1800s sailboat

Who Invented the Sailboat & When?

Last Updated by

Daniel Wade

August 30, 2022

‍ Sailboats are a common sight on the water today. But how old is the basic design, and where do sailboats originally come from?

Nobody knows who invented the sailboat or exactly when, but archaeologists believe the first sailing workboats originated some 6,000 years ago. The modern sailboat began taking shape in the late 1800s and reached peak development after World War Two.

In this article, we’ll go over the origins of the sailboat and how simple wind-powered rafts evolved into the advanced and graceful sailboats we know today. We’ll cover all the major milestones in sailboat development and the origins of popular rigs like the Bermuda rig.

We sourced the information used in this article from credible historians and public archives.

Table of contents

‍ Origin of Workboats

The sailboat is one of the oldest forms of boats in existence—but it wasn’t the first. Humans have probably been building boats and basic rafts for at least 6,000 years, using materials such as hollowed-out logs and bushels of buoyant reeds.

Reed boats date back to ancient Egypt, where people built basic reed canoes and more complex wooden boats. Early boats were pushed along rivers with a long pole or rowed with oars. But soon, people figured out that it was possible to harness the wind.

First Sailboats

Like many inventions, the sailboat probably originated in ancient Egypt. Around 4000 BC, Egyptians assembled a simple rigging system and suspended a piece of cloth in the air to pull basic log boats along rivers.

These vessels were long and narrow, and their simple rigging was difficult to control. However, the Egyptians had discovered that wind could do the work instead of oars.

By 3000 BC, the idea had spread extensively in the region, and sailboat design became more advanced. Most sailing still took place inland, and square sails became common throughout the ancient world.

Early Ocean-Going Sailboats

By 2000 BC, sailboats had grown in size and usefulness. Humans learned to maneuver reliably under wind power, and boat designs became more durable and efficient.

At this point, ocean trade networks were established all throughout the Mediterranean. Inland sailing was still quite common, and drawings from the era depict sailboats with both sails and oars for auxiliary propulsion.

The Romans were key in the development of sailing warships, which wielded archers and boarding parties armed with swords. Roman sailing vessels were also powered by sails and oars, though sailing was the primary method of propulsion when traveling long distances.

The Vikings were famous for developing hardy and seaworthy craft crewed by rowers and equipped with sails. The Vikings sailed extensively and settled many places with their vessels. After this point, sailboat development remained roughly the same until the 1400s.

Tall Ship Development

In the 1500s and 1600s, tall ships were well underway to becoming the dominant form of both merchant and sailing ships. The British, Spanish, and Chinese were notable early adopters of these types of ships, albeit with extensive variations.

These vessels would continue to increase in size, speed, and effectiveness as the decades progressed. Tall ships of the 17th and 18th centuries were the finest and most capable ever built, and several original examples remain seaworthy today.

Small Sailboat Development

Not much changed on small workboats until the 1600s. Most developments happened with larger ships, which had much greater economic and strategic value. However, during the 1600s or 1700s, the first Bermuda-rigged sailboats were developed.

The Bermuda rig, also known as the Marconi rig, would go on to be the most common rig type on all kinds of recreational sailboats. About a century later, the first yacht club was founded in Ireland—suggesting that recreational sailing first came into prominence around this time.

In the mid-1600s, recreational sailing of small boats became a popular activity for nobles in England. Documented evidence reveals that sailing up and down the Thames River was a popular pastime for royalty, and they developed some of the earliest known regattas.

19th and 20th Century Sailboat Design

The 19th and 20th centuries contributed the most to what we’d consider ‘modern’ sailboat design. During this era, world-famous marine architects and boatbuilders such as Nathanael Greene Herreshoff perfected small and medium-sized wooden sailboat designs.

By the 20th century, sailing workboats were not nearly as common as they were during the previous era. Instead, sailboats were used primarily for recreation and exploration. Some local fishing activity still took place, but sailing became more of a lifestyle than a necessity during this era.

The sailboat cabin was also popularized around this time, as the need for an open working space and cargo hold largely disappeared. Early sailboat cabins were sparse and rarely included standing headroom. Instead, simple folding canvas berths and a small wood or coal stove were the only amenities you could expect.

Modern Fiberglass Sailboat Era

The fiberglass boat era began after World War Two. Fiberglass, a material used extensively during the war, could easily replace planks or plywood in boatbuilding—and several companies such as Catalina sprung up during the 1950s and 1960s.

The decades between 1950 and 1990 were the height of fiberglass production boat building. Sailing became a popular pastime, and average Americans could eventually afford to purchase their own 25 to 35-foot sailboat. The vast majority of these sailboats featured extensive cabin amenities.

Most of these vessels were Bermuda (Marconi) sloops constructed with fiberglass and with varying levels of interior and exterior flash. Tens of thousands of boats were built by dozens of brands, and the majority of these vessels still remain on the water.

Most sailboats today were constructed during this era. Many famous designs from the fiberglass period are still produced—sometimes by the same company, sometimes by a new company or conglomerate. These vessels are fundamentally the same as sailboats from the early 20th century, but they require much less maintenance and tend to sail more comfortably.

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Life at sea in the age of sail

What did it mean to be 'tarred and feathered'?

Life at sea during the age of sail was filled with hardship. Sailors had to accept cramped conditions, disease, poor food and pay, and bad weather.

Over a period of hundreds of years, seafarers from the age of the early explorers to the time of the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, shared many common experiences. Men working at sea had much to endure; cut off from normal life on shore for months, even years, they had to accept cramped conditions, disease, poor food and pay. Above all, they faced the daily dangers of sea and weather.

What was scurvy?

Why were punishments so harsh at sea.

A seaman's life was hard, and he had to be tough to survive, so ship's officers kept strict discipline on board. In this way they hoped to keep morale high and prevent mutiny.

Seamen could be ‘tarred and feathered’, tied to a rope, swung overboard and ducked or ‘keel-hauled’, dragged round the underneath of the ship. Flogging was the most common, with the whole crew often made to watch. A rope's end was used, or the infamous ‘cat o’ nine tails’. A seaman found guilty of mutiny or murder would be hanged from the yard arm.

What food was there on board a ship?

The main rations were salt beef or pork, cheese, fish, ale and some form of ship's biscuit. The quality of food deteriorated because of storage problems, lack of ventilation, and poor drainage. It was also affected by the presence of rats and other vermin on board.

What jobs were there on board?

Typical jobs on board included cook, parson, surgeon, master gunner, boatswain (in charge of the sails), carpenter and quartermaster. Other members of the crew would, of course, carry out all the duties, including keeping watch, handling sails, and cleaning decks.

It is interesting to note that the names for jobs of men responsible for working a ship (boatswain, coxswain, seamen) are of Anglo-Saxon origin, while those of officers (Captain, Lieutenant, Admiral) are of Norman-French origin. This is an indication of a class distinction between roles on board.

What were press gangs?

It was not always possible to fill ships’ crews with volunteers, especially in wartime, so the law allowed gangs to seize men and force them to join a ship. Pressing peaked in the 18th century but it was still going on as late as 1850.

What happened to sick seamen?

There was a great deal of sickness at sea. Seamen were often cold and wet, rats carried disease, and a poor diet not only caused malnutrition, but specific illnesses such as scurvy – caused by a lack of vitamin C in the diet.

