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[steamboatwilly]

Would appreciate knowing the definition of the term AUXILARY ketch. I am guessing it may be that it is fitted with an engine.

Would also like to know the difference between a schooner and a ketch.

Many thanks.

Will

[Edward Pinniger]

You're correct - auxiliary means that the boat has an engine + propellor(s) for auxiliary propulsion (as most sailing vessels do now)

The main difference between a two-masted schooner and a ketch is the relative size of the masts - on a schooner, the aft mast is the taller, whilst a ketch has a taller fore mast.
The yawl is a third category - yawls have an aft mast positioned very far back (usually aft of the rudder) which is usually much smaller than the main.

[steamboatwilly]

Edward.

Thank you so much for putting it so clearly and concisely.

I was confused in that I bought the book SCHOONER SUNSET and it was half full of ketches, with no clarification on the two types. I noticed that the hulls for both looked fairly similar, but did not realise about the height and positions of the masts.

So, if you had a ketch, interchanged the masts, you would then have a schooner?

Willy

[Little Rascal]

Yeah kind of...

With any two masted vessel:

On a Schooner: the Mainmast is the further aft of the two masts and the smaller mast forward is the Foremast.

On a Ketch: the Mainmast is the further forward of the two masts and the smaller one aft is the Mizzen Mast.

Jon

[Netleyned]

Unless the after mast is abaft the rudder post
Then it's a yawl.


Ned

[Jimmy James]

 The descriptions of ketch and schooner (and Yawl) are spot on however when a vessel is described as having an "Auxiliary engine it means that the sails not the engine are the principle means of propulsion ----The other side of the coin is the motor sailer in which the engine is the main means of propultion and the sail are the Auxiliary ...
Splitting hairs I know ---sorry about that. 
Freebooter

[derekwarner]

mmmmmmmm the English language is a tricky & complicated   .....thing .....& I am sure the nautical definitions provided are totally correct...however  

The literal term of....."auxiliary" .......refers  to ..."backup" or "support" ...therefore it could be contested that the term "auxiliary ketch" is simply a "back up" or "support vessel"

Following on from this after referring to my trusty "butterworth" guide......such comments of a ketch being sail.......   or sail with or without an auxiliary engine   are questionably meaningless

The ketch itself is the auxiliary element  ...............Derek

PS1....the co-author [GT] is a relo & a professor of English language @ Flinders university in Adelaide in the land of OZ  

PS2....I have just spoken with [GT]...& he concurs with my view..........

[Colin Bishop]

Absolutely Derek, total nonsense! An auxiliary ketch is a sailing vessel with an auxiliary engine. A motor sailer is a motor vessel with sails - couln't be simpler!

Colin

[derekwarner]

 ...with the greatest respect Colin........one must remember

1) I am but of humble convict stock from the first fleet to OZ
2) the convicts didn't have much to occupy themselves during the voyage .....so all studied & were awarded Degrees from the School of the Sea
3) by the time they reached Botany Bay....they were suitable to become Teachers, Educators, Judges, Politicians, Lawyers.....etc
4) this is why we OZ people have a greater intellect in understanding the real meaning of the English language  

[pugwash]

This country has got in enough trouble listening to what lawyers have said - so no one beleives a word they spout forth.
Why is it that in the RN any knowitall trouble maker is known as a Lower Deck Lawyer. Makes you wonder>
Geoff

[derekwarner]

pugwash     the only reason UK is in such a sad & sorry state [words nor adjectives could not explain] ...is they sent the only good ones [thieves, muggers, charletons & harlets] to OZ + KIWI two hundred years ago ...& in vessels not much bigger than a ketch 
But we survived  & even returned as ANZAC's when called upon........ ....Derek

[steamboatwilly]

Thank you one and all. I now fully understand. I am afraid the legal stuff is all above my head.

TOPIC CLOSED.

[Martin (Admin)]

Willy says he has his answer.....