Ships

The atakebune was the largest class of Japanese warship of the 16th and early 17th centuries, a heavily armored floating fortress used as a flagship, though it was gradually abandoned…

The baghlah was the largest type of traditional Arab dhow, a deep-sea vessel around 30 meters long used for long-distance trade across the Indian Ocean, and among the vessel types…

The Baltimore Clipper was a sharp-built, fast schooner-rigged vessel developed in Chesapeake Bay shipyards, renowned for outrunning larger warships. American privateers relied heavily on Baltimore Clippers during the War of…

A barque (or bark) is a sailing vessel with three or more masts, square-rigged on all but the aftmost, which is fore-and-aft rigged. The design’s balance of cargo capacity and…

The bateel, or battil, was a large deep-sea dhow design known for its distinctive long, curved stem-post, used for extended ocean voyages across the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean alongside…

The bireme, rowed with two banks of oars, was a versatile ancient warship type that Cilician pirates used alongside larger triremes captured or built in their own shipyards, according to…

The bomb ketch was a specialized warship built around one or two heavy mortars mounted forward, designed to bombard fortified coastal targets. Bomb ketches were central to naval campaigns against…

The boom is a large, two-masted dhow with a tapering stern and lateen sails, used historically for long-distance trade between the Persian Gulf, East Africa, and India, and among the…

A brig was a two-masted vessel square-rigged on both masts, giving strong speed and power at the cost of needing more hands than a fore-and-aft rigged brigantine. Brigs served both…

The brigantine carried a square-rigged foremast and a fore-and-aft rigged mainmast, giving it flexibility in varied winds and making it larger and better crewed than a sloop while still fast…

The caique was a traditional wooden boat of the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean, propelled by oars and a simple sail, used broadly for fishing, trade, and coastal transport, and at…

The caravel was a small, highly maneuverable Portuguese and Spanish sailing ship with lateen or mixed rigging, originally developed for exploration but also used for coastal raiding and light combat…

The carrack was a large, multi-decked ocean-going ship used by Iberian powers for exploration and trade before being succeeded by the galleon. Heavily laden carracks were prime targets for early…

The chasse-marée was a fast French lugger-rigged coastal vessel, originally built to rush fresh fish to market, whose speed made it well suited for privateering during the wars between France…

The cog was the dominant cargo and warship of the medieval Hanseatic League, a single-masted, flat-bottomed vessel with high sides. Baltic pirate confederations such as the Victual Brothers, led by…

The corvette was a small, fast warship carrying fewer guns than a frigate, used by navies for patrol, escort, and anti-piracy duty in the 18th and 19th centuries. Its speed…

The cutter was a small, single-masted vessel carrying a large spread of sail relative to its hull, prized for exceptional speed. Its swiftness made it useful both to smugglers and…

Dhow is the general term for traditional lateen-rigged sailing vessels of the Arabian Peninsula, Red Sea, and Indian Ocean. Fleets of armed dhows formed the naval strength of groups such…

“Drakkar” is the term commonly used for the largest and most ornately carved Viking longships, often featuring dragon-head prows intended to intimidate enemies and invoke protective spirits during raiding voyages.

The dromon was the principal Byzantine war galley, propelled mainly by oars and sometimes equipped with Greek fire projectors, used both by the Byzantine navy to combat Mediterranean raiders and,…

The simple dugout canoe, carved from a single large log, was among the earliest vessels used by Caribbean buccaneers for raiding coastal settlements and small craft before they acquired larger…

East Indiamen were large, well-armed merchant ships operated by chartered trading companies such as the English and Dutch East India Companies, carrying valuable cargo across the Indian Ocean. Their wealth…

The “fast crab” was a swift, heavily oared boat used in the Pearl River Delta during the early-to-mid 19th century by opium smugglers and pirates, capable of outrunning Qing patrol…

The felucca is a traditional narrow, lateen-rigged sailing boat used across the Mediterranean, North Africa, and the Nile for fishing, trade, and coastal transport. Its shallow draft and simple rig…

The Dutch fluyt was a bulk cargo ship designed to be sailed with a very small crew, making it economical for trade but poorly defended and thus a favored target…

Frigates were fast, medium-sized warships carrying a single gun deck, combining speed with enough firepower to fight on relatively even terms with larger ships. Privateersmen and successful pirates who captured…

The galiot was a smaller, lighter version of the war galley, typically fitted with around sixteen banks of oars and one or two masts, favored by Barbary corsairs for fast…

The galleass combined the broadside firepower of a sailing warship with the oar-powered maneuverability of a galley, making it a formidable but increasingly obsolete hybrid by the late 16th century.…

The galleon was a large, multi-decked sailing ship developed by Spain to carry silver and goods from the Americas and Asia, defended by rows of cannon. Though rarely used by…

The oar-powered war galley, low and narrow with a projecting ram or beak, dominated Mediterranean naval warfare for centuries and remained the vessel of choice for Barbary corsairs into the…

The gallivat was a smaller, oar-assisted warship of under 120 tons that operated alongside the larger grab in Maratha naval fleets, providing speed and maneuverability for close engagement and boarding…

The garay was a Southeast Asian raiding vessel used by the Samal Balangingi and related groups, smaller, faster, and more maneuverable than the larger Iranun lanong, and lacking the outriggers…

The grab, or gurab, was a heavily built, two- or three-masted warship of the western Indian coast, ranging up to 400 tons, used as the principal warship of the Maratha…

Gunboats were small, shallow-draft vessels armed with one or two heavy guns, designed for coastal defense and shallow-water combat rather than open-ocean operations. The United States built a fleet of…

The hemiolia was a light, fast galley type especially favored by Cilician pirates for its speed and reduced rowing complement, which could be adjusted to add extra fighting men, making…

The Chinese junk, distinguished by its battened sails and flat bottom, was the dominant vessel of East Asian waters for over a thousand years, used for everything from trade to…

The karve was a smaller type of Viking longship, broader than the largest raiding ships but still fast and shallow-drafted, used for smaller raiding parties, coastal transport, and everyday voyages.

The ketch was a two-masted, fore-and-aft rigged vessel used widely for coastal trade and fishing, and occasionally seized by pirates for raiding. Its stout hull also made it the preferred…

The knarr was a broader, deeper-hulled Norse cargo vessel built for open-ocean trade and settlement voyages rather than raiding speed, but it supported Viking expansion and raiding logistics by ferrying…

The kobaya was the smallest standard class of Japanese warship in the Sengoku period, fast and lightly built, used for scouting, messenger duty, and fast raiding actions in coordination with…

The kora-kora was a large outrigger war canoe of the Maluku (Spice Islands) region, propelled by dozens of paddlers and used both by local rulers for inter-island raiding and by…

The lanong was a large outrigger war galley of the Iranun people of the southern Philippines, up to 30 meters long, with biped masts that doubled as boarding ladders and…

The liburnian was a fast, light, two-banked galley originally developed by the Illyrian pirates of the Adriatic Sea, whose raiding effectiveness led the Roman navy to adopt the design as…

The longboat was the largest ship’s boat carried aboard sailing vessels, rowed by a dozen or more men and sometimes fitted with a small sail. Buccaneers used longboats to land…

The Viking longship was a slender, shallow-draft vessel powered by both oar and a single square sail, built for speed and capable of navigating open ocean, coastal waters, and shallow…

The lorcha combined a European-style hull with Chinese junk rigging and rudder, developed by Macanese shipbuilders to create a fast, maneuverable vessel. Lorchas were used both by pirates in the…

The lugger, rigged with distinctive four-cornered lugsails, was fast and easy to handle with a small crew, making it a favorite of Channel privateers and smugglers operating between England and…

“Man-of-war” was a general term for a heavily armed sailing warship, and successful pirate captains occasionally captured or converted a large merchantman into a makeshift man-of-war bristling with guns. Blackbeard’s…

The Manila Galleons were Spanish trading ships that sailed annually between Manila and Acapulco carrying Asian silk and goods traded for Mexican silver, becoming legendary prizes for English privateers operating…

The myoparo was a small, light galley type explicitly associated with piracy in ancient Roman sources, including Cicero’s writings, valued for speed and a low profile over heavy armament.

