A tall ship is a large, traditionally rigged sailing vessel. Popular modern tall ship rigs include topsail schooners, brigantines, brigs and barques. "Tall ship" can also be defined more specifically by an organization, such as for a race or festival.

History

Traditional rigging may include square rigs and gaff rigs, usually with separate topmasts and topsails. It is generally more complex than modern rigging, which utilizes newer materials such as aluminum and steel to construct taller, lightweight masts with fewer, more versatile sails. Most smaller, modern vessels use the Bermuda rig.

Author and master mariner Joseph Conrad (who spent 1874 to 1894 at sea in tall ships and was quite particular about naval terminology) used the term "tall ship" in his works; for example, in The Mirror of the Sea in 1906.

Henry David Thoreau also references the term "tall ship" in his first work, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, quoting "Down out at its mouth, the dark inky main blending with the blue above. Plum Island, its sand ridges scolloping along the horizon like the sea-serpent, and the distant outline broken by many a tall ship, leaning, still, against the sky." He does not cite this quotation, but the work was written in 1849.

Sail Training International (STI) has extended the definition of tall ship for the purpose of its races to embrace any sailing vessel with more than waterline length and on which at least half the people on board are aged 15 to 25.

Sail Training International

In the 21st century, "tall ship" is often used generically for large, classic, sailing vessels, but is also a technically defined term by Sail Training International for its purposes and STI helped popularize the term. The exact definitions have changed somewhat over time, and are subject to various technicalities, but by 2011 there were 4 classes (A, B, C, and D). There are only two size classes, A is over 40 m LOA, and B/C/D are 9.14 m to under 40 m LOA. The definitions have to do with rigging: class A is for square sail rigged ships, class B is for "traditionally rigged" ships, class C is for "modern rigged" vessels with no "spinnaker-like sails", and class D is the same as class C but carrying a spinnaker-like sail.

Class A

All square-rigged vessels (barque, barquentine, brig, brigantine or ship rigged) and all other vessels more than 40 metres length overall (LOA), regardless of rig. STI classifies its A Class as "all square-rigged vessels and all other vessels over length overall (LOA)", in this case STI LOA excludes bowsprit and aft spar. STI defines LOA as "Length overall measured from the fore side of stem post to aft side of stern post, counter or transom".STI Measurement form.

