A schooner (or formerly a schooner) is a sailboat whose foremast, placed in front of the mainmast, is shorter than the latter or of equal size and carries auric sails (placed in the axis of the ship) or Bermudian. Also referred to as schooner rigging. This name did not appear until late in France, around 1751, in the form of “go(u)ëlette”. It is assumed that this term comes from seagull by analogy. It is said that the Bretons would have named these excellent little sailboats with fine and light shapes. The rig originated in 17th century Holland.
Schooners are elegant sailboats, generally balanced and good walkers, and do not require a very large crew for the maneuver. However, they could not carry large sail areas compared to square-rigged sailboats which limited them to coastal or offshore fishing roles where their maneuverability stood out. The only steel schooner-rigged tall ship with seven masts, the Thomas W. Lawson, did not make a great impression despite a very simplified rig and had a very short career of five years. There were several large four (260), five (90) and six (11) masted wooden schooners in the United States and only three steel ones, the Lawson, the William L. Douglas (1903, six-masted) and the Kineo (1903, five-masted).
We distinguish the schooner from the brig:the first is rigged with auric sails, while the second has square sails, rigged on yards, as well as a brigantine at the rear. There is also the brig-schooner, rigged with square sails on the foremast and gaff sails on the mainmast. See also:topsail schooner.
The two training ships of the French Navy, the Étoile and the Belle Poule, former cod fishing sailboats on the banks of Newfoundland, are twin sailboats rigged as a topsail schooner, i.e. they carry a small topsail on the foremast.
In ornithology, a schooner also designates a sea swallow.