The ship bench trail What kind of ship was it?

Nowadays, a lot of people find the different names used to describe sailing ships in the nineteenth century very confusing. What the name does is describe a specific type of vessel.

To turn the problem on its head for a moment imagine what someone from the 19th century would make of words such as saloon car, cabriolet, sports car, estate car, people carrier, lorry, artic, van? Yet we know that they are different types of motor vehicle. The names we use simply give the reader or listener an image of the arrangement of wheels, body shape and possibly engine size and, as a result, what the vehicle is used for. The same was true of words such as ship, brig, barquentine or schooner - they simply gave the reader or listener an idea of what the vessel looked like - the number of masts, the type of sails and, as a result, what it was used for.

The sails of a sailing vessels can be divided into two types: • sails set across the width of the vessel are usually referred to as square sails. • sails set along the length of the vessel are usually referred to as fore and aft sails. The great advantage of fore and aft sails was that they required less men to work them.

A basic guide to the different rigs • A Sloop had one mast with a fore and aft rigged mainsail and one foresail • A Cutter had one mast with a fore and aft rigged mainsail and two foresails • A Brig had two masts with square sails set on both fore and main masts and a small fore and aft sail called a spanker behind the mainmast. • A Snow was similar to a brig but it carried the spanker on a separate spar called the snow mast which was immediately behind the mainmast. • A Brigantine had two masts with square sails on the fore mast and a mixture of square sails and a large fore and aft spanker on the main mast. This was sometimes called a schooner brig. • A Schooner usually had two masts with fore and aft sails although later schooners did have more masts. The main mast was always taller than the foremast. • A Lugger usually had two masts each carrying a type of square sails (lugsails) • A Chasse marée was a French rig. She had three masts and carried square sails (lugsails) on each mast. • A Ketch had two masts with fore and aft sails the main mast was always taller than the mizzen mast. • A Dandy was similar to a ketch but the mizzen mast was about half the height of a ketch's. • A Barque had three masts and had square sails set on both the fore mast and the main mast and fore and aft sails at the back on the mizzen mast. • A Ship had three masts and had square sails set on each.

As you go around the harbour and the Steam Clock you will see that the benches have words on them. These give you the details of an A-Z of Jersey ships.

Name of the vessel tons rig builder and location of the yard year Albatross 58 cutter Matthew Valpy, Havre des Pas 1857 Betsy 26 sloop builder unknown, France 1770 Chieftain 579 ship FC Clarke, West Park 1857 D'Auvergne 440 barque John Baxter, havre des Pas 1831 Enchantress 66 schooner J&T Le Huquet, St Catherine's 1875 Fox 8 lugger builder unknown 1759 Gazelle 242 barque John F Picot, Gorey 1863 Hazard 39 chasse marée France 1813 Indian 472 barque Thomas de Gruchy, Patriotic Place 1848 Jersey Lass 132 brigantine Francis Luce, St Aubin 1838 Kite 245 brig George Deslandes, First Tower 1859 Lively 26 cutter Esnouf & Mauger, PatioticPlace 1863 Messenger 247 barque Giffard & Laurens, St Aubin 1830 Nautilus 38 cutter Thomas Silk, Newfoundland 1819 Orient Star 102 schooner Philip Bellot, Gorey 1872 Prairie Flower 51 dandy Charles W Aubin, Gorey 1868 Queen of the Isles 80 ketch John F Picot, Gorey 1873 Rambler 254 barque Edward Esnouf, Patriotic Place 1841 Sea Nymph 56 schooner Charles W Aubin, Gorey 1877 Tartar 100 cutter builder unknown 1757 Ulysses 135 brigantine FC Clarke, West Park 1845 Voyageur 295 barque Esnouf & Mauger, Patriotic Place 1850 Warrior 146 brig George Hamptonne, La Folie 1828 Xarifa 208 brigantine Thomas Leigh Bartlett, Beaumont 1841 Young Phoenix 183 barque builder unknown 1802 Zephyr 44 cutter Francis Allix, Havre des Pas 1850

Rambler of Table Top Mountain, Cape Town, 1865 by PJ Ouless (1817-85)