruising: The Dream and Reality of Modern Ocean Cruising|last1=Howard|first1=Jim|last2=Doane|first2=Charles J.|date=2000|publisher=Sheridan House, Inc.|isbn=9781574090932|pages=468|access-date=2019-06-22|archive-date=2023-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027233149/https://books.google.com/books?id=NB4uFQuUlnEC&pg=PA63#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> In addition, square rigs have lines that lift the sail or the yard from which it is suspended that include: [[brail]]s, [[Clewlines and buntlines|buntlines]], lifts and leechlines. Bowlines and clew lines shape a square sail.<ref name="Biddlecombe" /> To adjust the angle of the sail to wind [[Brace (sailing)|braces]] are used to adjust the fore and aft angle of a [[Yard (sailing)|yard]] of a square sail, while [[Sheet (sailing)|sheets]] attach to the [[Parts of a sail#Corners|clews]] (bottom corners) of a sail to control the sail's angle to the wind. Sheets run aft, whereas [[Tack (square sail)|tacks]] are used to haul the clew of a square sail forward.<ref name="Biddlecombe" />

====Ballast====
Sailing ships needed ballast to keep the centre of gravity low and supply stability to the vessel when under sail. Ballast in the age of sail might consist of shingle, iron bars or bricks.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lavery |first1=Brian |title=The arming and fitting of English ships of war, 1600-1815 |date=1987 |publisher=Conway Maritime Press |pages=186-190}}</ref> Care had to be taken in the stowage of the ballast so that it did not move during heavy weather and endanger the ship and those aboard.

== Crew ==
[[File:Ship Garthsnaid, ca 1920s.jpg|thumb|Seamen aloft, stowing a sail]]
The [[crew]] of a sailing ship is divided between officers (the [[Sea captain|captain]] and his subordinates) and [[Able seaman|seamen]] or ''ordinary'' ''hands''. An able seaman was expected to "hand, reef, and steer" (handle the lines and other equipment, reef the sails, and steer the vessel).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100450237|title=Seamanship – Oxford Reference|website=www.oxfordreference.com|page=Seamanship|language=en|access-date=2019-06-24|archive-date=2019-06-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190624191826/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100450237|url-status=live}}</ref> The crew is organized to stand [[Watchkeeping|watch]]—the oversight of the ship for a period—typically four hours each.<ref name=BHI>{{cite web|title=Workshop Hints: Ship's Bells|url=http://www.bhi.co.uk/aHints/ships.html|work=The British Horological Institute|access-date=12 June 2011|author=Tony Gray|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612045510/http://www.bhi.co.uk/aHints/ships.html|archive-date=12 June 2011}}</ref> [[Richard Henry Dana Jr.]] and [[Herman Melville]] each had personal experience aboard sailing vessels of the 19th century.

