Schooner ::
Schooner (n.)
Originally, a
small, sharp-built vessel, with two masts and
fore-and-aft rig.
Sometimes it
carried square topsails on one or both masts and was
called a
topsail schooner. About 1840,
longer vessels with three
masts, fore-and-aft rigged, came into use, and since that time
vessels with four masts and even with six
masts, so
rigged, are
built. Schooners with more than two masts are
designated three-masted schooners, four-masted schooners, etc. See
Illustration in
Appendix..