Gallery of Ships
A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying goods or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished from boats, based on size, shape, load capacity, and tradition.
There are three basic types of commercial fishing vessels found in the Mid-Atlantic region: trawlers, seiners/gill-netters, and long-liners. A trawler or "dragger" operates by towing its fishing gear across the bottom. Weighted nets take bottom fishes, while cage-like steel dredges take clams and scallops. A seiner uses a floating net to encircle schools of surface-swimming fishes such as herring and tuna. A long-liner sets out miles of buoyed line with baited hooks to catch sharks, tuna, and swordfish. One could also add lobster boats and charter fishing or "head" boats to this list. And of course, dive boats.
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A liner is a vessel designed primarily to carry passengers on a set schedule. There was a time when ocean liners were more than the mere pleasure cruisers of today. Before the advent of modern air travel, ships were the primary means of transport for those needing to cross the oceans. Untold numbers of immigrants came to this country in passenger liners, most in steerage class, a far cry from the modern floating pleasure palaces.
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A number of small warships are sunk in New Jersey and New York waters.
A subchaser was a small coastal patrol vessel of World War I or II. Subchasers were lightly armed and even more lightly constructed, mostly out of plywood, powered by two diesel (WWII) or three gasoline (WWI) engines. Roughly the same design was used in both wars - 110 ft long, about 100 tons. Almost a thousand were built over both World Wars, and several are lost in the waters around this area. Many private yachts and some larger fishing trawlers were converted to perform this function also, like the Tarantula and the Moonstone. Conversely, some subchasers were converted to other duties after the war, such as the Bronx Queen, pictured below in military trim. Real subchasers were designated SC-, while converted yachts were designated SP-, PY- ( patrol yacht ) or PYc ( patrol yacht - coastal. )
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A packet ship of the early 1800s. Of note is the way the sails on the mainmast are set backward, against the sails on the fore- and mizzen- masts. Known as "backing", this was how a square-rigged ship "put on the brakes" to slow or stop without actually furling the sails.
Wind power has been used by mankind for millennia. Almost every human culture has constructed sailing vessels of some kind, from crude log or reed rafts to the highly developed wind-jammers of the early twentieth century. Many of these vessels were the most complex and technologically advanced machines of their time - equivalent to our jet airliners.
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A barge is a vessel that does not have its own means of propulsion ( usually. ) Barges are towed or pushed from place to place by tugboats, or anchored in place to serve as temporary work platforms, floating docks, or storage. Some barges are self-propelled, in a limited way. These are known as scows, and their limited propulsive power restricts them to protected waters without the assistance of a tugboat.
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Steamer is an early term for any vessel power by a steam engine rather than sails.
Early steamers were propelled by large paddlewheels. "Side-wheelers", with the paddlewheels on each side, were more seaworthy, and therefore more common in ocean waters, while "stern-wheelers", with a single large paddlewheel at the back, were more common as riverboats. Later, these were replaced by more efficient screw (or propeller) vessels.
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