===Merchant vessel===
Dana described the crew of the merchant brig, [[Pilgrim (brig)|''Pilgrim'']], as comprising six to eight common sailors, four specialist crew members (the steward, cook, carpenter and sailmaker), and three officers: the [[Captain (nautical)|captain]], the [[Chief mate|first mate]] and the [[Second Mate|second mate]]. He contrasted the American crew complement with that of other nations on whose similarly sized ships the crew might number as many as 30.<ref name =:3>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9RsqAAAAYAAJ|title=Two Years Before the Mast: A Personal Narrative|last=Dana|first=Richard Henry|date=1895|publisher=Houghton, Mifflin|pages=11–13|language=en|access-date=2019-06-23|archive-date=2023-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027233150/https://books.google.com/books?id=9RsqAAAAYAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> Larger merchant vessels had larger crews.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lZBHDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA299|title=The Vital Spark: The British Coastal Trade, 1700–1930|last=Armstrong|first=John|date=2017-12-01|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9781786948960|language=en|access-date=2019-06-23|archive-date=2023-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027233150/https://books.google.com/books?id=lZBHDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA299|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Warship===
Melville described the crew complement of the [[frigate]] warship, ''[[USS United States (1797)|United States]]'', as about 500—including officers, enlisted personnel and 50 Marines. The crew was divided into the starboard and larboard watches. It was also divided into three ''tops'', bands of crew responsible for setting sails on the three masts; a band of ''sheet-anchor men'', whose station was forward and whose job was to tend the fore-yard, anchors and forward sails; the ''after guard'', who were stationed aft and tended the mainsail, spanker and manned the various sheets, controlling the position of the sails; the ''waisters'', who were stationed midships and had menial duties attending the livestock, etc.; and the ''holders'', who occupied the lower decks of the vessel and were responsible for the inner workings of the ship. He additionally named such positions as, boatswains, gunners, carpenters, coopers, painters, tinkers, stewards, cooks and various boys as functions on the man-of-war.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cfRDAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA14 |title=White-jacket; Or, The World in the Man-of-war |last=Melville |first=Herman |date=1850 |publisher=Harper |pages=14–8 |access-date=2019-06-23 |archive-date=2023-10-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027233151/https://books.google.com/books?id=cfRDAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA14#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> 18-19th century ships of the line had a complement as high as 850.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The ship of the line |last=Lavery |first=Brian |date=1983 |publisher=Conway Maritime Press |isbn=0851772528 |location=London|oclc=10361880}}</ref>

== Ship handling ==
[[File:Imperator Alexander (ship, 1885) - SLV H99.220-2856.jpg|thumb|Sailing ship at sea, rolling and heeled over from the force of the wind on its sails.]]
Handling a sailing ship requires management of its sails to power—but not overpower—the ship and navigation to guide the ship, both at sea and in and out of harbors.

===Under sail===
Key elements of sailing a ship are setting the right amount of sail to generate maximum power without endangering the ship, adjusting the sails to the wind direction on the course sailed, and changing tack to bring the wind from one side of the vessel to the other.

==== Setting sail ====
A sailing ship crew manages the running rigging of each square sail. Each sail has two sheets that control its lower corners, two braces that control the angle of the yard, two clewlines, four buntlines and two reef tackles. All these lines must be manned as the sail is deployed and the yard raised. They use a halyard to raise each yard and its sail; then they pull or ease the braces to set the angle of the yard across the vessel; they pull on sheets to haul lower corners of the sail, ''clews'', out to yard below. Under way, the crew manages ''reef tackles'', ''haul leeches'', ''reef points'', to manage the size and angle of the sail; ''bowlines'' pull the leading edge of the sail (''leech'') taut when close hauled. When furling the sail, the crew uses ''clewlines'', haul up the clews and ''buntlines'' to haul up the middle of sail up; when lowered, ''lifts'' support each yard.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oceannavigator.com/May-June-2014/Square-sail-handling/|title=Square sail handling – Ocean Navigator – May/June 2014|last=Queeney|first=Tim|date=April 25, 2014|website=www.oceannavigator.com|access-date=2019-06-23|archive-date=2019-06-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190623131732/http://www.oceannavigator.com/May-June-2014/Square-sail-handling/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In strong winds, the crew is directed to reduce the number of sails or, alternatively, the amount of each given sail that is presented to the wind by a process called ''reefing''. To pull the sail up, seamen on the yardarm pull on ''reef tackles'', attached to ''reef cringles'', to pull the sail up and secure it with lines, called ''reef points''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3nh0DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT178|title=The Language of Sailing|last=Mayne|first=Richard|date=2000|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781135965655|location=New York|pages=reef|language=en|access-date=2019-06-24|archive-date=2023-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027233636/https://books.google.com/books?id=3nh0DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT178#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> Dana spoke of the hardships of sail handling during high wind and rain or with ice covering the ship and its rigging.<ref name=":3" />

