When is a boat a ship?

btlynn

New member
Joined
18 Feb 2004
Messages
15
Visit site
Does anyone know the true defintion of a 'ship'.
At what criteria does a craft stop being a boat to become a ship.
Purely asked out of interest and to improve my nautical knowledge. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 

Moose

New member
Joined
1 Nov 2001
Messages
2,063
Location
West Sussex, Boat in Chichester
Visit site
I think we need a new definition.......

LoadingHMSNottingham.jpg
 

Riggy

Well-known member
Joined
2 Nov 2004
Messages
21,922
Location
Southern Spain
Visit site
Among sailing vessels, the distinction between ships and boats is that a ship is a square-rigged craft with at least three masts, and a boat isn't. With regard to motorized craft, a ship is a large vessel intended for oceangoing or at least deep-water transport, and a boat is anything else.

But that's too much to remember. Try this: ships have to be big enough to carry boats, and boats have to be small enough to be carried by ships.

There are exceptions, of course. Many commercial fishing craft, for example, are sizable oceangoing vessels, yet they're almost invariably called boats. Similarly for submarines, thay are also called boats.
 

steve_l

Well-known member
Joined
23 Jan 2002
Messages
1,877
Location
Finland
Visit site
Another definition...

A ship has two or more "full" decks above the waterline. Otherwise it's a boat...

Hence submarines are boats as only the upper (outer) deck is above the waterline and those commercial fishing boats only have their working deck above the waterline.

-steve-
 

JoeV

New member
Joined
12 Oct 2004
Messages
51
Location
London
www.mirabellayachts.com
I think the magic number we were given was 500 t. From that moment on the MCA makes your life "interesting". I don't know the thinking behind that number. I do think that at some point it will become obvious to MCA that modern yachts (boats not ships) are getting bigger, and that a fixed number is not the best definition.
 
Top