| RSS_FEEDS: bark |
- ID: 19652
- DATE: 2009-01-27
- TYPE: WORD
- TITLE: bark
- DESCRIPTION: or barque, sailing vessel with three masts, of which the mainmast and the foremast are square-rigged while the mizzenmast is fore-and-aft-rigged. Although the word was once used to mean any small boat, later barks were sometimes quite large (up to 6,000 tons). In addition to the standard three-masted bark there are also four-masted barks (fore-and-aft-rigged on the aftermast) and barkentines, or three-masted vessels with the foremast square-rigged and the other masts fore-and-aft-rigged. Large numbers of barks were employed in carrying wheat from Australia to England before World WarI; and in 1926 the bark Beatrice sailed from Fremantle, Western Australia, to London in 86 days. (© The Columbia Encyclopedia)