==== Changing tack ====
[[File:Course made good by tacking--square-rigged ship versus schooner.jpg|thumb|Diagram contrasting course made good to windward by tacking a schooner versus a square-rigged ship.]]
Sailing vessels cannot sail directly into the wind. Instead, [[Square rig|square-riggers]] must sail a course that is between 60° and 70° away from the wind direction<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=http://www.oceannavigator.com/January-February-2003/Tall-ship-sail-handling/|title=Tall ship sail handling – Ocean Navigator – January/February 2003|date=January 1, 2003|website=www.oceannavigator.com|access-date=2019-06-23|archive-date=2019-06-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190623131729/http://www.oceannavigator.com/January-February-2003/Tall-ship-sail-handling/|url-status=live}}</ref> and fore-and aft vessels can typically sail no closer than 45°.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mtqgsWaWciMC&pg=PA11|title=Royce's Sailing Illustrated|last=Royce|first=Patrick M.|date=1997|publisher=ProStar Publications|isbn=9780911284072|language=en|access-date=2019-06-24|archive-date=2023-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027233636/https://books.google.com/books?id=mtqgsWaWciMC&pg=PA11#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> To reach a destination, sailing vessels may have to change course and allow the wind to come from the opposite side in a procedure, called ''[[Tacking (sailing)|tacking]]'', when the wind comes across the bow during the maneuver.

When tacking, a square-rigged vessel's sails must be presented squarely to the wind and thus impede forward motion as they are swung around via the [[yardarms]] through the wind as controlled by the vessel's [[Running rigging#Adjusting angle to the wind|running rigging]], using [[Brace (sailing)|braces]]—adjusting the fore and aft angle of each [[yard (sailing)|yardarm]] around the mast—and [[Sheet (sailing)|sheet]]s attached to the [[Parts of a sail#Corners|clew]]s (bottom corners) of each sail to control the sail's angle to the wind.<ref name = Biddlecombe >
{{cite book
 | last = Biddlecombe
 | first = George
 | title = The Art of Rigging: Containing an Explanation of Terms and Phrases and the Progressive Method of Rigging Expressly Adapted for Sailing Ships
 | publisher = Courier Corporation
 | series = Dover Maritime Series
 | date = 1990
 | page = [https://archive.org/details/artrigging00steegoog/page/n33 13]
 | url = https://archive.org/details/artrigging00steegoog
 | isbn = 9780486263434 }}</ref> The procedure is to turn the vessel into the wind with the hind-most fore-and-aft sail (the [[Spanker (sail)|spanker]]), pulled to windward to help turn the ship through the eye of the wind. Once the ship has come about, all the sails are adjusted to align properly with the new tack. Because square-rigger [[Mast (sailing)|masts]] are more strongly braced from behind than from ahead, tacking is a dangerous procedure in strong winds; the ship may lose forward momentum (become ''caught in stays'') and the rigging may fail from the wind coming from ahead. The ship may also lose momentum at wind speeds of less than {{Convert|10|kn|km/h|abbr=}}.<ref name=":2" /> Under these conditions, the choice may be to ''wear ship''—to turn the ship away from the wind and around 240° onto the next tack (60° off the wind).<ref name = Findlay>{{cite book
 | last = Findlay
 | first = Gordon D.
 | title = My Hand on the Tiller
 | publisher = AuthorHouse
 | date = 2005
 | page = 138
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=OzFWjOMvGs4C&pg=PA138
 | isbn = 9781456793500
 | access-date = 2019-06-24
 | archive-date = 2023-10-27
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231027233636/https://books.google.com/books?id=OzFWjOMvGs4C&pg=PA138#v=onepage&q&f=false
 | url-status = live
 }}</ref><ref name=":03">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SYxaDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT72|title=HMS Victory Pocket Manual 1805: Admiral Nelson's Flagship At Trafalgar|last=Goodwin|first=Peter|date=2018-01-25|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=9781472834072|language=en|access-date=2019-07-03|archive-date=2023-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027233637/https://books.google.com/books?id=SYxaDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT72|url-status=live}}</ref>

