Cutter And Sloop

Abstract

An attempt is made to describe in precise terms the differences between the cutter rig and a sloop rig through the historical evolution of the two rigs. By origin and history there is no essential difference in rig between the cutter and the sloop though by 1800 the two rigs were recognised as distinct; the difference mainly being that the sloop had a standing bowsprit and a jibstay while the cutter had a reeving bowsprit and no jibstay. Thereafter the distinctions more or less began to disappear so that today, with small craft at least, the difference is effectively, though not in name, settled merely by the presence of one head-sail or two.

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Filed under: Other (Early Modern) | Other (Nineteenth C) | Other (Eighteenth C) | Other (location)
Subjects include: Leisure & Small Craft | Ship Handling & Seamanship | Shipbuilding & Design