Thursday, August 26, 2010

Barque

Vessel with three or more masts with square sails on the fore mast and fore and aft sails on the after mast. Generally in the range of 250 - 700 ton capacity.

A well-preserved example of a commercial Barque is the Falls of Clyde. Built in 1878, it is now preserved as a museum ship in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Additionally, the United States Coast Guard still has an operational Barque, built in Germany in 1936 and captured as a war prize, named the USCGC Eagle.

The oldest active sailing vessel in the world, the Star of India, was built in 1863 as a fully square rigged ship then was later converted into a Barque in 1901.