A fore-and-aft rig permits the wind to flow past the sail, as the craft head through the eye of the wind. Most rigs pivot around a stay or the mast, while this occurs. For a [[jib]], the old [[leeward]] sheet is released as the craft heads through the wind and the old [[Windward and leeward|windward]] sheet is tightened as the new leeward sheet to allow the sail to draw wind. [[Mainsail]]s are often self-tending and slide on a [[Traveller (nautical fitting)|traveler]] to the opposite side.<ref name = Jobson2>{{cite book
 | last = Jobson
 | first = Gary
 | title = Sailing Fundamentals
 | publisher = Simon and Schuster
 | edition = Revised
 | date = 2008
 | pages = 224
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=mKTrrP3wA-cC
 | isbn = 978-1-4391-3678-2
 | access-date = 2019-06-24
 | archive-date = 2023-10-27
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231027233636/https://books.google.com/books?id=mKTrrP3wA-cC
 | url-status = live
 }}</ref> On certain rigs, such as [[lateen]]s<ref name=Lateen>{{Citation
 |last         = Campbell
 |first        = I.C.
 |year         = 1995
 |title        = The Lateen Sail in World History
 |periodical   = Journal of World History
 |volume       = 6
 |issue        = 1
 |pages        = 1–23
 |url          = http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/journals/jwh/jwh061p001.pdf
 |access-date  = 2017-06-16
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20160804061252/http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/journals/jwh/jwh061p001.pdf
 |archive-date = 2016-08-04
 |url-status     = dead
}}</ref> and [[lugger]]s,<ref name = Lugger>{{cite book
 | last = Skeat
 | first = Walter W.
 | title = An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language
 | publisher = Courier Corporation
 | series = Dover language guides
 | edition = Reprint
 | date = 2013
 | page = 351
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=jeeGAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA351
 | isbn = 978-0-486-31765-6
 | access-date = 2019-06-24
 | archive-date = 2023-10-27
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231027233637/https://books.google.com/books?id=jeeGAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA351#v=onepage&q&f=false
 | url-status = live
 }}</ref> the sail may be partially lowered to bring it to the opposite side.

=== Navigation ===
[[File:Marine sextant.svg|thumb|The marine [[sextant]] is used to measure the elevation of celestial bodies above the horizon.]]

Early navigational techniques employed observations of the sun, stars, waves and birdlife. In the 15th century, the Chinese were using the magnetic compass to identify direction of travel. By the 16th century in Europe, navigational instruments included the [[Quadrant (instrument)|quadrant]], the [[astrolabe]], [[Jacob's staff|cross staff]], [[Calipers|dividers]] and compass. By the time of the Age of Exploration these tools were being used in combination with a [[Chip log|log]] to measure speed, a lead line to measure [[Depth sounding|soundings]], and a lookout to identify potential hazards. Later, an accurate [[Sextant|marine sextant]] became standard for determining [[latitude]] and was used with an accurate [[Chronometer watch|chronometer]] to calculate [[longitude]].<ref name = gettingthere>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xyGkCQAAQBAJ|title=Time and Navigation: The Untold Story of Getting from Here to There|last1=Johnston|first1=Andrew K.|last2=Connor|first2=Roger D.|last3=Stephens|first3=Carlene E.|last4=Ceruzzi|first4=Paul E.|date=2015-06-02|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|isbn=9781588344922|language=en|access-date=2019-06-24|archive-date=2023-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027233637/https://books.google.com/books?id=xyGkCQAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle= Sextant | volume= 24 | pages = 765&ndash;767 }}</ref>

