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American Privateer Ship of the Revolution, Original Name Unknown, taken inlo the British Navy in 

 1784 as the Barbadoes. This plan, redrawn from original British Admiralty draught, shows an early "sharp- 

 model" vessel built for fast sailing, one of the ancestors of the clipper ship. {Courtesy oj Trustees of the National 

 Maritime Miiseuiii, Greenwich, Englaiirl.) 



A number of vessel types for special service were 

 also developed by Americans during the last half of 

 the 18th century. One of -these was the gundalo, a 

 double-ended, shoal-draft hull having a fiat bottom 

 fore-and-aft and athwartships, chine (angular) bilges, 

 and vertically curved side timbers. Intended for 

 commercial use in protected waters, on ri\ers, and on 

 lakes, vessels of this type were also btiilt for naval pur- 

 poses during the Revolution. The gundalo was some- 

 times rigged with a single square sail, but more often 

 it was sloop or schooner rigged. Others were the sail- 

 ing scow, some of which were of large size, the large 

 2-masted shallop, which was developed into a service- 

 able river packet and freighter, and the river schooner. 



Baltimore Clippers 



During the last two decades of the 18th century, the 

 most important development in American ship design 

 was, for a number of reasons, the rise in popularity of 

 the sharp-model, fast-sailing Chesapeake schooner 

 and brig, or brigantine. The type, of course, had be- 

 come well known on the American coasts during the 

 Revolution and had obtained a great reputation for 

 speed; even the British had come to recognize it as 

 being one of the leading types of seagoing vessel, and 



had taken a number of the fast-sailing schooners and 

 brigs into naval .service. Then, too, the state of na- 

 tional affairs after the war made the protection of 

 the gradually increasing American merchant inarine 

 impossible; for many years there was no naval protec- 

 tion and the states were impotent in foreign diplo- 

 macy. As a result, the infant American merchant 

 marine soon became the prey of every freebooter, and 

 of many European naval cruisers as well and it was 

 soon found that speed was the best insurance an 

 American ship could have. The American ports 

 could produce only small cargoes in iTiost cases and 

 this permitted the economic use of small vessels. 

 Hence, it was natural that a great many shipowners 

 turned to the Chesapeake model of schooner or brig. 

 Furthermore, the widespread use of these vessels 

 by Americans engaged in commerce, particularly in 

 the West Indies, brought the type to the continuous 

 attention of most of the European naval powers. The 

 French, in particular, at the beginning of the War of 

 the French Revolution began purchasing Chesapeake 

 schooners in great number for use as privateers 

 and cruisers. So active were the French purchasers 

 that the British complained and the newly established 

 Federal government was forced to intervene. This 

 interference and the strongly pro-revolutionist sym- 



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