+ Class A Tall Ships Current name Current nationality Original delivery Mast Rig Length excludingbowsprit [m] Beam [m]Alexander von Humboldt II 2011 3 Barque 60 10.8 Alpha 1948 2 Barquentine 8.9Amerigo Vespucci 1931 3 Full-rigged ship 82.4 15.8 Belem 1896 3 Barque 51 8.8 Bima Suci 2017 3 Barque 111.20 13.65Capitain Miranda 1930 3 Staysail Schooner 50.3 7.9 Christian Radich 1937 3 Full-rigged ship 62.5 9.7Cisne Branco 1999 3 Full-rigged ship 60.5 10.7Constitution 1797 3 Full-rigged ship 62 13.26Creole 1927 3 Schooner 42.7 8.9Creoula 1937 4 Schooner 62.2 9.9Cuauhtemoc 1982 3 Barque 67.2 12.0Danmark 1932 3 Full-rigged ship 59.8 10.1Dar Młodzieży 1982 3 Full-rigged ship 94.8 14.0Dewaruci 1953 3 Barquentine 49.7 9.4Druzhba 1987 3 Full-rigged ship 94.2 14Eagle 1936 3 Barque 80.7 12.0Eendracht 1989 3 Gaff Schooner 55.3 12.2Elissa 1877 3 Barque 45.4 8.5Esmeralda 1953 4 Barquentine 94.13 13.1Eugene Eugenides 1959 3 Topgallant Schooner 9.2Europa 1911 3 Barque 44.5 7.3Gazela 1901 3 Barquentine 42.7 7.9Georg Stage (II) 1935 3 Full-rigged ship 42 8.5Gloria 1968 3 Barque 67 10.7Golden Quest 1945 3 Barque 48 7.5Gorch Fock (I) 1933 3 Barque 73.7 12.0Gorch Fock (II) 1958 3 Barque 81.2 12.0Greif 1950 2 Brigantine 41.1 7.4Großherzogin Elizabeth 1908 3 Gaff Schooner 53 8.2Guayas 1977 3 Barque 56.10 10.4Iskra (II) 1982 3 Barquentine 40 7.9Italia 1993 2 Brigantine 53.7 9.16Jadran 1933 3 Topsail Schooner 60 8.9 James Craig 1874 3 Barque 54.8 9.5Jessica 1983 3 Topsail Schooner 6.7Juan Sebastián Elcano 1927 4 Topsail Schooner 94.13 13.1Juan Bautista Cambiaso 2009 3 Barquentine 54.60 8.5Kaiwo Maru II 1989 4 Barque 89.0 13.8Kaliakra 1984 3 Barquentine 43.2 7.9Khersones 1989 3 Full-rigged ship 94.8 14.0Kruzenshtern 1926 4 Barque 95 14.0Leeuwin II 1986 3 Barquentine 41.2 9.0Libertad 1960 3 Full-rigged ship 91.7 13.7La Grace 2010 2 Brig 32.86.06Lord Nelson 1985 3 Barque 40.2 8.5Mercator 19323Barquentine68 10.6Meridian 1948 3 Barquentine 8.9 Mir 1987 3 Full-rigged ship 94.8 14.0Mircea 1938 3 Barque 73.7 12.0Morgenster 1919 2 Brig 38.0 6.0U.S. Brig Niagara 1988 2 Brig 37.5 9.8Nippon Maru 1984 4 Barque 89.0 13.8Oosterschelde 1918 3 Topsail Schooner 40.12 7.5Palinuro 1934 3 Barquentine 58.7 10.1Pallada 1989 3 Full-rigged ship 94.2 14.0Peacemaker 1989 3 Barquentine 38 10.4Picton Castle 1928 3 Barque 45.2 7.3Pogoria 1980 3 Barquentine 40.9 7.9Rah Naward (ex-Prince Willliam) 2001 2 Brig 40.6 9.9Roald Amundsen 1952 2 Brig 40.8 7.2Royal Albatross 2001 4 Barquentine 47.0 7.6Royal Clipper 2000 5 Full-rigged ship 134.8 16.5Sagres 1937 3 Barque 81.3 12.0Santa Maria Manuela 1937 4 Schooner 62.4 9.9Sedov 1921 4 Barque 108.7 14.6Shabab Oman 1971 3 Barquentine 43.9 8.5Simón Bolívar 1979 3 Barque 70.0 10.4Sørlandet 1927 3 Full-rigged ship 56.7 9.6Spirit of New Zealand 1986 3 Barquentine 33.2 9.0Stad Amsterdam 2000 3 Full-rigged ship 62.4 10.5Statsraad Lehmkuhl 1914 3 Barque 84.6 12.6Star of India 1863 3 Barque 62.5 10.7Stavros S Niarchos 2000 2 Brig 40.6 9.9Sudarshini 2011 3 Barque 54.0 8.5Surprise (ex Rose) 1970 3 Full-rigged ship 54.6 9.8Tarangini 1997 3 Barque 54.0 8.5Thor Heyerdahl 1930 3 Topsail Schooner 42.5 6.5Unicorn 1948 2 Brig 7.3Unión 2014 4 Barque 99.0 13.5Varuna 1981 3 Barque 54.0 8.5Young America 1975 2 Brigantine 7.2Young Endeavour 1986 2 Brigantine 35 7.8