[[Passage planning]] begins with laying out a route along a chart, which comprises a series of courses between fixes—verifiable locations that confirm the actual track of the ship on the ocean. Once a course has been set, the person at the helm attempts to follow its direction with reference to the compass. The navigator notes the time and speed at each fix to estimate the arrival at the next fix, a process called [[dead reckoning]]. For coast-wise navigation, sightings from known landmarks or [[navigational aid]]s may be used to establish fixes, a process called [[Piloting|pilotage]].<ref name="Couch" />{{Obsolete source|reason=The definition of dead reckoning has changed since this book was written over 125 years ago|date=June 2022}} At sea, sailing ships used [[celestial navigation]] on a daily schedule, as follows:<ref>{{Cite book |title=Merchant Marine officers' handbook |date=1965 |publisher=Cornell Maritime Press |last1=Turpin |first1=Edward A. |last2=MacEwen |first2=William A. |last3=Hayler |first3=William B. |isbn=087033056X |location=Cambridge, Md. |oclc=228950964}}</ref>
# Continuous dead reckoning plot
# Star observations at morning twilight for a celestial fix
# Morning Sun observation to determine compass error by azimuth observation of the Sun
# Noontime observation of the Sun for noon latitude line for determination the day's run and day's set and drift
# Afternoon sun line to determine compass error by azimuth observation of the Sun
# Star observations at evening twilight for a celestial fix
Fixes were taken with a marine [[sextant]], which measures the distance of the celestial body above the horizon.<ref name = gettingthere/>

=== Entering and leaving harbor ===
Given the limited maneuverability of sailing ships, it could be difficult to enter and leave [[harbor]] with the presence of a [[tide]] without coordinating arrivals with a flooding tide and departures with an ebbing tide. In harbor, a sailing ship stood at anchor, unless it needed to be loaded or unloaded at a [[dock]] or [[pier]], in which case it might be warped alongside or towed by a tug. Warping involved using a long rope (the warp) between the ship and a fixed point on the shore. This was pulled on by a capstan on shore, or on the ship. This might be a multi-stage process if the route was not simple. If no fixed point was available, a kedge anchor might be taken out in a ship's boat to a suitable point and the ship then pulled up to the kedge. Square rigged vessels could use [[Glossary of nautical terms (A-L)#back and fill|backing and filling]] (of the sails) to manoeuvre in a tideway, or control could be maintained by [[drudging]] the anchor - lower the anchor until it touches the bottom so that the dragging anchor gives steerage way in the flow of the tide.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/oceanlifeinolds01whidgoog|title=Ocean Life in the Old Sailing Ship Days: From Forecastle to Quarter-deck|last=Whidden|first=John D.|date=1912|publisher=Little, Brown, & Co|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Harland 1984">{{cite book |last=Harland |first=John |year=1984 |title=Seamanship in the Age of Sail: an account of the shiphandling of the sailing man-of-war 1600-1860, based on contemporary sources |publisher=Conway Maritime Press |location=London |isbn=978-1-8448-6309-9}}</ref>{{rp|199–202}}

==Examples==
{{Further|Sail-plan#Types of sailing vessels}}

These are examples of sailing ships; some terms have multiple meanings:

{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
'''Defined by general configuration'''
* [[Caravel]]: small maneuverable ship, lateen rigged
* [[Carrack]]: three or four masted ship, square-rigged forward, lateen-rigged aft
* [[Clipper]]: a merchant ship designed specifically for speed
* [[Cog (ship)|Cog]]: plank-built, one-masted, square-rigged vessel
* [[Dhow]]: a lateen-rigged merchant or fishing vessel
* [[Djong (ship)|Djong]]: large tradeship used by ancient Indonesian and Malaysian people
* [[Fluyt]]: a Dutch oceangoing merchant vessel, rigged similarly to a galleon 
* [[Galleon]]: a large, primarily square-rigged, armed cargo carrier of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
* [[Junk (ship)|Junk]]: a lug-rigged Chinese ship, which included many types, models and variants. 
* [[Koch (boat)|Koch]]: small, Russian [[clinker-built]] ship, designed for use in Arctic waters
* [[Longship]]: vessels used by the Vikings, with a single mast and square sail, also propelled by oars.
* [[Pinisi]]: Indonesia's traditional sailing ship
* [[Pink (ship)|Pink]]: in the Atlantic, a small oceangoing ship with a narrow stern.
* [[snow (ship)|Snow]]: a brig carrying a square mainsail and often a spanker on a [[trysail]] mast
* [[Superyacht|Sailing superyacht]]: a large sailing [[yacht]]
* [[Hokulea|Waʻa kaulua]]: Polynesian double-hulled voyaging canoe
* [[Windjammer]]: (informal) large [[Iron-hulled sailing ship|merchant sailing ship with an iron or steel hull]]
{{col-break}}
'''Defined by sail plan'''