Large war canoes, some carrying dozens of paddlers and mounted with small cannon, were built and maintained by the “canoe house” trading institutions of Niger Delta city-states such as Bonny…

The pal was a cannon-armed, three-masted vessel described as the Maratha “man-of-war,” used within Kanhoji Angre’s fleet as a substantial warship alongside the grab and gallivat.

The paraw is a traditional Philippine outrigger sailing boat, used broadly for fishing and transport and noted among the range of vessel types employed by Moro raiders of the southern…

The penjajap was a fast, agile raiding vessel used in Malay and Sulu waters, generally smaller than the largest lanong warships but effective for hit-and-run raids on coastal shipping and…

The pentekonter, rowed by fifty oarsmen in a single bank, was an early Greek warship and raiding vessel that served as the ancestor of later Mediterranean war galleys used by…

A pinnace was a small, light vessel, either sailed independently or carried aboard a larger ship, used for scouting, communication, and shallow-water raiding. English privateers such as Francis Drake used…

The periagua, or pirogue, evolved from simple dugout canoes into larger plank-sided, one- or two-masted open boats capable of carrying up to thirty men. Caribbean buccaneers used periaguas’ shallow draft…

The polacre was a Mediterranean sailing vessel with a distinctive mixed rig, using square sails on some masts and lateen sails on others, often applied to xebec hulls used by…

The prahu, or proa, is a family of Southeast Asian sailing vessels often fitted with an outrigger for stability, used across the Malay Archipelago for trade, transport, and raiding. Various…

Red seal ships were large Japanese trading vessels licensed by the shogunate for officially sanctioned overseas trade in the early 17th century, often built with hybrid Japanese-Chinese-European design features and…

The sambuk is a medium-to-large dhow distinguished by its square stern and characteristic curved prow, historically used for trade, pearling, and, when armed, as part of the raiding fleets operating…

The sampan is a small, flat-bottomed Chinese boat, propelled by oar, pole, or small sail, traditionally used for fishing, transport, and as a tender to larger junks. Pirate fleets in…

The fore-and-aft rigged schooner, requiring a smaller crew than square-riggers, offered excellent speed and the ability to sail close to the wind, making it ideal for both piracy and privateering…

The sekibune was a mid-sized Japanese warship of the Sengoku and early Edo periods, smaller than the flagship atakebune but faster, forming the standard combat vessel of Japanese naval forces…

The shallop was a small, open, versatile boat propelled by oars and a simple sail rig, widely used for coastal transport, fishing, and smuggling. Its shallow draft made it useful…

Ships of the line were the largest and most heavily armed sailing warships, built to fight in the line of battle rather than chase small raiders. European navies deployed them…

The skeid was a large class of Viking longship built for major raiding expeditions and warfare, carrying a bigger crew and more oars than smaller longship types, and forming the…

The sloop was a small, single-masted, fore-and-aft rigged vessel prized by Caribbean pirates for its speed, shallow draft, and maneuverability in coastal shoals where larger warships could not follow. Originating…

The smack was a small single-masted fishing and coastal trading vessel that, due to its innocuous appearance, was sometimes used by smugglers and opportunistic small-scale pirates to approach targets without…

The snekkja was a mid-sized Viking longship class, smaller than the great skeid but larger than a karve, and represented one of the most common warship types used in Viking…

The snow was a two-masted, square-rigged vessel closely resembling a brig but with a small supplementary trysail mast, popular as a merchant ship in the 18th century. Its frequent capture…

The trireme, powered by three banks of oars, was the premier warship of the classical Mediterranean world, used both by pirate confederations who seized captured vessels and by the Rhodian…

War junks were junks specifically armed and crewed for combat, carrying from six to over a dozen cannon depending on size, and formed the majority of vessels in the powerful…

The whaleboat was a light, narrow, double-ended open boat, originally built for whale hunting, that American irregular privateersmen adapted for fast hit-and-run raids on Loyalist and British shipping during the…

The xebec was a fast, narrow-hulled vessel with an overhanging bow and stern, combining lateen sails with oars for maneuverability in light winds, making it the signature raiding ship of…

The yacht, originally a fast Dutch-designed dispatch and pleasure vessel, was occasionally captured or adapted for use as a small, quick raiding craft in the 17th and 18th centuries. Its…