+ Historical Name Last nationality Original delivery Mast Rig EndAlexander von Humboldt 1906 3 Barque Sold 2011/ relocated to Caribbean, 2013 returned to Germany; currently dockedBounty 1960 3 Full-rigged ship Sank 2012Concordia 1992 3 Barquentine Sank 2010Dunay 1928 3 Full-rigged ship Burned 1963Sagres 1896 3 Barque Replaced by the third Sagres in 1961. Sold (1983); now permanently moored in Hamburg, Germany with the name Rickmer RickmersSarmiento 1897 3 Full-rigged ship Museum ship, moored in Buenos Aires, ArgentinaUruguay 1874 3 Barque Museum ship, moored in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Class B Traditionally rigged vessels (i.e. gaff rigged sloops, ketches, yawls and schooners) with an LOA of less than 40 metres and with a waterline length (LWL) of at least 9.14 metres, one good example is Spirit of Bermuda.

Class C Modern rigged vessels (i.e. Bermudan rigged sloops, ketches, yawls and schooners) with an LOA of less than 40 metres and with a waterline length (LWL) of at least 9.14 metres not carrying spinnaker-like sails.

+ Class C Tall Ships Current name Current nationality Original delivery Mast Rig Length excludingbowsprit [m] Beam [m]Caroly 1948 2 yawl 23.66 4.8Capricia 1963 2 yawl 22.56 5.03Stella Polare 1965 2 yawl 21.47 4.89Corsaro II 1961 2 yawl 20.9 4.7

Class D Modern rigged vessels (i.e. Bermudan-rigged sloops, ketches, yawls and schooners) with an LOA of less than 40 metres and with a waterline length (LWL) of at least 9.14 metres carrying spinnaker-like sails. There are also a variety of other rules and regulations for the crew, such as ages, and also for a rating rule. There are other sail festivals and races with their own standards, the STI is just one set of standards for their purposes.

Earlier description of classes An older definition of class "A" by the STI was "all square-rigged vessels over 120′ (36.6 m) length overall (LOA). Fore and aft rigged vessels of 160′ (48.8 m) (LOA) and over". By LOA they meant length excluding bowsprit and aft spar.

Class "B" was "all fore and aft rigged vessels between 100 and 160 feet in length, and all square rigged vessels under 120′ (36.6 m) (LOA)".

See also a list of class "A" ships with lengths including bowsprit.

Lost tall ships Tall ships are sometimes lost, such as by a storm at sea. Some examples of lost tall ships include:

Asgard II, an Irish national sail training ship, commissioned in 1982, was lost in 2008 off the French coast. The two-masted brigantine is thought to have collided with a submerged object. Astrid ran aground in 2013 off Ireland, and then broke up in 2014 after being salvaged Bounty, a full-rig ship lost off the North Carolina coast as Hurricane Sandy approached in 2012. Concordia, a triple-mast barquentine built in 1992 and operated by Canada as a school ship; lost at sea in 2010, in a squall. Endeavour II, built in 1968; wrecked in a 1971 gale off New Zealand Fantome, a former yacht built in 1927, then operated as a cruise ship. Was lost in Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Lennie, built in 1871, ran aground on Digby Neck in 1889.Lennie (+1889) Wrecksite Marques, built in 1917; was lost in a 1984 Tall Ships Race.

Gallery

See also American Sail Training Association Cutty Sark Tall Ships' Race Iron-hulled sailing ship Jubilee Sailing Trust List of large sailing vessels Operation Sail Sail training SAIL Amsterdam Tall Ships Challenge Tall Ship Chronicles Tall Ships Youth Trust The Tall Ships' Races Windjammer

References

Further reading American Sail Training Association; Sail Tall Ships! (American Sail Training Association; 16th edition, 2005 ) Beken of Cowes, A Century of Tall Ships, Harrap Limited, London, 1985, 224 pages. Writing Kenneth John Beken with documentary contribution of Eric C. Abranson, photographs of Frank William Beken, Alfred Keith Beken, Kenneth John Beken. Short foreword by HRH The prince Charles, on the letterhead of Kensington Palace. ISBN 978-0245542480 Thad Koza; Tall Ships: A Fleet for the 21st Century (Tide-Mark Press; 3rd edition, 2002; )

External links

American Sail Training Association Another World Adventures

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