As well as injury from shipboard accidents, there was risk of death or maiming in times of battle. Ships' surgeons worked in cramped and filthy conditions with no anaesthetic, so infection and gangrene was commonplace.

What sort of pay did seamen get?

By the end of the 1700s, pay on a naval ship was less than that on a merchant ship. However, as well as basic wages, sailors would expect to have a share of prize money or booty from captured enemy vessels.

What did seamen do off duty?

Traditionally hard-drinking and tough, seamen made the best of their cramped living quarters, enjoying games of dice and cards, telling tales, playing musical instruments, carving, drawing, practising knots or model making. They also sang ‘sea shanties’ – rhythmic work songs to help repetitive tasks such as hauling on ropes. 

Gifts inspired by life on board ship

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The history of the sail - when and where was the sailboat invented?

In the 21st century, sailing yachts are a common occurrence - you won’t surprise anyone with a boat. But what is the story behind the elegant sails?

Questions, questions, questions...

Unfortunately, to accurately answer the question “Who?” does not seem possible. However, we can still rely on the latest scientific research. Modern archaeologists agree that the first sailing boats appeared about 6,000 years ago.

Over the past six millennia, sailing boats have come a long way in development. The sailboat in the modern sense began its history in the late 1700s and early 1800s. The peak of engineering development occurred in the period after the Second World War. 

Today, sailboats continue their active development and technology does not stand still. It is likely that today's trimarans, giant sailing superyachts and hydrofoils will also occupy an important place in the history of sailing shipbuilding.

The beginning of time

The sailboat itself is one of the oldest forms of watercraft. However, she was not the first. Before that, people actively used boats without masts, rafts, etc. Some of the earliest masted boats were reed boats. 

They appeared in ancient Egypt. When the Egyptians realized what potential the uncomplicated reed boats hide in themselves, they actively began to use harder materials - wood, the so-called. "floating" reed. 

And yet these boats were driven solely by physical force with the help of oars. Another way to move boats was to set them in motion with a long pole from the shore. For almost two thousand years, the Egyptians used primitive methods. But at some point they realized that it was possible to curb the wind.

Conquest of the wind and the beginning of the history of sail

Definitely, historians and archaeologists believe that if not the first, then one of the first sailing boats appeared on the territory of Ancient Egypt. Before the birth of Christ, there were still 4,000 years left, and the Egyptians had already come up with a simple but working rigging scheme. In the middle of the boat they hoisted a vertical beam - a mast - and hung a piece of cloth on it. And so the sail was born.

Almost a thousand years later, this model of boats and ships became widespread throughout Egypt. However, not far off was the massive use of sailing boats, but already in the Mediterranean.

Mediterranean Sea and access to the Atlantic

By 2000 B.C. sailboats have become widespread throughout almost the entire Mediterranean basin. They became larger in size, now they could carry more supplies or weapons. The first important principles of navigation began to appear, people learned to manage the wind. The then shipbuilders strengthened and improved the design of boats. 

Around the same time, the first oceanic routes along the outer borders of Europe began to be established. The peak of fashion of that period is a sailboat equipped with additional oars. If in the past millennia the Egyptians played a key role in the development of shipbuilding, now this role has gone to the Romans.

Roman sailing ships relied more on the use of wind power, although they had places on board for rowers. The Romans traveled long distances mainly under sail.

Vikings and their great legacy

We had about the Vikings a whole separate article . In order not to repeat ourselves, we will only add that the Vikings did not make any fundamental changes to the structure of boats. At the same time, it was they who became the first people in America, actively traveled along the most difficult routes and dangerous waters. 

As for sailing boats, the Vikings used a technology similar to the Romans - for long distances under sail, for shorter distances both oars and sails were used. If the drakkars of the warriors entered the narrow mouths of the rivers, then the control could completely switch to oars.

Interestingly, this idea of managing sailing ships was so successful that no major changes took place until 1400. 

The Age of Great Trade and Discovery

In the period from 1500 to 1700, shipbuilding was actively developing. And that's putting it mildly. It was sailing ships at that time that supplanted any other forms of delivery of food and goods. The British, Spaniards, and Chinese actively used their fleets to build up not only military but also economic power.

The main breakthrough of that period can be considered an increase in the size of ships, as well as an improvement in their running characteristics. Oars increasingly became atavism. Interestingly, several vessels of the 17th-18th centuries have survived to this day. Among them is Vasa, a 17th-century military sailing ship. The only ship that has come down to us in its original form.

Small sailboats

While bulky battleships and maneuverable frigates crossed the oceans in search of new lands, small sailing boats continued their modest service to ordinary people.

Until the 1600s, the design of such boats underwent minimal changes. However, with the development of large merchant and military ships, some of the engineering finds migrated to small sailboats.

Probably the most important change is the transition to the Bermuda bow sail and the phasing out of straight sails. In the years 1600-1700, this change became a real boon for sailors.

Hundreds of years later, this type of sailing rig is still one of the most popular. With a high degree of probability, this type of sail is installed on your boat.

In 1720, the first yacht club appeared. It was founded in Ireland, the city of Cork. It is from this moment that the beginning of the history of amateur sailing is usually counted.

However, as early as the 1650s in England, recreational boating became a popular pastime for the nobility. Swimming up and down the Thames was a custom for royalty. Actually, these same royal persons became the founders of one of the very first regattas.

Modern sailboats

It was in the XIX-XX centuries that the first “modern” boats appeared in terms of design. Many shipbuilders have contributed to this look and style, including Nathaniel Herreshoff. He improved the design of small and medium-sized wooden sailboats.

By the beginning of the 20th century, sailing work boats were gradually becoming a thing of the past. And in general, sailing ships were gradually replaced by steam-powered ships, and ICE-powered ships were just around the corner. 

Sailing boats of small and medium dimensions were increasingly used as boats for recreation and sports. Although some anglers still used sailing yachts, it had already become a lifestyle rather than a real need.

At the same time, full-fledged cabins began to appear below the deck of small sailing boats. The need for a working hold or cargo space also faded into the background.

So, gradually, almost until the Second World War, sailing boats evolved into what we all know well. And although there was still a decent amount of time left before the real “modern” look, the concept was already clearly drawn.

Fiberglass and recent history

“There is no evil without good, and there is no good without evil,” - this is how folk wisdom says. World War II brought an exorbitant amount of suffering and pain, but at the same time - new technological solutions. Among these was fiberglass. It was widely used during the war and many shipbuilders had their eyes on this material.

Indeed, it is light, moderately durable, can replace wood and plywood. Why not make a yacht out of it? Companies such as Catalina emerged at the turn of 1950 and 1960. It was they who gave us the recognizable outlines of the hull and all the main features of the yachts of that time.

Up until the early 1990s, the fiberglass era had begun. Sailing became available to the masses, and majestic sailing giants like the Pamirs finally completed the great history of the merchant sailing fleet. By the way, we talked about the Pamirs in our Telegram channel . We recommend subscribing and not missing important news from the world of yachting!

Now you will not surprise anyone with your own boat of 7-10 meters. These yachts still mostly have Bermuda sails. Hundreds of brands and shipyards produce a huge number of boats a year. 

