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SCHOONER

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 372 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SCHOONER , a See also:

vessel rigged with fore and aft sails, properly with two masts, but now often with three, four and sometimes more masts; they are much used in the See also:coasting See also:trade, andrequire a smaller See also:crew in proportion to their See also:size than square-rigged vessels (see See also:RIGGING and See also:SHIP). According to the See also:story, which is probably true, the name arose from a See also:chance spectator's exclamation " there she scoons," i.e. glides, slips See also:free, at the See also:launch of the first vessel of this type at See also:Gloucester, See also:Massachusetts, in 1713, her builder being one See also:Andrew See also:Robinson. The spelling " schooner " is due to a supposed derivation from the Dutch schooner, but that and the other See also:European equivalents, Ger. Schoner, See also:Dan. skonnert, Span. and Portuguese escuna, &c., are all from See also:English. " To scoon," according to See also:Skeat, is a Scottish (Clydesdale) See also:dialect word, meaning to skip over See also:water like a See also:flat See also:stone, and is ultimately connected with the See also:root, implying See also:quick See also:motion, seen in shoot, scud, &c. In See also:American colloquial usage " schooner " is applied to the covered See also:prairie-wagons used by the emigrants moving westward before the construction of See also:railways, and to a tall, narrow, lager-See also:beer See also:glass.

End of Article: SCHOONER

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