KETCH rigged cargo vessel

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aukepalmhof
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KETCH rigged cargo vessel

Post by aukepalmhof » Wed Jun 29, 2016 8:41 pm

The 200 SH SO stamp of the Somali Republic depict a modern top-sail ketch rigged cargo vessel.
She is a two masted trader and identified by the size and position of the mizzenmast which is shorter than the mainmast. Stepped mostly just behind the main boom of the mainmast as seen on the stamp.
The mizzen sail area is roughly one half that of the mainsail.
Both the ketch and the yawl have two masts, with the main mast foremost; the distinction being that a ketch has the mizzen mast forward of the rudder post, whereas on a yawl, it is aft of the rudder post. Compared to a ketch, a similar size yawl's mizzen sail is much smaller than the main, because of the limitations of the mizzen sheet. So on a ketch, the principal purpose of the mizzen sail is to help propel the vessel, while on a yawl, the smaller mizzen mainly serves the purposes of trim and balance. Yawls tend to have mainsails almost as large as those of comparable sloops.
A ketch may be distinguished from a cutter or a sloop by virtue of having two masts rather than one, though a ketch with two foresails is sometimes called a "cutter-rigged ketch".
Both the ketch and the yawl differ from the two-masted schooner, whose aft mainmast is taller than the foremast. (It follows that a schooner does not have a mizzen mast.) If a vessel has two masts of approximately the same height, the rig with the larger sail forward is called a ketch, while the rig with the larger sail aft is a schooner. The American two-masted schooner is rare in Europe, where the ketch rig is preferred.

Somalia Republic 1998 200SH sg?, scott?
Source: Wikipedia and internet sites.
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