An Overview of Pirate Ship Types (1630-1730)

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An overview of the 16 most common ship types used by European colonial sea rovers in the 1630-1730 timeframe.

0:00 Introduction
1:06 Terminology and fleet hierarchy
2:19 Sloop
3:33 Galleon
5:04 Bark
6:21 Brigantine
6:57 Brig
7:29 Snow
7:49 Canoe
8:57 Piragua
9:27 Launch
10:11 Half-Galley
10:39 Frigate
11:50 Galley
12:11 Ketch
12:40 Flute
13:33 Pink
14:17 Schooner
15:06 Conclusion

Further reading:
The Sea Rover’s Practice – Benerson Little

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30 thoughts on “An Overview of Pirate Ship Types (1630-1730)”

  3. Here's my pirate meme (only G. I. Joe fans will understand it) :

    This is what Woodes Rogers said after Charles Vane attacked his fleet with a fire ship :

    Woodes Rogers (in Cobra Commander's role) : I've lost my ships!!!!! My wonderful ships!!!!! All gone!!!!!! Now I will never be promoted!!!!!! I hate this job!!!!!😭😭😭😭😭

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  8. Amazing comprehensive overview, you are truly the best Pirate channel on youtube. Also what was the deal with crossing open ocean in smaller ships? You correctly stated that many roundsmen used full rigged ship but it has been stated (possibly unreliably) that Thomas Tew did some (possibly all) of his work in a sloop called Amity, so could it be done?

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  12. At least in modern terminology, a "boat" is any vessel that can be carried onboard another vessel, so PT 'boat', and submarines, are still called 'boats' although today's sub is certainly too large to carried aboard another vessel. In the Golden Age, as you mention, nomenclature was pretty loose, depended a lot on the country of origin of the person talking and was more descriptive of rigging than size. You could have a sloop that was larger than a barque, a pinnace that was the same size as a small sloop, etc. The main limitations were the size of the sails and number of men required to work the ship. Pirates had lots of men, while cargo ships had small crews to maximize profit. A galleon was basically a floating fortress, designed to carry a large number of men, not for handling the ship, but for defense, since the galleon had a high-value cargo and traveled long distances. Pirates sometimes traveled long distances, but typically worked a local area, whether it was the Carribean, the Red Sea, the coast of the Americas, the Spice Islands, etc. There's not much profit in long-distance cruising, the point was to get to a 'hunting ground' where you'd find the goodies, attack a lightly-defended merchantman with a hired crew that had no interest in dying in the defense of the owners' cargo, make off with everything of value, maybe recruit or force a few skilled new crewman and scarper before any legal authority got wind of you. And, of course, pirates took the ship that was at hand, if it offered any advantage over what they were sailing. Ships didn't have a long service life, rot and marine borers could ruin a ship in a few years, or less, so 'trading up' was necessary. Just as you wouldn't choose a small sloop for a transAtlantic voyage, you wouldn't choose a three-masted, four-deck ship of the line to raid the Carribean. "Form follows function".

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  17. Actually I know something about the Snow. Depending on who you ask, it originated in Norway or the Netherlands. The name is from the Dutch, originally snauw apparently meaning "beak" because they had sharp beak-like bows. They were shallow of draft and very fast in coastal waters. The ship's shallow draft made them very popular for sailing up fjords and canals. A snow could easily travel with plenty of cargo from the depths of most northern fjord, out to and along the coast, and then deep into the canals of the Netherlands and back again. The reason for the peculiar sail plan is because square sails, while great out at sea, did not permit the necessary maneuverability while in a fjord or canal. When in a fjord or a canal, only staysails and the "snow sail", the gaff sail on the short aft mast, were used. The ship went slower but could turn on a thaller, important for avoiding sandbars and other underwater obstacles not usually found at sea.
    In the War of 1812, a number of ships on the Great Lakes are described as brigs or brigantines but were actually snows. You'll see them sometimes described as snow-brigs which is how I come to know of them. I had not known until now that you'd have found any in the Caribbean or the Colonies during the Golden Age of Piracy.

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  18. Hey, do you know something about Bilanders? They were a type of ship used in that period and even later, they had three masts usually, two large square sailed masts and one lateen sail mast. There is not much information about them it seems.

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  20. Hey idk how interested you are in this kind of video but I'd find it really interesting if you made breakdown videos on fictional pirate and age of sail ships. What real ships might have inspired them, how realistic or unrealistic they are and adjustments that could be made to make them more authentic.
    Just with the POTC series and AC4 you should already have enough for a small series and there's probably a lot more worth covering. Tintin, Sibad, black sails, etc.

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  26. Glad to be back in the channel, love ur videos for a long time bro. If you are into PC games, you wanna take a look at Blood and gold Caribbean, you can literally play with any of these ship classes and customiz them, board in first person or just engage in a ship of the line battle. I used to play it a lot listening to your videos lol.

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  28. Awesome video. Had a bit of school assignment vibe. Overall still great work. I want my own ship and raise the Red Flag. No black. Surrender or die. Don't judge, you said you'd be a slaver haha

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