Types of Pirate Ships

Bark (or Barque) were light and fast ships with a shallow draft. Because of its small size and a specific design, the pirates favored and often used bark. It usually carried at least three masts.

Jolly Roger, a pirate ship of Captain Hook from James M. Barrie's Peter Pan. Lightning in Joseph Conrad's The Rescue and the brig "Bonito" in Conrad's "Freya of the Seven Isles". Molly Swash, in James Fenimore Cooper’s book Jack Tier.

A brigantine was a two-masted sailing vessel with a fully square rigged foremast and at least two sails on the main mast: a square topsail and a gaff sail mainsail (behind the mast). The main mast is the second and taller of the two masts.

Pirate Ship. Probably the most used ship of the 15th century, but also used in the 16th and 17th. The original, Mediterranean version, was lateen rigged (the sails shaped like triangle) on the two masts. Later, Spanish and Portuguese developed caravel into a three-masted ship with the first two masts square rigged and lateen rigged on the mizzen-mast.

Pirate Ships > Carrack. Carrack Background From around 1515, Portugal had trade exchanges with Goa in Portuguese India, consisting of 3 to 4 carracks leaving Lisbon with silver to purchase cotton and spices in India.

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Pirate Ship. The first frigates appeared in the 17th Century. It was a medium-sized class of a warship with an average weight of 1,000 tons. They were three-masted ships with the square sails, raised forecastle and quarterdeck. Also there were 24 to 40 mounted guns on a two and a half gun decks.

Pirate Ships > Galiot. Galiot Background A galiot, galliot or galiote, is a term for three different types of historical naval vessels that sailed on different seas, and for a type of French flat-bottom river boat or barge.

Pirate Ships > Types of Pirate Ships. Types of Pirate Ships Background Sloop. See Sloop. A sloop was an extremely common pirate ship. Sloops were fast ships, designed to easily traverse the Atlantic and carry goods and cargo and an increased rate. This also made them ideal for pirates using them to capture a larger, more slower ship.

Pirate Ship Bark (or Barque) were light and fast ships with a shallow draft. Because of its small size and a schooner was the most famous ship in Caribbean and definitely one of pirate's favorite. Because of its small size and a schooner was the most famous ship in Caribbean and definitely one of pirate's favorite.

Pirate Ships > Types of Pirate Ships. Types of Pirate Ships Background Sloop. See Sloop. A sloop was an extremely common pirate ship. Sloops were fast ships, designed to easily traverse the Atlantic and carry goods and cargo and an increased rate.