There are several ways of telling the type of a Tall Ship, and most commonly by ship type names. Type names says something about the number of masts or the shape of the ship. Take for instance the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, with Russel Crowe in the lead role; in this film, you can see the USS Constitution. It is a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy, and is by the way the world's oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat, launched in 1797. Although it is called a frigate, it can be said to be a full-rigged ship.

A thrilling story there, about an american full-rigged naval ship, which calls for the mentioning of Amerigo Vespucci. That ship is another full-rigged naval ship, only this one is Italian. It is worth mentioning since the ship Amerigo Vespucci got its name from the very man that gave America its name. You can see Amerigo Vepuccia in our register.

Types of Tall Ships

	Full-Rigged Ship This type of vessel has at least three masts which are all square rigged. Full-rigged ships were commonly seen during deep-water cargo-carrying trips in the 19th century. These vessels are more than 40 metres Length Overall (LOA).
	Barque Traditionally rigged vessels with at least three masts, where the fore and the main masts being square. These can be gaff-rigged sloops, ketches, yawls or schooners, but all with an LOA of less than 40 metres and with a waterline length (LWL) of at least 9.14 metres. Today many “sailing school” ships are barques.
	Barquentine This type vessel has three masts, all are fore-and-aft rigged except for the square mast. Barquentine ships are most frequently seen in the Baltic and North Sea.
	Brig The brig was originally used as a basic cargo ship in the early 19th century and had the reputation of sailing “fast and well”. Used frequently in the 19th century for historical naval battles like the Battle of Lake Erie!
	Brigantine In the 13th century, a brigantine was known as a sail and oar-driven war vessel. Lateen rigged, which means the boat can track against the wind, on two masts and had eight-twelve oars on each side. It was the Mediterranean pirates’ favorite type of ship due to its speed, mobility and being easy to handle.
	Schooner These vessels were first used by the Dutch in the 16th and 17th century. Soon after, schooners were developed in North America and were heavily used in New England by the 18th century. Defined as having at least two masts, schooners were most commonly used for tasks that required speed such as blockade running, slaving privateering and offshore fishing. On the site to Sail Training International you can find this picture showing the different types of Tall Ships:

Tall Ship classes

Although this site focuses on Tall Ships belonging to Class A, we would like to present the different types of classes that Tall Ships are grouped into. Four classes were created to categorize ships by their overall length, waterline length, and rigging by terms of: traditional, squared or modern rigging. Here are the different classes:

Class A

These are all square-rigged vessels, including barques, brigs, brigantines and all other vessels more than 131 feet in length overall. 

Class B

These are traditionally rigged vessels (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. 

Class C

These are modern rigged vessels (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 D

Is like Class C, contains modern (Bermudan rigged sloops, ketches, yawls and schooners) rigged vessels, with an LOA of less than 40 metres and with a waterline length (LWL) of at least 9.14 metres carrying spinnaker-like sails.