New boats differ from the yachts of the early 20th century in terms of convenience and less trouble in maintenance. But over the past millennia, the sail has undergone many more changes. One thing has always remained unchanged - the passion of sailors for the sea, adventure and salty wind.

Don't forget to rate the content! You can find other interesting articles on the links below or in the "News" section!

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The speed of Europe’s 18th-century sailing ships is revamping history’s view of the Industrial Revolution

Economists have long seen the Industrial Revolution as a transformation of belching coal stacks and fiery furnaces. That’s not wrong, but it misses the sweeping changes that occurred across the British economy, setting the stage for our modern world.

Two economists from the University College Dublin wanted to see how 18th century British advancements were finding their way into other sectors. To get this data, Morgan Kelly and Cormac Ó Gráda reconstructed oceanic climate conditions from ships’ daily logs between 1750 and 1850. They drew on 280,000 log book entries from the British Royal Navy and East India Company with location, wind speed, and direction data collected by climate researchers in earlier research. This allowed Kelly and Gráda to estimate the ships’ velocities over a century of global exploration and trade.

In a a paper published this month, the two economists found that the technology of British sailing ships raced ahead during this time. Changes in hull design such as copper plating (reducing drag from fouling weed and barnacles), efficient sails, and iron joints and bolts that replaced wooden ones steadily improved sailing speeds, and sea worthiness.

Between 1750 and 1830, the speed of British ships rose by about 50%. Interestingly, the sailing performance of ships from countries where industrialization was less advanced such as the Netherlands and Spain lagged significantly behind. Dutch vessels were sailing to the East Indies almost as slowly in 1790 as in 1600, the authors state. Most gains for the British ships were at high winds blowing at least 25 knots (28.7 mph), an advance that gave the new ships swift sturdiness in treacherous waters in the Atlantic and rounding Africa’s blustery Cape of Good Hope on the way to lucrative trading grounds.

Although economic historians have portrayed the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th century as “anything but revolutionary” outside sectors such as  cotton, iron, and steam , the authors argue ”a growing literature now highlights how widespread progress occurred across the British economy.” Oceanic freight by sail can now take its place alongside the rest of the transformations aided by the Industrial Revolution.

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The 15 Different Types Of Sailing Ships

The 15 types of sailing ships are listed below.

• The Schooner
• The Carrack
• The Brigantine
• The Barquentine
• The Clipper
• The Windjammer
• The Fully Rigged Ship

Throughout centuries, there have been many different types of sailing ships seen from harbors and coastlines around the world.

This article will show the various types of sailing vessels that have made their mark in maritime history and we showcase their purposes and why they are still remarkable feats of marine engineering.

The different sizes, shapes, and masts of the ships required different numbers of sailors to handle them and each type of ship was crafted with a different purpose in mind.

All ships are unique with no two types of ships being the same with each coming with its own experiences, features and requirements.

1. The Schooner

The Schooner sailing vessel, with an average size of 46m (152 feet) in length, was developed in the early 17th century and first used by the Dutch.

The ship came with fore and aft sails and they were created to operate in the toughest of wind and ocean conditions.

The Schooner was a multi-purpose sailing vessel used for transporting slaves to transporting cargo and it was used for fishing and racing too.

There are 5 different schooner types that are characterized by their rig configurations listed below.

• Tern schooner : This was a 3-masted schooner most popular between 1880 and 1920 capable of carrying up to 400 tons in cargo and it required a crew of 6-8 people
• 4-6 masts schooner : These schooners spread the sail area over smaller sails
• Grand Bank Fishing schooner : Similar to the famous Bluenose, it carries the main gaff topsail and a fisherman's staysail set between the masts.
• Square Topsail schooner : This was a combination of fore and aft sails and small square sails, most popularly used for coastal cargo transportation in the 1800s
• Coastal schooner : This was a coastal schooner sailing ship used for carrying goods and general cargo to nearby islands along the coast ( 1 )

The 19th Century schooner came with two or three masts, the one at the fore being shorter than the others.

Modern schooners, with Bermuda rigged sails, remain powerful, economical coastal liners traversing the Pacific.

Famous schooner sailing ships are listed below.

• America : The Schooner named " America " was designed for racing and it became the first winner of the America's Cup international sailing trophy ( 2 )
• Thomas W Lawson : The schooner “ Thomas W Lawson ” had a unique seven masts, with interchangeable sails and gear
• Wawona : The schooner " Wawona " was one of the largest lumber carriers and fishing vessels between 1897 and 1947

2. The Carrack

The Carrack, developed in the 14th and 15th centuries with the first built in Portugal, is a nautically-rigged wooden ship with three or four masts each having square sails or triangular sails and it was heavily used between the 14th to 15th Centuries and remained popular until the 18th Century. It is the sailing ship Christopher Columbus used to sail the world.

It was the largest ship in Europe with the Spanish Carrack being more than 1,000 tons in weight and 150 feet (45 meters) in length. More modern versions of the Carrack were developed by the Portuguese and they could hold up to 2,000 tons. ( 3 ).

The Carrack had 4 decks with the lower 2 used for cargo, the 3rd was for accommodation and the 4th was for cargo owned by the crew ( 4 ) and this bulky ship was the standard trading ship along the Baltic, Mediterranean, Asian, and Atlantic coasts in the mid-16th century useful for carrying cargo across seas.

The Carrack had a strange shape which made it cumbersome to sail close to the wind and after a lot of engineering experiments, parts of the ship were stripped off giving the ship a high stern and a low bow.

The modern Carrack features a square-rigged mainmast, foremast, and a latten-rigged Mizzen mast, along with a rounded stern, sizable bowsprit, forecastle, and aft castle.

This is a large ship, built to carry heavy freight for long-distance hauls since it was very steady even in the worst weather with the British Army calling it the “Great Ship” because of its highly-functional ship design.

Famous carrack shipping vessels are listed below.

• Santa Maria : This was the famous ship that Christopher Columbus used to sail and discover America in 1492
• Victoria : The first ship to circumnavigate the globe
• Grace Dieu : This was commissioned by King Henry V and it was one of the largest carrack ships in the world in 1418
• Cinco Chagas : This was presumed to be the richest ship at that time. it was sunk in battle in 1594 ( 5 )

3. The Brigantine

A Brigantine is a two-masted sailing ship with the main mast both a fore-and-aft main sail, a triangular type of sail and a square main topsail that came in various sizes ranging from 30 tons to 150 tons and it could carry a crew of up to 125 people but the shipping vessel could still be handled by a smaller crew if needed.

These ships were similar to the sailing vessel called the Brig as they both had top-gallant sails and were used by the Royal Navy to scout and monitor enemies on the high seas while also being popular amongst pirates as they were faster and easily maneuverable sailing vessels.

It is unclear when the ship was originally built with loose definitions date the ship back to the 13th century when it was originally referred to as the "sail and oar-driven war vessel" ( 6 ) and early academic definitions where the vessel was referred to as the "Brigantine" was first seen in books in the early to mid-16th century ( 7 ).

They would sail across the trade routes of the Baltics and Northern Europe, all the way from Germany to Scandinavia.

The mid-size ships had two sails on the-mainmast with a stripped-down fully-squared rig.

