Mariners-L Archives

Archiver > Mariners > 2002-06 > 1023024126


From: "Donald Dalmeny" <>
Subject: Re: [Mar] Re: boats vs ships.
Date: Sun, 2 Jun 2002 14:22:06 +0100


Many years ago, when serving a Boy in the RN, I came across a definition of a ship as being "any three masted vessel, square rigged on all three masts" . All other vessels being described as boats.
This definition was detailed in that beloved of books 'The Seamanship Manual', which I can only assume has been amended many times since I last browsed its wondrous pages.


Don Dalmeny





From: Paul Benyon
Sent: 02 June 2002 07:59
To:
Subject: Re: [Mar] Re: boats vs ships.


Hi Rosemary

Perhaps it's a little like beauty - its in the eye of the beholder or more
importantly the user ;-)

As Brian will tell you submarines are invariably classified by those who sail in
them as boats and presumably the Germans also -das Unterseeboot ? Fishermen
never/rarely refer to their craft as ships - leastways - not in the English
language

As far as my dictionary goes it suggests that a ship is a large seagoing vessel
whereas a boat is a small vessel, but it then goes on to say adds that a large
watercraft is properly called a ship, however, the boundary between boats and
ships cannot be defined with precision. Some larger vessels today are called
boats, although they exceed in length some ships.. In naval architecture,
however, a craft less than 20 m (65 ft) in length is considered a boat.
Boats are classified primarily by method of propulsion-for example, sailboat,
motorboat, and rowboat. They are also classified according to function, method
of construction and type of materials used, rigging (in sailboats), and other
factors described in this article.

My 2d

Paul

On Sun, 2 Jun 2002 14:39:51 +1200, you wrote:

>Hello,
>There is a question going along on another list at the moment about when does a boat qualify as a ship. Is it length as my husband seems to remember or is in tonnage?
>
>The true answer would be greatly appreciated please.
>Many thanks,
>Rosemary.

50.55N 02.45W


==== Mariners Mailing List ====
Listowners Debbie Beavis:
Ted Finch:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com

This thread: