Posted by Jock on June 18, 2007 at 10:21:59 from 87.105.81.146 user Jock.
In Reply to: Ships, boats and submarines posted by Robert Hill on June 15, 2007 at 17:57:42:
Oh what rich pickings has the newly repainted TarBoard for all lovers of stopcock manifolds!
a ship has to have three masts, and 'in the great days of sail a ship was just one of the varieties of vessels that had a particular number of masts and sail arrangement.'
Is a fully rigged vessel with more than 3 masts not a ship? Also a barquentine has three or more masts and is definitely not a ship.
a vessel that can sustain its passengers and crew at sea for seven days without resupply. Anything that can't is a boat.
A ship's lifeboat euipped for 8 days is a ship?
First and second world war subs were not truly subs because they travelled on the surface between engagements. Only in the nuclear era did true submarines arise.
So a sailing dinghy trailed from London to the lake District is not a boat because it travels on a motorway 'between engagements'.
The fourth person says: One rows a boat. Every other type of vessel has a specific name, of which there are very many (he lists several, such as coracle, barque, brig, ship etc). A submarine is a submarine, not a boat.
I have a friend who built a submarine that you could row. So there!