4. The Barquentine

The Barquentine, first built in the 17th century and also referred to as a " schooner barque ", " barkentine " or " schooner bark ", is a sailing ship similar to a barque but with only the foremast square-rigged and the remaining masts rigged fore and aft ( 9 ). They weighed 250 to 500 tons.

The Barquentine has three or more masts and square sails on the fore and aft masts with the main mast had topmast and gaff sails and these had been stripped down to facilitate operation by a slimmer crew and basic rig.

The Barquentine sailed the waters of Northern Europe which were dominated by variable wind speeds and they were popularly used to carry lumber from Scandinavia and Germany to England and the Baltic Areas.

5. The Xebec

The Xebec, also known as " Zebec ", a name derived from the Arabic word for "Small Ship", was a sailing ship built in the 16th to mid-19th century that was used mainly for moving cargo.

The Xebec sailing vessel held between 90 and 400 crew and was 103ft 9 inches in length with a tonnage of between 200 - 300 tons ( 10 ) and they were very agile and popular with European navies.

The features of the Xebec are listed below.

• Long-prow bulkheads
• Narrow elongated hulls
• Huge lateen yards
• One aft-set mizzen mast
• 3 lateen-pillared masts, both raked forward and having a single triangular sail

Their shallow draft and lateen rig allowed for a closer pinch to the wind allowing them to flee quickly or turn around and fire a broadside volley quickly.

After a lot of engineering experiments, the Xebec gave rise to the Polacre-Xebec, which replaced the mizzen mast. The mainmast of the new derivative also had a square rig and these new vessels were light and could not carry a heavy load with the shallow draft and low free-board making them unsuitable for open-seas sailing.

6. The Barque

The barque, also referred to as " barc " or " bark ", is a sailing ship first introduced in the 15th century ( 11 ) with 3 or more masts with square sails on all masts, except the aft or mizzen mast. It could carry approximately 500 tons and could hold a crew of 100 people.

Although they are quite similar, the barque should not be confused with the Schooner Bark which is a different vessel.

The Barque ship was commonly used by traders to carry extremely high volumes of cargo from Australia to Europe with cargo mainly consisting of Nitrates and Guano destined for the Western South American coast and they were popular in the period prior to the start of World War II.

7. The Clipper

A clipper was a sailing vessel introduced in the mid-19th century that was mainly used as a merchant ship for transporting goods and it was designed for speed.

Clipper ships ranged in size from a few hundred tons to over 4000 tons ( 12 ) and they all had a narrow build, a protruding stern, 3 to 5 masts for speed, and a square rig.

They were most commonly used by British and American traders to ship goods from China to their countries and they were also used to ferry Gold and Tea back to Great Britain and the Americas.

Famous clipper ships are listed below.

• Cisne Branco : This is a steel-hulled built like the original clipper. It is used as a training vessel by the Brazilian navy to this day
• Race Horse : This clipper ship set the record of getting from New York to San Francisco in 109 days in 1850 which was a record at that time
• Marco Polo : This clipper vessel was the first boat of the time to make around trip between England & Australia in under 6 months in 1852

8. The Windjammer

The Windjammer is a commercial sailing ship built in the 19th century with a capacity between 2,000 to 8,000 tons and the speed ranged from 14 to 21 knots ( 13 ).

It came with three to five square-rigged masts and it had a cost-effective extended hull that allowed for larger storage space.

It was a general-class merchant ship and was mainly used to transport bulky cargo and it ferried lumber, coal, and many other goods from one continent to another before evolving from carrying cargo to carrying passengers on cruises in later generations.

9. The Fluyt

The Fluyt, also known as " fleut " or " fluit " is a sailing ship that originated in the 16th century in the Dutch Republic with a weight between 200 and 300 tons, approximately 80 feet (24 meters) in length, and a crew capacity of 12 - 15 people ( 14 ).

The Fluyt has three squared-rigged masts and was primarily used as a merchant ship to transport cargo.

It was lightly fortified, had a small stern and extended box-style structure, and was crafted using specialized tools to reduce the costs of production and make them affordable to merchants.

10. The Fully-Rigged Ship

A fully rigged ship, also referred to as a "full-rigged ship", is a sailing ship with three or more masts, with all of the masts being square-rigged and the rig, hull, mast, and yards made of iron, wood, or steel.

A full-rigged ship weighed an average 325 tons and could carry a crew of up to 36 people and these ships required a larger crew because of their fully rigged construction ( 15 ).

During the 18th century, a full-rigged ship was also referred to as a " frigate " and they were mainly used for patrolling and for attacking.

A full-rigged ship weighed an average 325 tons and could carry a crew of up to 36 people ( 16 ).

However, towards the end of the 19th century, these ships were stripped down so they could be handled by a smaller crew which helped in easier handling of the sails during the monsoon period when winds would change speed and direction without any warning.

This helped in easier handling of the sails during the monsoon period when winds would change speed and direction without any warning.

A fully rigged ship masts from stern to bow consists of: ( 17 )

• Mainmast : This is the tallest mast on the ship
• Foremast : This is the second tallest mast on the ship
• Mizzenmast : This is the third tallest mast on the sailing vessel
• Jiggermast : If there is a 4th mast, it will be the jiggermast and will be the smallest mast on the ship

11. The Cutter

The cutter is a smaller sailing ship built in the early 18th century with a single mast rigged fore and aft and it varied in size from 20ft to 34 ft in length on average with a crew capacity of between 21 to 66 people ( 19 ).

A cutter sailing vessel features: ( 18 )

• Narrow hull
• 2 or more headsails
• Decked sailcraft
• Raking transom
• Vertical stem
• A gaff-rigged long bowsprit

This sailing ship was used for patrolling territorial waters and other enforcement activities during the 18th century and it was used to ferry soldiers and government officials because it was very fast and could outrun any enemy.

Modern-day cutters have a rugged appearance, are small and aptly fit into their intended purpose – speed and agility and the British Sailing Club still has open-oared cutters in their fleet of sailing ships.

12. The Yawl

A Yawl is a sailing ship that was originally that was originally a dutch ship nicknamed " Dandy " or " Jol " in Dutch built in the 19th century with a speed range from 10-14 knots, an average crew size of 25 people and a ship size ranging from 30ft to 75ft in length with beam sizes ranging from 10ft to 12ft.

They bore two fully-equipped masts and a fore-and-aft sail, a smaller jigger-mast and a mizzen mast that leans towards the rudder post of the ship with the mizzen sail in this case purposely designed to aid in balancing and trimming the ship on rough waters.

One famous yawl sailing ship is the Islander which was a 34ft yawl that Harry Pidgeon sailed around the world on. He was the second person in 1918 to sail around the world at that time.

13. The Brig

The brig is a two-masted sailing ship that was originally built in the 18th century with square rigging on both masts and sometimes had a spanker on the aft mast.

The length of a brig varied from 75ft to 165ft with tonnages up to 480 ith tonnages up to 480 and it needed a crew of 22 people ( 20 ).

The brig was used as a war vessel and a cargo ship for transporting goods and they were later used to ferry large cargo on the open seas since they could easily follow the direction of the prevailing winds.

It came with a berthing deck that had sleeping quarters for cabin crew and marine officials, storage areas, a sail bin, a wood-paneled stove room, guns, and carronades.

