A Little Schooner Information
Schooner is an odd word. Where did it come from? Well, there are Dutch schooners, German schoners, and Danish skonnerts. All these names possibly come from the Scottish verb "to scon or scoon," meaning to skip over the water like a flat stone. Whatever the origin of the name, a schooner is a vessel rigged with fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts. The schooner typically has only two masts, with the mainmast being taller than the foremast but there have been three, four, five and even as many as seven masted schooners. The seven masted Thomas Lawson was built in 1902, with a length of 395 feet carrying 27 sails with 43,000 square feet of sail! All that size and a dinky crew of only 17 men. (see a photo of the Thomas Lawson here)
Schooners like the Friendship Schooner, became popular as working boats because they handled well with small crews in confined waters and were economical sailing craft. Most schooners are gaff rigged meaning that they have a boom at the bottom of the sail and another shorter boom or gaff at the top of the sail. Perhaps the most famous schooner, shown on the Canadian dime, is the Schooner Bluenose.
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