''All masts have fore-and-aft sails''
* [[Schooner]]: fore-and-aft rigged sails, with two or more masts, the aftermost mast taller or equal to the height of the forward {{not a typo|mast(s)}}
''All masts have square sails''
* [[Brig]]: two masts, square rigged (may have a spanker on the aftermost)
* [[Full-rigged ship]]: three or more masts, all of them square rigged
''Mixture of masts with square sails and masts with fore-and-aft sails''
* [[Barque]], or "bark": at least three masts, fore-and-aft rigged [[mizzen]] mast
* [[Barquentine]]: at least three masts with all but the foremost fore-and-aft rigged
* [[Bilander]]: a ship or brig with a [[lug sail|lug-rigged]] mizzen sail
* [[Brigantine]]: two masts, with the foremast square-rigged
* [[Hermaphrodite brig]]: a brigantine
'''Military vessels'''
* [[Corvette]]: lightly armed, fast sailing vessel
* [[Cutter (ship)|Cutter]]: small naval vessel, fore-and-aft rigged, single mast with two headsails
* [[sailing frigate|Frigate]]: a ship-rigged warship with a single gundeck 
* [[Ship of the line]]: the largest warship in European navies, ship-rigged
* [[Xebec]]: a Mediterranean warship adapted from a galley, with three lateen-rigged masts
{{col-end}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Transport}}
{{div col|colwidth=23em}}
* [[List of large sailing vessels]]
* [[Sailboat]]
* [[Sailing ship accidents]]
* [[Sailing ship effect]]—describing the transition between an old and new technology
* [[Sailing ship tactics]]
* [[Shipbuilding]]
* [[Tall ship]]
{{div col end}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Graham, Gerald S. "The Ascendancy of the Sailing Ship 1850–85".''Economic History Review,'' 9#1 1956, pp.&nbsp;74–88 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2591532 online]
* {{cite EB1911|wstitle= Ship |volume= 24 |last= Watts |first= Philip |author-link= Philip Watts | pages = 880&ndash;970; see pages 881 to 887 |quote= I. History to the Invention of Steamships}}
* {{cite book|edition=3rd|title=A manual for naval cadets|first=John M'Neill|last=Boyd|publisher=Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans & Roberts|year=1857
| url = https://archive.org/details/amanualfornaval01boydgoog
| ol = 23468580M 
| publication-place = London }}
* {{cite book
| last1           = Moore
| first1          = Sir Alan Hilary
| author-link1    = Sir Alan Hilary Moore, 2nd Baronet 
| last2           = Nance
| first2          = R. Morton
| author-link2    = Robert Morton Nance
| title          = Last days of mast & sail : An Essay in Nautical Comparative Anatomy
| url            = https://archive.org/details/lastdaysofmastsa0000moor
| publisher      = Clarendon Press, Oxford
| date           = 1925
| ol             = 26571876M
}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary}}
* {{Commons category-inline|Sailing ships}}

{{Sailing Vessels and Rigs}}
{{sailing ship elements}}
{{Sail types}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Sailing ships| ]]