They would be brought into the harbor without using tugs and could maneuver well in small areas.

Famous brig ships are listed below.

• USS Argus : This was a United States Navy brig that fought in the First Barbary War, taking part in the blockage of Tripoli and the war of 1812
• USS Reprisal : This was the first ship of the United States Navy
• USS Somers : This was a brig in the United States Navy that became infamous for being the only US Navy ship to undergo a mutiny

14. The Ketch

A ketch is a two-masted sailboat that originated in the 17th century with most ketch ships ranging from 40ft to over 120ft in size and weighing between 100 and 250 tons. A ketch ship needed a smaller crew of only 4 people to operate ( 21 ).

The ketch looked just like the Yawl and as stated had two masts each having a fore-and-aft rig with the difference between the two being that the ketch had a mizzen mast placed on the taller mainmast but at a position in front of the rudder post. The mizzen in this case aided in maneuvering the vessel.

A ketch ship was used for:

• Cargo Transportation

15. The Hulk

A hulk is an 18th-century ship that is a derivative of the Carrack with a weight of 400 tons that is afloat but incapable of going to sea. In maritime terms, the name "Hulk" was given to ships that were outdated, stripped down or unprofitable to run.

The bulk of the hulk fleet was comprised of abandoned ships, stripped down and therefore could not continue to ply across the Mediterranean Sea as cargo or transport ships.

They are stationary and kept for their buoyancy and were used as a prison, a place for gambling.

• Maritime Museum Of The Atlantic. " Sailing Ship Rigs ".
• The New York Times. " America's Cup Held Here Since 1851 ", PDF.
• World History Encyclopedia. " Carrack Definition ," Paragraph 3.
• Same As Reference 3
• Military History. " Carracks, Famous Carracks ," Paragraph 9.
• " Aken, tjalken en kraken " by Hans Haalmeijer & Dirk Adrianus Vuik, Page 12.
• Google Books Ngram Viewer. " Brigantine ".
• Gaspee Info. " Brigentines Described ," Paragraph 3.
• Wikipedia. " Barquentine ," Paragraph 1.
• " Ship: 5000 Years Of Maritime Adventure " by Brian Lavery, Page 137.
• Oxford English Dictionary (Online Edition). " Barque ".
• University of Houston. " No. 338 Clipper Ship ". Paragraph 2
• Marine Insights. " Windjammer Sailing Ships: From Past to Present ". Paragraph 8
• History Today. " Dutch Shipbuilding in the Golden Age ". Volume 34, No. 1
• " The Story Of The Sea, Volume 1 " by Arthur Quiller-Couch, Page 20.
• Whaling Museum. " Rigs Of Vessel, Ship ," Paragraph 1.
• " A Dictionary of Sea Terms " by Anstead, A, Page 96.
• Britannia. " Cutter, Sailing Craft ". Paragraph 1.
• " The Boats Of Men Of War " by William May & Simon Stephens
• Texas Navy Association. " Glossary Of Nautical Terms ". Page 1
• National Museum Of American History. " Ship Model, Ketch ". Paragraph 1

Vessels and Terminology

An introduction to the essential tools – the vessels – and terminology used aboard a whaling voyage.

A Brief Look at Shipboard Terms

A whaleship was a floating community with its own rules and language. Landlubbers (land dwellers or new seamen) may need a guide to shipboard lingo:

Abaft : To the rear of or in the direction of the stern (rear) of the ship.

Aft:  At, near, or toward the stern (rear) of a vessel; opposite of forward.

After House:  The name given to a square or rectangular cabin built on deck near the middle of a whaleship. It was used as a place to get out of the weather or as a privy.

Aloft:  Above the deck in the rigging.

Amidships:  In the middle of the ship.

Avast!:  Stop that!

Boom:  A sturdy pole, attached to the foot (bottom) of a fore-and-aft sail (see below), used for spreading and maneuvering the sail.

Bow:  (Pronounced as in “take a bow”) The front end of a boat or ship.

Braces:  Ropes to move the yards in a horizontal plane.

Crow’s Nest:  Originally a barrel lashed at the top-gallant mast (the highest section of the mainmast) where a man was stationed to look for whales or ice. Usually only employed in the Arctic and Antarctic fisheries.

Decks:  The “floors” of a ship.

Figurehead:  A carved decoration on the bow (front) of the ship.

Forward:  Opposite of aft; front section of vessel.  Fore:  Indicates part of the hull, rigging, or equipment located at, near, or toward the forward end of a ship.

Fore-and-aft-rigged:  A method of hanging sails on vertical masts at fore (forward) and aft (rear) so that they hang parallel with the keel of the ship (instead of hanging horizontally across the deck, as square-rigged sails do). Fore-and-aft-rigged ships were popular with owners because they required smaller crews than square-rigged ships.

Gam:  An exchange of visits at sea by the crews of two or more whaleships. The Gamming Chair at left was used to transport individuals from one ship to another.

Keel:  A long structural timber running along the outside of the bottom of a ship from front to back – “from stem (another nautical term for front) to stern” (back or rear).

Leeward:  Pronounced “loo’ ard.” The side away from the prevailing wind.

Mast:  An upright pole for supporting sails and ropes. A mast may be a single pole or number of poles in consecutive extension, one on top of the other. Each mast has a name determined by its height, such as “lowermast” or “topmast,” or its position, such as the “mainmast,” which was usually the second mast from the front of a three-masted ship.

Port:  The left side of a ship, as the steersman stands facing forward. In earlier times, called “larboard.”

Rig:  The distinctive arrangement of masts, rigging, and sails that indicates a type of vessel, such as a bark or schooner.

Spar:  A general term for a strong pole used in the rig of a ship. Depending on its position and use, a spar may be called a boom, gaff, mast, yard, etc.

Spyglass:  A small telescope often used by the captain on the bridge.

Square-rigged:  A ship on which some of the principal sails are square in shape and hang across the deck, rather than running with the keel (as in a fore-and-aft-rigged ship.)

Starboard:  The right side of a ship, as the steersman stands facing forward.

Stern:  The rear of a ship.

Tack:  To sail a zigzag course, as nearly as possible into the wind, to reach one’s destination. (A ship cannot sail directly into the wind.)

Tonnage:  The carrying capacity of a ship (not its weight).

Windward:  The side against which the wind is blowing.

Yards:  Horizontal poles which cross the mast and support the sails on a square-rigged vessel. The ends are known as “yardarms.”

Barks and Brigs, Ships and Schooners

Floating factory.

The Yankee whaler was a highly evolved vessel that incorporated a variety of technological details that served to distinguish it from any other type of craft.

