Description[edit]

Barques are shallow-draft three-masted ships with one or more of the masts being fore-and-aft rigged. The fore-and-aft rigging makes these ships fast when sailing close-hauled, but slow when sailing large.

The standard Barque design has been around for a very long time, and is extremely popular in the tranquil waters of the Mediterranean and Caribbean. They are not good vessels in rough seas, and few dare to take them out into the stormy North Atlantic.