Editing Schooner (section)

== Rig types ==

The rig is rarely found on a hull of less than 50 feet [[length overall|LOA]], and small schooners are generally two-masted. In the two decades around 1900, larger multi-masted schooners were built in [[New England]] and on the [[Great Lakes]] with four, five, six, or even, seven masts.<ref name="Leather 1970"/>{{rp|239–242}} Schooners were traditionally gaff-rigged, and some schooners sailing today are reproductions of famous schooners of old, but modern vessels tend to be [[Bermuda rig]]ged (or occasionally [[Junk (ship)|junk-rigged)]].<ref>[https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=junk+rigged+schooner&id=0BAB054A96800A4B3DBEB9F079E4AAA8FDFA811B&form=IQFRBA&first=1&scenario=ImageBasicHover Images of junk-rigged schooners –]</ref> While a [[sloop]] rig is simpler and cheaper, the schooner rig may be chosen on a larger boat so as to reduce the overall mast height and to keep each sail to a more manageable size, giving a mainsail that is easier to handle and to reef. An issue when planning a two-masted schooner's rig is how best to fill the space between the masts: for instance, one may adopt (i) a gaff sail on the foremast (even with a Bermuda mainsail), or (ii) a main staysail, often with a fisherman topsail to fill the gap at the top in light airs.

Various types of schooners are defined by their rig configuration. Most have a [[bowsprit]] although some were built without one for crew safety, such as ''[[Adventure (schooner)|Adventure]]''.

[[File:Margaret Todd under sail (4005478541).jpg|thumb|Four-masted schooner, [[Margaret Todd (schooner)|Margaret Todd]]]]

Examples of some specific types of schooner include:

* [[Grand Banks]] fishing schooner: includes a gaff [[topsail]] on the main mast and a [[fisherman's staysail]]; in winter [[topmast]]s and their upper sails are taken down.<ref name="nsm">{{cite web |title=Sailing Ship Rigs |url=https://maritimemuseum.novascotia.ca/research/sailing-ship-rigs |website=Maritime Museum of the Atlantic |date=14 February 2013 |publisher=Nova Scotia Museum |access-date=4 June 2019}}</ref> ''[[Bluenose]]'' was one such example.
* Topsail schooner/Square topsail schooner: includes square topsails.<ref name="nsm"/> A version with raked masts and known for its great speed, called the [[Baltimore Clipper]] was popular in the early 1800s.
* Four- to seven-masted schooners: these designs spread the sail area over many smaller sails, at a time when sails were hoisted by hand, though mechanical assistance was used as the ships, sails, and gaffs became too large and heavy to raise manually. These were used for coastal trade on the Atlantic coast of North America, the West Indies, South America, and some trans-Atlantic voyages.<ref name="nsm"/>
* Tern schooner: a type of three-masted schooner that was common between 1880 and 1920.<ref name="nsm"/> These had three masts of equal height and no square sails. The name signifies "three of a kind". The simple rig was driven by the need to keep crew sizes to a minimum. They had a range of hull types, with centre-boards being common, especially in those with shallow draft.   {{r|MacGregor 1982|p=53-60}}  [[Wawona (schooner)|''Wawona'']], the largest of this type built, sailed on the [[West Coast of the United States]] from 1897 to 1947.