It was designed to carry a large crew of men (up to 35 individuals) who would process and store materials obtained in the hunt over a period of years. Here it must be said that not all whalers were built for the purpose of whaling. Many were converted to whaling from their previous uses in the merchant service. All whalers, regardless of previous use had various details making them unique. The most conspicuous feature was the brick furnace called the try works located just behind the foremast. Whalers also had three to five whaleboats hanging from big wooden davits on both sides of the vessel; two upside-down spare boats sitting atop a wooden frame mounted on the deck, and a deep and capacious hold where the large casks of oil could be stored. At sea a whaler could be distinguished by its slow speed, possibly a plume of smoke rising from the try-works and the men stationed at the top of each mast looking out for whales. While cutting-in a whale the large and heavy industrial-grade blocks and the men standing on boards over the side of the vessels wielding long-handled spades and the large group of men in the bow of the vessel heaving at the windlass marked the ship as a whaler. Many whalers were painted with false gun ports for purposes of disguise and intimidation from a distance. This painting scheme could deter pirates on the high seas or hostile peoples encountered at the many remote landfalls commonly frequented by these vessels. The average square-rigged whaleship was about 100 feet long and 300 tons carrying capacity. (see illustration below, “Cutting in a Whale”)

Types of whaleship rigs

This type of vessel has three masts, each with topmast and topgallant mast and square-rigged on all three masts. Ships often carried four boats, sometimes five and had the largest number of crew. There were six men per boat plus the ship-keepers, men who stayed aboard the vessel when the boats were down after whales. Ship-keepers included the steward, cook, cooper, blacksmith or carpenter. There could be as many as 37 people on board a ship.

Very similar to a ship rig in that it was a sailing vessel with three masts, square-rigged on the fore and main masts and fore-and-aft rigged on the mizzenmast. This rig became very popular in the mid-19th century as it required fewer crew to handle the sails when the boats were down for whales, thus saving the owners money. See the Museum’s half-scale model of the Bark Lagoda .

The true brig is a two-masted vessel square-rigged on both fore and main masts. Brigs were most often employed in shorter voyages to the Atlantic Ocean and saw use throughout the 19th century.

The schooner was the smallest of the whalers, usually with two masts and four-and-aft rigged sails and carrying two or three whaleboats. Six months was the ordinary length of voyage and most schooners were employed in the Atlantic. Although the schooner was employed throughout the history of Yankee whaling it was especially favored in the later period (1890-1925), because it was economical to outfit.

The Whaleboat

Classic design.

Whaleboat builders refined the craft’s design, shaping it into a dependable means of getting close enough to a whale for the kill. A whaleship sailed with three to five whaleboats swinging from davits (cranes used on ships). Spares, usually two, were stowed on top of the after house at midship.

Each whaleboat was:

• Light and strong
• Approximately 30 feet long, six feet wide
• Pointed at both ends
• Sometimes painted in bright colors at bow (front) and stern (rear) for easy identification at a distance
• Equipped with mast, sail, and rudder, as well as oars and paddles. The oars were unusually long, ranging from 16 to 22 feet long.

Sleek lines gave these boats beauty as well as speed and maneuverability. Their uncomplicated design made them easy to repair – important on long voyages, because whaleboats were often damaged during encounters with whales. Each whaleboat had a crew of six The  boatheader , usually the captain or one of the mates, stood on a narrow piece of wood across the stern (rear), handled the steering oar, and commanded the boat; The  harpooneer  or  boatsteerer  pulled the bow oar up front and four crewmen rowed with oars that were balanced in length so the boat could be rowed equally well by four or five men.

The right equipment was essential Each whaleboat carried:

• Two wooden tubs, each with 150 fathoms (900 feet) of coiled hemp line. Care was taken to ensure that the rope would uncoil without kinks — to prevent injury or death for crewmen or loss of the whaleboat
• Two harpoons, ready for use, and two or three spares
• Two or three lances, or barbless blades, used to kill the whale
• Hatchet and knives to cut the line in an emergency
• Wooden keg for drinking water
• A piggin – a small bucket for bailing water from the boat or for wetting the line attached to the harpoon in the whale, if it began to smoke when the line ran out rapidly as wounded prey tried to escape
• A lantern-keg with flint, steel, box of tinder, lantern, candles, bread, tobacco, pipes
• Waif – a long-poled flag used to locate a floating carcass from a distance and to identify it for other whaleships
• A dragging float to make it harder for the whale to swim
• Fluke spade to cut a hole in the whale’s tail and tow the carcass back to the ship
• Miscellaneous equipment, including anchor, buoy, etc.

Funded, in part, by the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism.

©2024 New Bedford Whaling Museum

Designed & developed by designprinciples.com

Boats from the 1700 and 1800s

April Michelle Davis, a freelance editor, indexer, proofreader, and author, is a wife and mother of four. She loves to write and uses many avenues to express herself such as her websites, newsletters, blogs, and other social media outlets. April also homeschools her boys and sometimes find herself creating and writing their lessons. In addition, she has written three books (two technical and one fiction), and because of her fascination with princesses and castles, her fiction book includes a lot of history from the 1700s and 1800s. With this in mind, April has written the following post about boats.

April Michelle Davis.

Boats from the 1700s and 1800s traveled much slower than today’s boats because they were powered by the wind and sails and they usually followed trade patterns. In the early eighteenth century, the hulls were made from wood, which limited the size of the boat. The length of the hull was important because it added stability to keep the boat upright and provide space for the cargo of teas and spices, and even mail.

In addition, the life span of the wooden hulls was shortened by bug infestations, which weakened the wood and led to instability and leaks, and also by the effects of the saltwater. In the late eighteenth century, the wooden hulls were replaced with copper, which proved to be more sustainable. Cooper was expensive, but the benefits (farther travel and fewer repairs) quickly out weighted the costs, and thus many royal and war ship bottoms were covered with cooper. Early nineteenth century merchant boats followed suit and coopered their bottoms.

The wheel to steer these boats can be seen as the sexy centerpiece that is on the deck with strong men manhandling it to keep the boat on course. But into the early eighteenth century, the wheel had not been invented and in its place was a whipstaff, a board that connected to the tiller, which in turn connected to the rudder and changed the direction of the boat. Then the wheel replaced the whipstaff, and it connected to the tiller with ropes. In reality, the wheel is the last part of this multi-functioning system. Huntley, a character in “A Princess in Disguise,” and his crew man their boat’s wheel to keep the boat moving in the correct direction. The crew took turns staying awake while sailing the boat and being on the lookout for weather and tide changes, other boats and sea life, and pirates. Bigger boats and ships, such as the ones the king in “A Princes in Disguise” owned, had double wheels to steer them. In rough waters, individual crew members on the king’s ships could man each wheel and together the two men’s strength would control the wheels and keep the ship on course.

Whipstaff. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Preserving food for the men onboard these boats was no easy task. There weren’t refrigerators like there are on today’s boats. However, the crew needed nourishment to be healthy and strong and work together to handle the boat masts and sails, to host and pull in the anchor, and to load and unload the cargo. Food onboard was preserved by salt or canning. The meals were life sustaining, but lacked full nutritional value and the menu varied little. At times such as after replenishing supplies at a port, there may have been some blocks of ice onboard to keep food cold. But for most of the trip, the food was kept in the state of dried, canned, or alive. Dried fruits and vegetables were a common staple. Flour and meal for breads was plentiful. They were inexpensive to buy or barter for; therefore, they were usually in good supply. Because the supply was in large quantities, it often became bug infested. Live chickens may have been kept on or below deck. The chickens were kept in cages or in closed off areas of the boat where they ate and pooped and pooped and ate. This made for unsanitary conditions. The chickens may have had worms, but they were still killed and eaten. A crewman could easily become ill from what he consumed and die before reaching the next port with a medical facility.

