Originally, a small, sharp-built vessel, with two masts
and fore-and-aft rig. Sometimes it carried square topsails on one or
both masts and was called a topsail schooner. About 1840, longer
vessels with three masts, fore-and-aft rigged, came into use, and since
that time vessels with four masts and even with six masts, so rigged,
are built. Schooners with more than two masts are designated
three-masted schooners, four-masted schooners, etc. See Illustration in
Appendix.