Portrait of a sailor taken on board the French aviso Ardent, 1857. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

The life of a crewman in the 1700s and 1800s was hard. He was often at sea for long periods of time, separated from his family, doing physical labor on little sleep, seldom bathing, eating contaminated foods, and living in unsanitary conditions. Some crewmen could not read or write similar to Huntley, the captain of a boat “A Princess in Disguise.” Fortunately, he could draw well to chart voyages.

If you are interested in learning more about April, you can visit her website by clicking here . If you want to connect with her on Twitter, click here . If you want to connect with April on Facebook, click here , and if you’re interested in pinning, April can be found by at pinterest by clicking here .

If you are interested in learning more about April’s book, “A Princess in Disguise” here is a synopsis:

On the night of her sixteenth birthday and before her father has the chance to force her to marry a complete stranger, Princess Margaret sneaks away from the riches and safety of the palace. Torn between her fate and freedom, Princess Margaret desperately searches for her mother as the answer. In a quest of soul searching and physical hardships, the twist of events may take the readers by surprise, instilling a piece of the story in their hearts.

To learn more about this book or to purchase it, please click on the appropriate link below.

• Barnes and Noble
• April’s Website

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History of the Yacht

By: American Sailing Sailing History

When does a boat become a yacht? One answer has always been, you can tell a yacht when you see one. But, It really has nothing to do with size of the boat, weight of the boat, its style, sleeping quarters, heads, tillers, or a wheel. A yacht is a boat that was designed for the express pleasure of its owner.

The yacht is an invention of the 14th century Dutch. The Dutch used small, fast boats for chasing smugglers, pirates and criminals. Rich ship owners and merchants began using these small “ jaghts ” to sail out to celebrate their returning merchant ships. It quickly became chic to use these “ jaghts ” to take friends out just for pleasure.

“ Mary ” was presented to King Charles II by the Dutch in 1660.

Charles II of England spent 10 years in exile in Holland before he was returned to the English throne in 1660. His return to the throne was celebrated by the city of Amsterdam, presenting him with a luxurious 60’ yacht including a crew of 20. Her name was Mary. He took great pleasure in sailing her up and down the Thames. He studied navigation and even naval architecture and he built approximately 20 yachts during his lifetime. It can be said that he was the world’s first yachtsman. His enthusiasm for yachting was contagious and his brother James, Duke of York, joined him and also became an avid yachtsman as well.

As always when there are two sailboats on the water a race ensues. Soon the first organized regatta was planned as a 40-mile race on the Thames. It took place in 1661 between Katherine , Charles’s newly constructed yacht and Anne , the Duke of York’s new yacht with Charles himself at the helm Katherine won and a new sport was born.

Yachting stayed the Sport of Kings for over a century, but by the 1800s yachting had grown to included participants of more than just the crown heads of Europe. The worlds wealthiest had joined in. Yacht Clubs were forming. The first yacht club in the world, called the Cork Water Club , was established in Ireland in 1720, followed the Lough Ree Yacht Club in 1770 (again in Ireland), and the Starcross Yacht Club in 1772 in England.

Cowes Castle became the headquarters of the Royal Yacht Squadron around 1858.

Probably the most famous of all the English yacht clubs the The Royal Yacht Squadron was founded on June 1, 1815 in the Thatched House Tavern in St James’s, London as The Yacht Club by 42 gentlemen interested in yachting.

Across the pond the New York Yacht Club (NYYC) was started on July 30, 1844 when John Cox Stevens invited eight friends to his yacht Gimcrack , anchored in New York Harbor. They formed a syndicate to build a yacht with the intention of taking her to England and making some money competing in yachting regattas and match races. They choose to build a Pilot style Schooner to represent the club; at the time there was no faster design!

Pilot Schooners would lie at anchor in the inner harbor of New York City and wait for the behmoth square rigged Clippers carrying goods between America and Europe. The Pilot Boats purpose was to guide the huge square riggers that would appear at the entrance to New York Harbor’s Verazno Straights, to a berth in the City. The Schooners had to be fast to make a living. First one to the cargo ship got the job second got nothing.

The syndicate contracted with master schooner designer George Steers for a 101 ft (30.78 m) schooner which was christened America and launched on the 3 of May 1851. America crossed the Atlantic on her own bottom that year and challenged all of England’s fastest yachts to a match race. No yachts were willing to race her. Finally, America joined a free-for-all on Friday, August 22, around the Isle of Wight, racing against 15 yachts of the Royal Yacht Squadron in the club’s annual 53-nautical-mile (98 km) race around the Isle of Wight. Finishing 8 minutes ahead of its closest rival. America had won the Royal Yacht Squadron’s “ Hundred Guinea Cup “, later called the America’s Cup in honor of the yacht that won it.

The Yacht America

Watching the race was Queen Victoria, who supposedly inquired, “ Which is first? ” Told it was America , she asked, “ Which is second? ” “ Ah, Your Majesty, there is no second, ” was the reply. Or so the story goes. The NYYC defended that trophy from 1870-1983. This has been described by journalists as “ the longest winning streak in sports “.

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When Deadly Steamboat Races Enthralled America

In July 1852, the “Henry Clay” caught fire during a contest on the Hudson River, killing an estimated 80 people

Greg Daugherty

History Correspondent

During the 19th century, hundreds of steamboats traversed America’s waterways, carrying passengers faster and more luxuriously than ever before.

“The steamboat was the first American invention of world-shaking importance,” wrote historian James Thomas Flexner in 1944. In fact, he added , it “was one of those crucial inventions that change the whole cultural climate of the human race.”

Defined broadly as any vessel powered by a steam engine, the term “steamboat” is more often used to describe paddle wheel -propelled crafts that roamed the rivers of the United States, particularly the Mississippi, in the 19th century. An early prototype set sail in 1787, but it was only in 1807 that the first commercially successful steamboat made its debut . High-stakes—and sometimes deadly— steamboat races followed soon after.

What made the steamboat revolutionary was its ability to travel on rivers and other waterways regardless of which way they flowed. Prior to steamboats, says Robert Gudmestad , a historian at Colorado State University and the author of Steamboats and the Rise of the Cotton Kingdom , water transportation was largely limited to rectangular, flat-bottomed boats that could only move in one direction. Sailors would load the flatboats “up in Tennessee or Kentucky, … float them down the Mississippi and break them up for scrap once they’d reached their destination,” Gudmestad explains.

Useful as steamboats were, they came with one big problem: They were inherently dangerous . The boilers they used to make steam were prone to exploding and igniting fires. Not only were the boats built mostly out of wood, but their cargos also often included highly flammable cotton bales, along with barrels of turpentine and gunpowder. The waterways themselves presented numerous hazards, including “ snags ”—large tree limbs and uprooted trees that either floated atop the water or lurked beneath the surface. As rivers became more congested with traffic, steamboats also ran the risk of colliding with other boats, particularly at night when they had to use torches to light their way.

Between 1816 and 1848, boiler explosions alone killed more than 1,800 passengers and crew and injured another 1,000, according to government records . The sinking of the steamboat Sultana in 1865, also the result of a boiler explosion, claimed as many as 1,800 lives —still the worst maritime disaster in U.S. history. “Western steamboats usually blow up one or two a week in the season,” Charles Dickens observed after an 1842 tour of the U.S.

One of the most horrific accidents occurred in 1838, when the Moselle , a fast and nearly new Ohio River steamboat, exploded off Cincinnati. “All the boilers, four in number, burst simultaneously,” reported one contemporary author. “The deck was blown into the air, and the human beings who crowded it were doomed to instant destruction. Fragments of the boiler and of human bodies were thrown both to the Kentucky and Ohio shores, although the distance to the former was a quarter of a mile.” At least 120 people died, but the exact death toll remains unknown.

“Western steamboats showed an appalling accident record,” wrote historian Daniel J. Boorstin in 1965. “A voyage on the Mississippi, it was often said, was far more dangerous than a passage across the ocean.”

As if these hazards weren’t enough, steamboats soon began racing each other in what quickly became a nationwide sensation. In some cases, the races were planned and advertised in advance, with spectators lining the riverbanks beforehand to enjoy the spectacle. Others were impromptu affairs, sometimes urged on by thrill-seeking passengers. Steamboat captains competed as a matter of pride and ego, while boat owners believed that establishing a winning record would draw more passengers and sell more tickets. Gamblers also bet on the outcomes; in one celebrated 1870 race, total wagers amounted to more than $1 million (around $23 million today).

In addition to bragging rights, the winning boat was typically awarded a large pair of deer antlers , often painted gold, that could be mounted in a prominent place for all to admire.

“I think that much the most enjoyable of all races is a steamboat race,” wrote Mark Twain in his 1883 memoir, Life on the Mississippi . “Two red-hot steamboats raging along, neck-and-neck, straining every nerve—that is to say, every rivet in the boilers—quaking and shaking and groaning from stem to stern, spouting white steam from the pipes, pouring black smoke from the chimneys, raining down sparks, parting the river into long breaks of hissing foam—this is sport that makes a body’s very liver curl with enjoyment.”

Twain deemed horse races “pretty tame and colorless in comparison,” noting that he’d never seen anybody killed at one. Deaths were all too common in steamboat racing. Passengers and crew were scalded or blown to pieces in boiler explosions; burned alive in fires; or forced to take their chances in the water, where they often drowned. Boiler explosions were even more likely during races, when crews often circumvented safety valves in order to pour on extra speed.

Just as Flexner saw the steamboat as a distinctly American innovation, the 19th-century humorist Charles Godfrey Leland said much the same about steamboat racing. “From the days of the Romans and Norsemen down to the present time, there was never any form of amusement discovered so daring, so dangerous and so exciting as a steamboat race,” he wrote in 1893, “and nobody but Americans could have ever invented or indulged in it.”

The races begin

What Flexner calls “the first steamboat race in American history” occurred in July 1811. It pitted a brand-new steamboat, the Hope , against inventor Robert Fulton ’s The North River in what was supposed to be a race down the Hudson River from Albany to New York City. Unfortunately, the two boats, traveling at the then-astonishing speed of about five miles an hour, got too close and collided near the town of Hudson. Neither boat was seriously damaged, but their captains decided to call it a draw.

Steamboat racing soon spread to other rivers, as well as to the Great Lakes .

In 1851, the showman P.T. Barnum arranged a steamboat race on the Ohio River, from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh, to promote local appearances by Jenny Lind , a celebrated songstress known as the Swedish Nightingale. The Messenger No. 2 , with Barnum and Lind aboard, took on a rival boat, the Buckeye State . The latter won, but Barnum got his money’s worth and then some in newspaper publicity .

Meanwhile, steamboat racing continued on the Hudson, all too often with catastrophic results. In July 1852, the Henry Clay caught fire off Yonkers, New York, possibly from overheated boilers, resulting in an estimated 80 deaths , many from drowning. “There was a wild panic, the terror-stricken men and women fighting for possession of the life preservers and struggling with one another even after landing in the water,” wrote David Lear Buckman in his 1907 book, Old Steamboat Days on the Hudson River . Though the Clay ’s captain and owners denied that the ship had been racing, passengers testified otherwise, identifying the other ship as the Armenia , which had apparently dropped out of the race well before the disaster.

The New-York Daily Tribune denounced the Clay ’s recklessness as “ wholesale murder ,” a sentiment apparently shared by much of the American public. The incident became a major catalyst for the Steamboat Act of 1852 , which imposed stricter safety and inspection requirements and called for the licensing of river pilots and engineers.

Not every steamboat race ended in tragedy, of course. In 1847, for example, robber baron Cornelius Vanderbilt bet $1,000 that his namesake steamer, the C. Vanderbilt , could beat the steamboat Oregon in a round-trip race between New York City and Ossining, New York. The competition got so intense that the Oregon ’s crew began burning the ship’s furnishings to fuel its boilers. “Berths, settees, chairs and doors went into the flames in order to keep up steam,” noted American Heritage magazine in 1989. The Oregon won the race, and Vanderbilt, a man unaccustomed to losing, had to pay up.

In 1870, the steamboats Robert E. Lee and Natchez competed to determine which was the fastest boat on the Mississippi. The much-publicized event , billed as the Great Mississippi Steamboat Race , began in New Orleans and ended in St. Louis, taking nearly four days from start to finish.

Steamboats like the Lee and Natchez used enormous amounts of fuel and had to stop periodically to take on more coal or firewood, as well as freight and passengers, during the course of a race. Newspapers provided frequent updates , telegraphed in by reporters at various points along the route, revealing which boat was ahead and by how many minutes or hours.

Some papers covered the gambling on the race—which produced bets totaling upwards of $1 million—as avidly as the race itself. The Daily Arkansas Gazette , for example, reported that “New Orleans was wild with excitement and betting going on furiously. One enthusiastic admirer of the Natchez in that city has staked all his cash and closed by betting his house and lot against $30,000.”

Nor was the excitement limited to New Orleans. “Betting by telegraph between Cincinnati, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Louisville and Chicago exceeds anything ever done or heard of,” the Gazette added.

The Lee won the race, but by then, the era of the steamboat was largely past. Historian Gudmestad says it peaked in the 1850s, as railroads became the country’s dominant mode of transportation, facilitated in part by large government subsidies .

The end of the steamboat era also meant the demise of steamboat racing, though the tradition is still celebrated today in the annual Great Steamboat Race on the Ohio River, part of the festivities surrounding the Kentucky Derby. The 14-mile race has been held nearly every year since 1963, with the exception of the pandemic year of 2020. This year, it’s scheduled for May 3.

A longtime competitor and frequent winner is the Belle of Louisville , built in 1914 and billed as the “only remaining authentic steamboat from the great American packet boat era.”

In a departure from steamboat racers of yore, the Belle of Louisville ’s caretakers conduct thorough tests of its safety valves and boilers, and they don’t push the boilers to full pressure when the ship is running, says Eric Frantz, guest and education programs manager for Belle of Louisville Riverboats . “Even when racing,” he explains, the goal is “safety over speed.”

Still, some things never change: If the Belle wins this year, its prize will be a pair of silver antlers.

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Greg Daugherty | READ MORE

Greg Daugherty is a magazine editor and writer, as well as a frequent contributor to Smithsonian magazine. His books include You Can Write for Magazines .

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